Phillips Straw Bale ADU
Portland, Oregon | 2009

This little house is the first free-standing, from-the-ground-up, permitted straw bale house in Multnomah County.  Classified as an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), this building is required to visually match the form & siding of the existing primary dwelling on the lot.  The solution, therefore, was to build a conventional structure with plywood sheathing & hardy siding, infilling the walls with straw bales and finishing the interior with earthen plaster.  This very small house is an excellent prototype for urban sustainability for many reasons, including its mere 700 square foot size.