[GSBN] SB support for St Paul Architect

[Derek Roff]

Pete Fust has asked me to post a request for ideas and support, to 
help make it possible to build with strawbale in Minneapolis-St Paul. 
Due to well publicized failures of some of the first SB buildings in 
that area, in the mid-ninties (described in The Last Straw), there is 
very strong resistance in the building department to permitting any 
strawbale structures.

Architect Lucas Alm, lucas at almdesignstudio.com, an adjunct professor 
at the University of Minnesota and eco-designer, hopes to design and 
build with strawbale in the Twin Cities.  At the recent Midwest 
Renewable Energy Fair, he told Pete that although some officials 
recognize that the building failures were the result of poor design 
and construction practices, others continue to oppose strawbale as a 
building material.  Lucas said than one official had asked him for 
performance data on SB structures in Oregon, because "it has the most 
similar climate to St Paul."  Lucas recognizes the inaccuracy of this 
comparison, and is looking for ways to move the dialog into a more 
productive and relevant channel.

Pete suggests that anyone offering help with this problem can 
probably acquire all the lutefisk that they might desire.

Derelict

Derek Roff
Language Learning Center
Ortega Hall 129, MSC03-2100
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: derek at unm.edu