The FGS Sustainable Living Program organized a Strawbale Workshop together with Ijams Nature Center in October 1997.
WHY STRAWBALE?
People were given instruction on how to erect their own structure and participated in the construction of a temporary facility.
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BIOGRAPHY of Howard Switzer
Howard Switzer is a practicing architect in Nashville, TN specializing in passive solar design and alternative building methods. Howard came to Tennessee in 1976 to live on The Farm, a large international community near Summertown, TN, were he lived for ten years. His work began there, designing solar buildings since 1978, and he was licensed as an architect in 1988.
Howard is currently helping owner/builders and other groups build passive solar buildings using plastered strawbale construction. He has been teaching workshops on this technique at the Ecovillage Training Center on The Farm and has been leading "wall raisings" around the region.
Howard has experience in building with Cob, an ancient and very successful earth building technique and is learning how to do thatch roofing. Howard has 5 completed strawbale buildings, has 2 under construction, and 2 more on the drawing board. One of the two under construction is a cob/strawbale hybrid. He integrates successful pre-industrial natural building methods with strawbale construction, passive solar design and other select modern technologies such as photo-voltaic power.
Howard is designing truly ecological buildings. He is available for slide/talk presentations on natural building and why we must do it.
For more information, go to the Straw Bale & Solar Electric Home Connection.