Silicon Solar

This passive solar house on a knoll overlooking Silicon Valley features bales on the north sides and a u-shaped South face with lots of glass. The roof is constructed of super-insulated panels (SIP's), extruded polystyrene sandwiched between sheets of oriented strand board. This allowed spans of over 24' without supporting beams. The panels were lifted onto the roof with a crane and then nailed into place. Installation took a little over two and a half days.     Before the bales were placed, the window bucks were located and placed in the straw-bale wall and fixed into place.   The entry and kitchen areas feature a curved bale wall. Skillful Means carpenter Shawn Gaehigan installs a box beam above the curved wall. Stucco mesh has been installed below the curved bottom plates and the space between the plates has been filled with pea gravel.       Staff from Van der Ryn Associates, architects of the building, joined Skillful Means one Saturday to gain some first-hand experience with bales. Here three of the staff negotiate a bale into position. Skillful Means bale expert Tenzin Lama, negotiates a bale with his sledge hammer... .   Architect Buddy Williams Buddy works on fitting the last bale into place under the box beam. The 2x2 stucco mesh is stapled under the box beam and will be wrapped down around the bales to join the piece clamped under the bottom plates (below), significantly increasing the strength of the wall in the event of an earthquake.

Skillful Means PO Box 207 Junction City, CA 96048