Product Description

Although straw bale construction is beginning to enter the mainstream, many people continue to wonder what a straw bale house looks like. The New Strawbale Home answers definitively, "Anything you want!" Innovative architects and builders are reinventing this century-old technology to create thick-walled modern houses of unsurpassed natural beauty.

The New Strawbale Home compiles floor plans and images from thirty cutting-edge homes across North America, from California to Quebec, New Mexico to New England, showcasing a spectrum of regional styles and personal aesthetic choices. This practical guide discusses varying climate considerations and essential design details for problem-free construction and low maintenance, and also points out the ecologically friendly, energy-saving aspects of straw bale construction. The New Strawbale Home beautifully illustrates how building with straw bales allows for maximum personal creativity-whether the finished product is an urban home, a country hideaway, or anything in between.

The New Strawbale Home includes information on budget considerations, code compliance, siting for energy efficiency, structural systems, and finishing touches. Also included are the valuable insights and experience of architects, contractors, and owner-builders, plus an extensive resource section.

Author and photographer Catherine Wanek organized the building of a straw bale greenhouse in 1992 and has been an advocate for straw bale construction ever since. She produced and directed the Building with Straw video series, and spent nearly five years publishing and editing The Last Straw Journal. Her first book, The Art of Natural Building, was published in 2002. Wanek lives in Kingston, New Mexico.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #664846 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Review
...a beautiful coffee table (or workshop table!) book both inspiring and practical. (The Last Straw Journal )

...a beautiful coffee table (or workshop table!) book...both inspiring and practical -- The Last Straw Journal, December 1, 2003

An attractive new book...The New Strawbale Home...[has] color photos of 41 straw-bale homes from California to Vermont and from Canada -- San Diego Union-Tribune, September 21, 2003

An attractive new book...The New Strawbale Home...[has] color photos of 41 straw-bale homes from California to Vermont and from Canada to New Mexico, and contains lively interviews with their owner-builders and architects. (San Diego Union-Tribune )

Wanek's informative and handsome new coffee-table book profiles

40 residences across the United States and Canada, most built

during the -- Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 25, 2003

Wanek's informative and handsome new coffee-table book profiles 40 residences across the United States and Canada, most built during the past decade's straw-bale renaissance. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram )

From the Inside Flap
Building with bales has begun to enter the mainstream, yet many people still wonder, "What does a straw bale house look like?" The New Straw Bale Home provides the answer, which is truly, "anything you want!" Innovative architects and owner builders are reinventing this century-old technology to create thick-walled modern houses of surpassing beauty. Their initial choice often stems from the desire to build an ecological and healthy home, and the result also saves on energy bills and encourages personal creativity.

The New Straw Bale Home compiles floor plans and images from thirty cutting-edge homes across North America, from California to Quebec, New Mexico to New England. It showcases a spectrum of regional styles and personal aesthetic choices, including urban homes that enhance their neighborhoods, home office solutions, and country homes and hideaways.

This practical book also discusses varying climate considerations and essential design details for problem-free construction and low maintenance. Chapters include information on budget considerations, code compliance, siting for energy efficiency, structural systems, and finishing touches. The New Straw Bale Home also offers valuable insights and hindsights of architects, contractors, and owner-builders, plus an extensive resource section.

From the Back Cover
Straw bale-the cozy, sculpted home that feels like an embrace.

Customer Reviews

Nice picture book, not a build it manual
For your money you'll be getting what amounts to a picture book with several different types of strawbale homes across the US and Canada. There is a small starter section, with pictures, on general construction details.
For each house there will be at least two, sometimes four or five, pages of text and pictures about the owners homes and how they were built. Don't buy this book thinking it's a build it manual, that isn't the case as the information is more of an idea book type presentation. You'll get a little on costs, size and other things including square feet both inside and outside the walls (along with small floor plans of each home) and several very well done photographs.
I found these photos to be the best part of the book as they will either give you some ideas for your own home or at least they'll show you what's out there. Some of the ideas had a Santa Fe look but some had a sharp edged box with lots of glass look (and not much straw either). Most of the homes were not displayed from all angles, just from selected views.
If you're on a strict budget you won't want this book unless you can find a cheap used copy, it's much more of an idea book.

price per square foot included in this book
Beautiful book with much needed info..a real treat for the eyes..the best is it gives the cost of contruction for almost all the houses shown...if you want to build a strawbale than this book is one you will want to include in your library..does not give alot of hands on constrution but it does gives you visual ideas of what others have done with their houses..

Nice pictures
This book had some good pictures of different SB structures. But, to me that is all there was.