Straw house passes hurricane test

Posted on May 24, 2010

White Design is part of the team which helped design and build "BaleHaus@Bath", a two-storey, straw-bale house as part of a research project on the University of Bath campus. 

Since October 2009 the building has been monitored for thermal performance and humidity levels - but the most dramatic moment of the programme so far was the recent test for wind resistance. During the experiment, hydraulic jacks pushed against the walls with an impact of more than four tonnes, equivalent to the dynamic force of a hurricane.

Finlay White, Marketing and Operations Director of ModCell said: “This is a fantastic result. All too often, we are asked whether building with straw is durable - perhaps the technology is linked in people’s minds with the fairy story of the 3 pigs and the straw house blown down by the big bad wolf! I think the research at Bath University turns that story on its head! Building with straw using the ModCell System is undoubtedly safe, secure and durable. It’s a material that will help us meet the 21st century challenge of reducing our CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050.”

This is the first time a whole house made of straw bales has been tested in this way. The researchers will now use this data to develop a theoretical computer model of the house to