Well, it’s the final week of our job at Mansfield, and I must say I’m looking forward to spending some time at home. We’ve been working away for about 5months now, and I’ve got to admit, it’s getting a wee bit tedious. Our youngest daughter, who’ll be turning one in July, took her first steps a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t there to see it.
Anyway, that’s enough of my tale of woe, let’s talk about building!
Over the past month or so, we’ve had a rash of enquiries about building in strawbale from the Yarra Valley, many of them from people who are looking for a competent designer who knows a bit about strawbale. The only job I’ve worked on even remotely near the Yarra Valley was at Kinglake West, about 5 or 6 years ago, and I can’t even remember the client’s name, let alone who designed it.
If any folk out there are in the process of building or planning a Strawbale home and have been satisfied with the job of their architect, designer or draftsperson, I would seriously appreciate it if they could drop me a line and let me know some details!
Similarly, If you’re a designer who is strawbale savvy, or even if you’re just interested in giving strawbale a whirl and would like to know more, drop me a line, as I’m interested in building up a database of names and contact details to pass on to interested parties.
Of course, this doesn’t only apply to the Yarra Valley, but anywhere in Victoria, New South Wales or South Australia, which is pretty much the limit, area wise, that I can cover without my traveling costs becoming prohibitive.
Any input from interested parties would be most welcome!
We’re also compiling a list of strawbale friendly tradespeople, and though this is a long and arduous process, soon we’ll be able to pass on details of builders, plumbers, electricians etc who are competent and keen in dealing with ‘alternative materials’ in general, but strawbale in particular.
Ok. We’ve got a lot of enquiries to answer via email so it’s bye for now!
Here’s a couple of photos taken during the week to give you an idea of where we are at.

Photo 1: North facing – Big double doors to the kids bedrooms for passive solar heat gain. Note how lovely and straight the corners are!!

Photo 2: The same doorway and the two next to it, from outside, looking at the north facing wall. Note that with only 2 and a half weeks to go until the shortest day of the year, almost all of the doorway is in full sun, giving the greatest solar passive heat gain.