Photo Gallery http://www.rriearth.org/gallery.html
Text from the Raisin River website: http://www.rriearth.org/cottage.html
"Natural building techniques are being used in the construction of a demonstration children's cottage/classroom at the Kensington Farm Learning Center. The work is being completed by a diverse crew of volunteers, including men, women and children.
The 300-square-foot cottage is mostly made of materials found onsite at the metropark. Dead ash trees, felled due to the emerald ash borer, were milled onsite to make the timber for framing the structure. Earthen block, straw bales and fieldstone walls were finished with an earthen plaster. This winter, volunteers will collect phragmites, an invasive plant species, and bundle the harvested reeds into thatch for the roof. The permanent thatched roof will be added in the Spring.
Natural building workshops were offered to cover the basic principles for compressed earth block (CEB) and strawbale construction, and earthen plaster application. A workshop on roof thatching techniques will be held in January 2007.
Follow the project's progress and view photos at the Kensington Children's Cottage , a website hosted by Great Lakes Green Initiative (GLGI). GLGI is working with several high school students who will be reporting on the project as part of a collaborative environmental journalism project with Michigan State University. http://www.glgi.org "
This collaborative team effort was initated by The Strawbale Studio Natural Building Project with a grant from the State of Michigan Energy Office, and joined by funding and design and construction support from the River Raisin Institute and other individuals, with great engagement of the Kensington Metropark & Farm staff.
Partners on this project include:
The River Raisin Institute
Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority
Robert B Prud'homme Design LLC
New Harvest Homes, Inc.
The Strawbale Studio Natural Building Program
Great Lakes Green Initiative