Blog

For many of us, building a house is one of the biggest decisions of our lives. But navigating through the world of possibilities is not always easy. Pioneering natural construction for more than a decade, building with straw has really become part of our DNA. As straw homes offer a completely unique experience, there are many reasons to love them. Here are the ones that come top of our list:

We interviewed Martha Lewis, senior architect and head of materials at Henning Larsen on the Feldballe Free School project we worked together on in Denmark. As winner of the 2019 Person Prize for outstanding commitment to sustainability, there are few better advocates for change within the architectural and construction industry. With the school project opening only weeks away, we found out why we should be concerned about the current situation in industry and what we can do to move towards much needed change: How a devastating set of chemicals is affecting health and fertility. What her research revealed about the amount of chemicals used in buildings. How current processes are allowing hazardous materials into our buildings. And her own research into chemical labelling and how we can be better informed.

A genuine concern of our customers is how well EcoCocon straw wall elements resist fire. Safety is a genuine concern but so is having a choice of materials in your build. With our latest 2021 fire tests we explored the fire resistance of straw walls for different finishing materials.

As an aid in the architectural design process, we are introducing a new tool for architects to incorporate EcoCocon wall elements in their projects. Using Autodesk Revit provides a simple, efficient way for designers to tap directly into predefined wall elements and streamline their design process. It can be downloaded for free on our site or via Ajour System's digital platform.