Guest houses for ecological living

Guest houses for ecological living
Written by Herbert Gruber

One of the workshop-buildings was cladded with a ventilated wooden façade, while the other is made of clay (mixed with approx. 1-2 % cow dung). The floor was also made of rammed earth.

Project Data

Place:Tomelilla Completion:2012 Construction:infill construction Design:asbn/Strohnatur/Ecotopia Straw Builder:asbn - workshop asbn - workshop Visitable:Yes Press photos:Yes
Self Building:Workshop des asbn, Rest im Selbstbau
Living Area:18m2 U-Value (Wall):0,14W/m2K U-Value (Roof):0,14W/m2K Categories: Projects Sweden,

These two small straw bale buildings were built during a one-week workshop led by the ASBN (Herbert Gruber & Gerhard Scherbaum). The bales were filled between wooden posts and, after shearing off the walls, plastered directly with clay. One of the two guest huts was boarded with a ventilated wooden façade, while the clay (mixed with approx. 1-2 % cow dung) forms the façade of the other. The floor was also made of rammed earth. The building owner is the Swedish environmental organisation Ecotopia under the leadership of Karin Malmgren.

Website Ecotopia (D, SE, E): www.ecotopia.se

About the author

Herbert Gruber

Herbert is author of the book "Neues Bauen mit Stroh in Europa" (New Building with Straw in Europe), head of the austrian strawbale network ASBN and partner in the Leonardo-project "STEP" (Strawbale Training for European Professionals) and the Erasmus project "BuildStraw Pro" (a project to get formal national recognition of the training) and "Make your City Smart". As a collector he documents European straw bale buildings since 1999 on his website (database, german), in lectures, workshops and books.