Straw Bale Construction with Virginia Carabelli

The Gardiner Library will present a talk about Straw Bale Construction with Virginia Carabelli on Sunday November 8 from 2:30 to 4:00 PM. Straw bale buildings are now going up all over the world, from downtown Paris to rural Africa. According to Carabelli, “Straw bale construction is an excellent and under-utilized building material. It lends itself well to pretty much any design and building size, offering unbeatable insulation, sound-proofing, longevity, and beauty. The savings in heating and cooling alone make it quite attractive, but the ecological aspect is also very important. Instead of burning all of this unwanted straw, we can use it as the great building material that it is, and provide farmers with an extra source of income.” Carabelli will discuss many aspects of this ecological, versatile building material and how it is used in construction. Virginia Carabelli was given the first straw bale permit in the U.S. Her house was featured in the NY Times, Chicago Tribune and the book The Straw Bale House by Athena and Bill Steen, among other publications.