What if you got your neighbors together and occupied the public spaces on your book, transforming them into whatever you would all want it to be? What would you include? ...A solar-paneled tea station? A little free library? A mural? This is the type of urban placemaking that the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon inspires and facilitates.
In this Upstream Conversation, we spoke with Mark Lakeman an urban place-maker, permaculture designer, and community facilitator who co-founder of The City Repair Project. In the last decade, he has directed, facilitated, or inspired designs for more than three hundred new community-generated public places in Portland, Oregon alone.
We spoke with him while he was visiting Santa Cruz about the capitalist history of the Urban Grid and how to reclaim our streets, revive community, and belong once more to place.

​An important new initiative in the constellation of sustainable projects in the Portland-Metro region is nearly finished. Located on a bluff above Johnson Creek, with a sweeping view of the western sunset, the first-ever permitted load bearing straw bale home in the tri-county area is almost ready to occupy. Most exciting of all, this approach is perhaps the most replicable and accessible approach for anyone else to follow, as it is a “prescriptive” design code, meaning that anyone can do it if they use basic rules of thumb. It also uses substantially less wood in its construction!
 
After a process including design, engineering, and permitting, excavation, foundation building, framing, a community straw bale-raising party, plastering, and finish carpentry, we are now in the home stretch of final kitchen and bathroom detailing. Many people and groups have supported this project along the way, including Tim Kennedy, lead contractor at Vital Systems; Oliver Ogden, lead builder at Placecraft Design & Build; James G. Pierson Structural Engineers, and the City Repair Project which helped rustle up volunteers who wanted to learn more about straw bale building practices at the community bale raising event that happened last August, 2019. Check out City Repair's page for important and educational projects and initiatives: https://cityrepair.org/.  ​

On this project, Communitecture worked within the requirements of the Oregon Residential Specialty Code for strawbale construction, which include a height limit of approximately 10' for strawbale walls, no more than one story for the total project, and the provision of a substantial amount of solid wall area to accommodate lateral loads from wind and seismic forces. Metal mesh is applied over the stacked strawbale walls, which is then covered in 1 1/2" of plaster. The straw bales, mesh, and plaster work in combination to support the roof structure and to brace against wind and seismic forces. The result is a sculptural, natural building with reduced impact on deforestation, material processing, and toxins that are common with many modern construction methods. 
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Post by Mark Lakeman

For the past several months Communitecture has been collaborating with James G. Pierson Structural Engineers and Timothy Kennedy of Vital Systems to design a load-bearing strawbale home in SE Portland. Among the many exciting aspects of strawbale construction is the opportunity to invite the community to participate. This Saturday, August 17th, our friends at City Repair are organizing a strawbale installation work party for this project. Often referred to as a "bale-raising", this is a great opportunity to learn about the magic of strawbale buildings and to get some hands-on experience. Check out City Repair's event page for more detail: https://cityrepair.org/calendar/2019/8/10/straw-bail-installation-workparty

Communitecture worked within the requirements of the Oregon Residential Specialty Code for strawbale construction, which include a height limit of approximately 10' for strawbale walls, no more than one story, and providing a substantial amount of solid wall area to accommodate lateral loads from wind and seismic forces. Metal mesh is applied over the stacked strawbale walls, which is then covered in 1 1/2" of plaster. The straw bales, mesh, and plaster work in combination to support the roof structure and to brace against wind and seismic forces. The result is a sculptural, natural building with reduced impact on deforestation, material processing, and toxins that are common with many modern construction methods. 
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See below for some in-progress construction photos and a sketch of the completed design: