Sara Wigglesworth's Straw House
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.13.07
Sarah Wigglesworth and Jeremy Till experimented on themselves; their home/office in Islington is a catalogue of green building materials. It is a self-build (UK term for be your own contractor) "intended to encourage others toward experimentation." The architects used simple, easy-to-learn techniques to "challenge the notion of expert. Materials were selected on the basis of a set of criteria including embodied energy, recyclability, transportation distances and toxicity."
It all looks pretty expert to me.
Sandbags: a technique developed in response to the office's proximity to the noise of trains on the main railway line 4 metres away;
Straw: a waste product from farming, this both the substance and the surface of the north walls and those surrounding the bedrooms.
::Sarah Wigglesworth Architects via ::Architechnophilia and ::Scratching the Surface
i guess that is plexiglass or an equivalent around the bale walls? i wonder if it keeps the straw bales from breathing? water is the arch nemesis of straw bales, so it doesnt seem practical to put plastic around them.
the house is awesome, though!