Buildings of Earth and Straw: Structural Design for Rammed Earth and Straw-Bale Architecture (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Chelsea Green's The Rammed Earth House and The Straw Bale House chronicle the possibilities and realities of straw bale and rammed earth construction. Buildings of Earth and Straw fills in the gaps for professional builders, contractors, engineers, inspectors, lenders, and architectural students. It includes special construction requirements of earth and straw, design capabilities and limitations of these materials, and documentation of testing data for use in addressing the concerns of officials. This book offers the nuts and bolts of rammed earth and straw bale building techniques, and why they are so spectacular, durable, and earth-friendly.

Review

"A revolution in environmentally friendly house construction is arriving. In this book, Bruce King explores the details and methods for building durable and safe earth and straw houses."
Sim Van der Ryn, Architect, Educator, Author of Ecological Design

"Bruce King has produced a book that is both long overdue and quite timely. While I find most technical books to be dry, uninteresting, and difficult to read, Bruce has managed to provide technical information in an accessible and entertaining manner. Although parts of his book will admittedly require engineering training to understand, even the uninitiated builder will find a wealth of usable material here."
Bob Fowler, FAIA, PE, PBO past Chairman, International Conference of Building Officials, founding member, International Codes Council

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Ecological Design Press; 1st edition (January 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964471817
• ISBN-13: 978-0964471818
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #202,594 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #43 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Architecture > Study & Teaching
  #65 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Civil > Structural
  #96 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Architecture > Building Types & Styles > Specific Styles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The funniest structural engineering book I have ever read., August 22, 1998

By A Customer

This book is definitely the funniest structural engineering book I have ever read. It is also useful for the professional, intelligible to the general reader, and attractively illustrated. King includes California's straw bale code, a comprehensive wish list for further testing, and a useful list of references for both stabilized earth and straw bale. Included are equations for the engineer who is ready to start designing right now, and a glossary for the lay reader who isn't quite sure of some of the terms. A valuable book which is also enjoyable to read. This is not always true of engineering texts!

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical information on the mentioned building methods., June 14, 1999

By	[e-mail] Perry Sponseller (Henderson, TN) - See all my reviews

This book educates the lay builder of "earth and straw" about the technical side of the mentioned building methods. This technical lingo is explained clearly for the person's understanding. This book bridges the gap between building inspetors and the "alternative" builder by increasing the technical knowledge of basic building structures and forces.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earth, Straw, Yehaa!, December 16, 2002

By	Scott Knudsen (Air Ronge, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Learn how to build with earth, and straw. The one thing I didn't like about the book is that there are no photo's of finished projects.