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southern lights
orchard gardens
acme
gold dust
lenox flats
high sierra
fireweed court
strawbale homes
emma court
best
practices
charrettes
1% for art
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STRAWBALE
DEMONSTRATION HOMES
North
5th Street, Missoula Montana
 
PROJECT BASICS
homeWORD completed construction of two strawbale demonstration homes
in 1997. The two-bedroom, 1,170 square-foot homes were sold to
single parent families earning less than 60% median income.
INNOVATIONS
The project represents homeWORD’s innovative and sustainable
strategies to provide housing for those in need; including the establishment
of western Montana’s first Community Land Trust, the use of
the site for non-traditional job training for low-income women, and
the affordability, super energy-efficiency, and elegance of strawbale
construction.
Winner of a Missoula Historic Preservation Award, a national
Energy Value Housing Award finalist, publicized on the American
Solar Energy
Society’s 1998 tour, and featured in Environmental Design & Construction
magazine and cable TV’s Home and Garden Channel, the homes
have received extensive acclaim since ground breaking.
SUSTAINABLE FEATURES
- 18-inch thick walls filled
with strawbales to make the homes cozy, quiet, and cheap to heat
- Strawbale
construction is highly insulative, non-toxic, and renews itself
annually
- Strawbales
are pinned together with bamboo, which also renews itself very
quickly
- Shallow foundation to reduce
the amount of concrete used
- Concrete made of 18% waste
fly ash, a by-product of coal combustion found in MT
- Low emissivity
windows with a thin metal coating, which allows short-wave
solar radiation
to
enter, but prevents most of the long-wave thermal energy
from escaping
- Concrete
slab floors help retain heat, are more durable than
carpeting, and reduce the use of toxic adhesives
NEIGHBORHOOD
The Strawbale Homes are located in the Historic and predominantly
working class Northside neighborhood of Missoula.
FUNDERS & PARTNERS
- Anonymous Donor for Land
Acquisition
- Jeff Rolston-Clemmer Architect
- Three
Badger Construction
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