Who doesn’t want a 600 sq. ft. storey-and-a-half straw bale barn-greenhouse-chicken coop? Straworks designed and built this project in 2018 as an accessory to a two-storey straw bale home built in 2004. It’s testimony to straw bale walls working on a large...
We like supporting beekeepers who do a ton of work to support bees through advocacy, education, flower growing, and beekeeping. That’s these clients! In 2022 they hired Straworks to design and build their 357 sq.ft. dream honey house. The space adds joy and...
Straw works, and so do double-framed walls insulated with cellulose. Straworks designed and built this house in 2019. Straw bale walls were orginally the plan until Straworks suggested this wall system and board ‘n batten siding as the exterior finish. The house...
STRAW BALE FARMHOUSE, Douro, ON. Here we are in August 2022 on day 1 of this dream project:🔆 11 min. from home in Peterborough🔆 Dream team! 🔆 Wonderful clients!🔆 It’s BIG! 4032 sq.ft. plus a garage & wrap around porch, so...
In August 2022, we checked off all the boxes and were granted OCCUPANCY by the municipality for this 800 sq. ft. straw bale cottage designed and built in-house. Here are a few shots taken just before move-in. I enjoy this brief moment when a house is finished and...
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Camp Kawartha teamed up with Straworks to build its dream Health Centre. Camp Kawartha took on a multi-year fundraising campaign that the Rotary Club of Peterborough kicked off with a $100,000.00 donation. Straworks designed and...
We built this home in 2016, and it is still one of our all-time favourite projects. It checks all the boxes – designed and estimated in house, completed on-time and on-budget, located just 40 km from home, first-rate client who is now a friend. Not to mention...
How sweet is it when you are building a house, and your uncle down the road grows your insulation? All the more when you are young, busy organic farmers building a house while running a CSA. It’s inspiring to work with people that accomplish big things by working hard...
This couple worked alongside us all day every day and the bond that formed between us makes this one of our all-time favourite builds. Downsizing from a large family home, this 1500 sq.ft., one-storey home was designed with ease of construction and living in mind....
Built originally for a monk visiting from Thailand, the Kuti (Thai for cabin) is now a sweet retreat for the couple who own it and their friends. Its small size, the wood stove, the straw bale walls, the pine ceiling and floor make it a cozy get-away. Bolted to huge...
Built at Toronto’s Botanical Gardens, this is one of the city’s few straw bale buildings. Sixteen-inch wide straw bale walls are a hard sell where space is limited and, real estate is pricey. We did receive many inquiries from visitors wanting to buy or rent the shed...
Designed and built by Straworks in 2008 to be as round as possible, this artist’s studio has an arched door, roof, sculpted exterior trim, and curvy bale walls. Designed to be as round as possible, this artist’s studio has an arched door, roof, sculpted...
Rather than renovate our 1940s, three-season family cottage and jeopardize its original and perfect character, we renovated the garage into a four-season tiny home for the occasional winter weekend. We were tight on space to fit in a garage/workshop, a three-piece...
This building stores 2 tons of organic vegetables for winter markets. The straw bale walls and shutters keep the heat out. Three different cold rooms offer just the right temperature and humidity. A small tractor can unload in the central room where vegetables are...
Straworks’s first design-estimate-build project is worth a visit, and so is the Centre Hastings Skate Park in Madoc, Ontario. There is something for everyone – delicious french fries, a state-of-the-art skateboarding park, a playground, a water park, and a...
Small, simple, straw-bale were the three asks from this computer programmer. He’d been living and working on a boat in the Caribbean and was now looking to lay down some roots yet remain off-grid. Oh, that was another must. It was refreshing to work for a...
We thought we worked hard until we saw the hours this midwife kept. When she did get home after a birth or two, we set her up to take comfort in her straw bale home. We crafted not just rounded corners at the windows, but arched rounded corners to follow the contour...
We are proud to say that our largest and most complicated residential project is also our most natural and locally sourced. The 300 straw bales were grown across the road. The same farmer felled pine and cedar trees on the property and then milled them for the...
Many century homes could use this addition – A super-insulated mudroom, bathroom, laundry room, and garage with living space above. The mudroom connects the original house to the garage and living space above. At just 14′ wide, we opted for conventional...
