Nesting Instinct
by Paula Baker-Laporte and Robert Laporte
Can a home with clay/straw walls replace the log cabin as the ultimate symbol of green living?
Our homes should be our sanctuaries. They should nurture our well-being. But they often do not. Sick-building syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivities are relatively new terms describing a growing phenomenon: people becoming chronically ill due to chemical and biological toxins found inside modern homes and workplaces.
After World War II, the booming building industry became the proving ground for new industrialized products which rapidly replaced building techniques that been perfected over centuries. Unfortunately, new has not necessarily proven to be better.
The impacts of industrial chemicals on human and ecological health has renewed interest in building methods such as rammed earth, cob, adobe and clay/straw. As an architect-and-builder team, we have looked to pre-industrial building materials and techniques, reevaluated them in terms of modern comfort and found them to be not only viable but, in many ways, superior to the mass-manufactured products used to build North American homes.
In our most recent book, Eco Nest: Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw and Timber, published by Gibbs Smith, we outline the advantages and techniques of combining timberframe and clay/straw construction and provide case studies based on our own projects. Continue Reading…