Whilst in Bath recently I visited the Balehaus, a novel strawbale house designed by researchers at the University in partnership with the modular materials producer ModCell. It consists of limewashed prefabricated strawbale wall sections with a wooden facade, and is a regular cubic shape for easy modelling of performance. Balehaus' walls have been shown to yield no more than 4mm under simulated wind conditions equivalent to 120mph gusts, as the website http://www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/ chronicles. As well as being impressed by its technical record and innovative sustainable construction, it struck me as a wonderfully neat and attractive example of strawbale building, which, as Craig White of ModCell comments, combines the "lowest carbon footprint and the best operational CO2 performance of any system of construction currently available". Its combination of aesthetics and ease of construction make it an option for truly sustainable mass housing - a pleasant alternative to the prefabs of the past. I see it as inspiring progress towards this end.
my rough sketch of the Balehaus
No comments:
Post a Comment