A 100 Mile Home: First Straw/Clay home permitted in Eugene

A 100 Mile Home is Eugene’s first permitted residence with a natural light straw/clay wall system, and it's being built at Emerald Village Eugene!

This innovative dwelling demonstrates a natural building process that uses minimal industrial materials and incorporates local labor, skills, knowledge, and the rich resources of the Willamette Valley.

It will showcase aesthetic elements of a naturally insulated, plastered, and finished home and set a public example, within the village model, of how natural building, affordable housing, and community involvement work symbiotically to provide a solution to today's critical housing crisis. DirtChiQ’s goal is to make natural building, now embraced by much of the Eugene community accessible to renters and low-income residents.

Committed to the concept of sourcing non-toxic, regional materials, this home will be a working example of how urban micro-homes can be built affordably with natural, reused, and local materials. In addition to meeting code and incorporating a wall system comprised of loose straw coated in clay slip, this design is easily relatable to conventional builders, incorporates natural plasters, live-edge sills and trim, an earthen floor, natural wool ceiling insulation, non-toxic seals and finishes, and recycled materials.

To provide easy access and replicability the design, process, and permitting documents for this home will be available as a model for other architects and tradespeople committed to building affordable homes.

Connor Anderson, Alicia Ginsberg (SquareOne project coordinator), and Sara Tamler are local design/builders who share a passion for making natural and sustainable building accessible to all. They are bringing together a building team comprised of volunteer natural builders, future EVE residents, and tradespeople.

They’ve been working with Kentrel, the first resident of the home, to incorporate his ideas and vision of his future 200 sq ft home to be shared with O’Malley, his cat. Kentrel and the team are excited to see this natural tiny house concept move from paper to earthen reality.

The team has received generous monetary and material donations from individuals, organizations, and supporters locally and nationally. Local contributors include clay from Dominion Landscape, insulated wood chip-cement wall forms from Faswall, natural wool from Oregon Shepard, as well as the guidance and support of Aprovecho. In addition they are grateful for the professional services from Mortier Ang Engineers, John the Plumber, Contractors Electric and the support from local experienced architects, builders, and tradespeople contributing to Emerald Village.

As revealed by each of the homes at Emerald Village, we appreciate that it truly does take a community to raise a village!

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More about Light Straw / Clay Construction and Natural Building

Light straw/clay (LSC) is a healthy, simple and translatable insulated infill wall system comprised of loose agricultural straw coated in a light clay slip. LSC is packed into a 12” wide double-stud frame between temporary form boards, which are removed to reveal a flat, easily plastered wall.

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What is natural building?

“Natural Building includes a variety of building techniques that focus on creating sustainable buildings which minimize their negative ecological impact. Natural Buildings often rely on non-industrial, minimally processed, locally available, and renewable materials and can also utilize recycled or salvaged materials….Natural Building ideally incorporates sustainable design practices to integrate the building into its environment. It may also integrate electricity production, water catchment, passive heating and cooling, and alternative waste-treatment.” - Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Learn more about this design!

Website: https://www.100milehome.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100milehome

Crowdsourcing: www.youcaring.com/hmheve

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Contact DirtChiQ to learn how you can help support this project: hmheve@gmail.com