Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
straw-bale buildings of the revival period were built in New Mexico and
Arizona, where a precedent of vernacular architecture without architects
had been set with adobe, also was no accident. Moreover, owner-builders
initially building “off the grid” allowed for crucial experimentation that
spawned the movement. Owners' financial and skill resources and the flex-
ible appeal of straw bale to both aesthetic and environmental values also
were factors.While diverse, this is a very conscious movement, spiced with
activists who may have been part of other politically and/or ecologically
motivated movements and who recognize the need for communication
networks. One farmer dedicated to raising straw for home building had
been a member of Students for a Democratic Society and then a grower of
organic food before moving to “growing houses,” as he says. At the same
time, networks in the building, finance, and insurance industries have also
played parts. Recounting the problems some of his early clients had in
obtaining financing for straw-bale structures, an Austin contractor pointed
out that after the first person had obtained a loan in Arizona because she
was an excellent risk and had put up most of the money herself, other loan
officers became more willing to consider loans for straw-bale building.
They trusted other loan officers and would consult with them, even if they
were out of state and working in competitors' firms.The same was true of
the insurance industry. Once the first policy was made available for a straw-
bale structure, others followed suit. Hence, from the very beginning the
straw-bale building network, starting with workshops and continuing with
informal communications via all available media (telephone, the Internet,
publications, word of mouth) could make not only technical information
available; it could also make names of straw-bale-friendly loan and insur-
ance officers available to other owners, builders, and owner-builders.
Code building worked in a similar way. As the above quotes have shown,
political as well as technical support had to be marshaled to get the first
codes passed in Arizona. Activists in California then used that accomplish-
ment accompanied with historical information for building a political net-
work sufficiently strong to override the building officials, while Austin used
the Arizona experience. Yet even while they recognize this, movement
activists are worried about conveying consistent standards in the codes so
that those outside the network do not build in ways that could damage its
reputation. If the future brings change for straw-bale building, it will be
because the networks supporting it have changed. As an early activist and a
current good-will ambassador for straw bale to the world at large,
