Oval Strawbale House, Erin, Ontario – starting Construction 2009
This 2 storey, 2000 SF, OVAL STRAWBALE HOUSEstarted construction in April 2009 and will be finished in April 2010. We have been so inspired by the gentleness and awareness of our client who is studying Reiki & Permaculture. The curved shape grew out of our many design conversations together and also creates an extremely high vibrational energy with this simple plan shape. Using a a variety of methods, including a special Biogeometry BG3 pendulum, Eco-Architect, Ingrid Cryns, is able to test many levels of more detailed design to continuously enhance & balance the quality of energy on land, buildings and interior spaces.
Eco-Architect, Ingrid Cryns, dowsed for the geopathic earth energy lines to find the best place to position the house to clear the bed, sitting areas for the couch & office as well as the kitchen sink. The detrimental geopathic lines dowsed were the Hartman, Curry & Benker lines. The client, a Reiki practitioner, and the Architect, also found together a very large, three foot diameter, beneficial energy spot on the site and placed the house so that it this was just inside at the corner between the living room/mediation room window and upstairs bedroom walls. A plastic line was embedded into the concrete floor slab to connect this spot to the centre of the house at the fireplace to secure the energetic centre of the house with the land. This was the most critical & significant energy enhancing aspect that was implimented. Also, the design of the house with the two curves in plan creates an extremely strong beneficial energy, as it implies dynamic movement flow through the zero-point centre of reality when using a vesica piscis shape. All together, this creates a very strong sense of well being, joy and calmness when inside the house that is very noticeable to anyone who visits.
We also asked the tree’s & land for permission to cut away and place the house...see here.
Strawbale walls have a unique vapour permeability that allows minute water vapours to pass through the unique porous crystalline structure of the plaster skin and can have anywhere from .10 to .50 ACH (air exchanges per hour) (with no mechanical assistance/technology). Strawbale walls don't actually 'breathe' which is a common myth, rather they "respire" which favourably impacts on the indoor humidity and which in turn provides comfort by adding/removing moisture in the winter/summer as needed.
This creates an extremely healthy living space and air environment that surpasses, in my opinion, any standard, stick frame home. Also, a typical brick/wood stud 2x4 wall usually has less than an R20 insulation whereas strawbale walls have a continuous monolithic insulation of a R30 to R40 value. And, the thick plaster on the inside of straw bale walls acts as a thermal mass and has been shown to play a significant role in stabilizing indoor temperatures. A strawbale house is simply a smarter house!
All finishes will be natural with '0' VOC's (volatile organic compounds). We are looking at reclaimed timber flooring, papercrete countertops, milk paint stains as well as milling wood from directly from the site.
As the site has a great supply of wood and our client would like to use some of the maple, cherry, ash and ceder wood in his house. We visited the site together a few weeks ago and talked with the trees to let them know they will be needed in the house. This was a tremendous experience for both of us that I wrote a lot about in my blog.
The house will also have radiant heating in the floors, a tankless water heater, is self-sufficient with off-grid wind and solar power.
Also, our contractor Ben Polley of Harvest Homes is a leader in the field of natural strawbale construction. His depth and breadth of experience is absolutely wonderful to work with. We highly recommend him for any projects. He works in the Guelph/Kitchener-Waterloo, Grey-Bruce, and Orillia-Muskoka area. From these three locations, they service projects north to Lions Head and Huntsville, east to Highway 400 and most areas south-west within a one to two hour distance from Guelph. In my opinion, there are very few Contractors as highly qualified as Ben is. Contact me if you want names of green, strawbale contractors in other areas of Ontario as well.