We recently obtained great photos by Eddie Bojorquez at Studio 512 of the first two-story straw bale home Hubbell & Hubbell designed. This charming residence, located in Julian, California, was designed in 2000 for a young couple with two small children who wanted to build an affordable, sustainable home for their organic farm. The property included a large yurt where the clients lived during the construction of the main house.

James and Drew initially designed a dream home for the couple integrating a multi-faceted roof structure and a star gazing deck, featured in this post. Ultimately, this lovely home was built instead to fit within budget constraints.

A unique layout incorporating a split-level residence with a barn on half of the first level, the home incorporates natural materials throughout including earthen plaster on the interior straw bale walls. We are living in a man-made environment and are also exposed to the chemicals we use in making these environments, but at Hubbell & Hubbell, we love to design homes that utilize healthier features – natural plasters are one of the ways we achieve that. These non-toxic plasters are a more attractive alternative to cement, gypsum, and paint products. Conventional construction materials like concrete and paint are very processed and therefore, have a high-embodied energy. Clay plaster has not proven to involve any carbon dioxide emissions. Lime plaster, another common type of plaster that we work with, is able to naturally sequester back about 80% of the carbon dioxide that it emits during slaking.

Drew Hubbell has paved the way for straw bale construction in San Diego County – he created a source book educating building officials about new state law permitting straw bale construction and answered concerns about the building method in the mid 1990s. The County accepted post-and-beam construction with straw bale infill as a viable construction method, and in 1997, he designed the first permitted structure in the County, located in Borrego Springs, California. While the west’s wildfires grow in intensity, we do our best to continue progressing in fire-resistant materials. Plastered straw bale structures have a greater immunity to wildfire damage than other kinds of building. If the roof structure, exposed beams, and doors and window are made fireproof, a straw bale constructed building can survive fires that a conventional structure would not.

To learn more about straw bale construction and earthen plasters, visit these sections in the Green Building Design tab!