Our two-day bale raising for the Pie Ranch Farmhouse fire rebuild was a success! We used the “Green Machine” bale saw to cut bales to fit in tricky areas between studs and windows, speeding up the Bales on End Between Studs (BOEBS) construction method. Once installed, the straw bales provide nearly twice the insulation potential of standard 2x6 frame walls. The high density of the bales and non-combustible exterior finishes make for highly insulative fire resistant walls.

Blue Dot Farm is a sustainable business dedicated to equitable practices - both for the environment and the farm workers who tend the land.  In replacing their farmworker housing, they wanted to developed a flexible prototype that is sustainable, efficient, and comfortable. It is designed for agricultural communities and made with agricultural materials: primarily straw and sheep’s wool, in addition to salvaged wood siding and trim, and remnant earth masonry units.

Principal David Arkin provides our firm’s perspective on the subject of Embodied Carbon in this interview with William Richards, also featuring Vanessa Hostick of HOK and Kit Elsworth of KieranTimberlake.  Architects working with bio-based materials (wood, straw, hemp and bamboo) have long maintained we can store carbon in our buildings, and be a part of climate change solutions.  

https://www.aia.org/pages/6476475-buildings-must-become-the-earths-sixth-car 

Pie Ranch was deeply impacted by the CZU Complex Fires of 2020, including losing their historic farm house, built by the Steele family in 1863. 

The goals of the rebuild were to honor the past and model a sustainable future, while meeting the current needs of the Pie Ranch staff and apprentices. The farmhouse is recreated, integrating the ecological indigenous wisdom of the native peoples who tended the land for centuries with curved outdoor communal spaces and earth and wood materiality. The interior layout was modified, and detailing for fire resistance paramount. 

Interview with ATA Prinicipal Anni Tilt along with some photos of our projects are part of this very well written article by Paul Miles for the Finanicial Times, regarding storing carbon in buildings. Also featured are our UK friends Craig White, Barbara Jones and Pete Walker. As Craig says in the bottom line: "[Building with plants] is ‘carbon capture and storage’ in the built environment. The best thing you can do with carbon is to build with it."

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