Nieuweschans

This former city farm is located in the middle of the village of Nieuweschans and is insulated on the inside with straw bales. The house provides space for 2 households and has a central area with a homemade earthbrick stove. This space is the heart of the house and has a number of height differences. Because when building a straw wall, the outside must always be vapor-opener than the inside, in theory straw cannot be used as an inner wall in a masonry outer wall. In consultation with the architect Michel Post of ORIO architecten and Cai van Hoboken, the straw builder, it has been decided that the clay can absorb and release sufficient moisture and that it will probably work in practice. However, it was important to place a well-ventilated cavity at the rear of the straw bales.