Our project in the Central Valley is almost finished….here’s a sneak preview of the results!
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Ranger Station Straw
Straw delivery
This month we began stacking, lathing & plastering bales for the U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Station in King City. Here are sketches of the project.
Designed by WRNS Studio, with Plant Construction as general contractor.
Bale Squeeze placing a stack of straw bales
Bale wall before lathing
Bale wall with lathing
Little helper!
Courtyard
Yesterday Buddy, from Ornamental Iron Designs, brought his daughter along as he checked on the curved stair railing and other features at our project on a lake in the Central Valley. Here is a stitched together picture taken looking into the courtyard.
Station Benches…..
Davis Train Station
We recently passed by the Davis Train Station on the train, and saw the strawbale benches we made from that vantage point for the first time.
Here’s a little video and slide show!
Architectural Yogurt
One of our design goals is to create buildings that can maintain a comfortable environment with a minimum of artificial heating and cooling, and using fresh air ventilation. The heavy insulation of the bales protects the indoor temperature from extremes of the outdoor climate, and the thermal mass of the plaster provides heat storage capacity that tempers the indoor environment and allows the easy introduction of fresh air ventilation.
Here is an interesting explanation of why fresh air is good for us!
Nearing the finish!
The project we designed for a hilltop in Winters is nearing completion. Here are a few progress pictures.
We first conceived the design for this house on a windy hilltop during a design charette with the entire SM staff, college interns and the two daughters who will share a bedroom there.
Since then the project has traveled the path to completion largely unchanged from it’s original scheme which features a tall single story kitchen and great room and a two-story bedroom wing, situated to provide shelter from winds and to take advantage of the wide and varied views.
Conceptual view from the road....
View from the road....
Great Room & Fireplace...
The Great Room features a fireplace, an office nook and an open-beamed ceiling. It opens out to a patio to the west, and a courtyard to the south.
Great Room under construction
Housewarming
Our small house at Lake Tulloch is now complete with finishing touches by the owners. We posted some early pictures of the outside, on the blog in November; now here is a slide show of the interior, beautifully finished with earth/clay plaster from the site.
Passive comfort!
Skillful Means designed a home for land in the Sierras that features broad views in all directions, hot summers and cold winters, which is now being built by the owner…..The building is designed to be comfortable all year round. ”Conventional” peaked-roof sections linked together by undulating sections with flat roofs covered in vegetation. The green roofs will cool the building in summer, and abundant south-facing windows will collect heat in winter.
A curved window wall acts as a solar collector, and provides broad views from the living and dining areas. PV modules shade the kitchen.
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A two-story tower houses a private get-away, with doors opening onto the roof garden. The glass-enclosed spiral staircase to the tower is designed as a solar chimney which will draw ventilation through the house in summer, and warm the tower in winter. 
Construction is progressing at a great pace, and the goal is to be living in the house in a few short months!
Windy Hilltop
A house we designed for a hilltop site near Winters, California, has been going up through the winter, between rains.
The house is in two wings. Bedrooms are above the garage/shop. The living and dining areas, with patios on both sides, are connected to the bedrooms by a mudroom/laundry.
The house is carefully positioned to take advantage of broad views, and to provide a sheltered courtyard on the hilltop.
Shaping Up
Our strawbale house in Oakdale is taking shape: bales and lathing are almost complete, and the roof tiles are ready to go on. Plaster and drywall will be next.
At left, Skillful Meanie Benito Steen works on the entry to the round tower. Downstairs will be an office, and upstairs will be a sitting room with a balcony for views of migrating birds, the Sierra Mountains, and more.
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James Campbell walks past the entry door along the open colonnade that runs the length of the house and through the living and dining areas.
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A straw bale bench will follow the curves of the window wall that looks out on a lake and snowy mountains beyond.
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Skillful Meanies Cindy Lan, project designer, and Andy Fitanades, project supervisor, regularly confer on the many details of the project.
