[GSBN] release of the ASR on Straw Bale, June 8th Victoria BC Canada

[Dawn Smith]

Hello fellow Bale-heads,

I've been quietly lurking on the list for some time now, and my coffee-hour
review of GSBN topic threads has been a delight.  My gratitude to you all
for your contributions. I had the pleasure of meeting many of you at the
ISBC in Colorado this fall.

I am the president of the non profit Alternative Solutions Resource
Initiative (ASRi)  on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Our mandate includes
the development of technical guidelines in collaboration with the
professional building community on the best practices and uses of
alternative materials.

We are about to publish the ASR guideline on Straw Bale construction. The
purpose of this ASR Straw Bale document is to provide a reference for the
building community - from homeowners to architects, engineers, building
officials, contractors, and all other building professionals - when working
on any project that involves straw bale. The guideline provides
comprehensive, concise and regionally-appropriate information on the use of
Straw Bale methods that are not currently addressed by the British Columbia
Building Code. It is in essence a comprehensive review of the existing
testing and documentation on straw bale construction, edited and organized
through the lens of the provincial building code, and reviewed by
experienced professionals. More information including the methodology and a
sample page is available on our website, www.asri.ca. As of June 10th, the
PDF will be available for sale on our website for $25.

Chris Magwood is visiting the island  to present on straw  bale
construction as a part of the launch, Saturday June 8th here in Victoria.
If any of you happen to be nearby, you are of course most welcome to
attend- full details on the ASRi website <http://asri.ca/index.html>.

My heart felt gratitude to the many reviewers who have supported our team
in creating this document- Bruce King, Martin Hammer, Jacob Deva Racusin,
Frank Tettemer, Habib Gonzalez, Tim Krahn, Chris Magwood, Darcey Donovan
and many many others from around the world. Gratitude to David Eisenberg
for encouraging me years ago to jump in, and keeping me inspired on a
mixture of red wine and poetry. Christina Goodvin was the lead researcher
of the project, and all around rockstar. The ASRi team and I could not have
accomplished what we have without the support, feedback, and comradery of
the wider straw bale building community. Cheers all around folks. I humbly
hope that what we have created is useful to the wider building community,
and feedback on our work is of course most welcome.

hugs,
Dawn Smith
on behalf of ASRi

ps this my first post to the list, my apologies if I accidentally double
post.
-- 
Dawn Smith
Project Manager
Island Village Builders
778-679-5888
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