Borenore House

A Straw Bale, Rammed Earth and Joined Timber Frame house built for the extreme weather conditions of the Western Slopes of NSW.

The Outer walls are of compressed straw bales laid brick fashion and rendered with a slaked lime and earth render. The inner walls are of site sourced rammed earth most with hard plastered finish some left as feature walls. The roof and exposed oiled post and beam frame are from recycled, locally sourced, old oregon timbers.

The main central roof form derives from two distorted planes of rafters giving a twisted uprising appearance. The house opens up to the warm sunny North face and lowers and turns a hard face to the cold southerly weather which regularly brings snow down off the mountain. The passive solar design keeps the house between 18 and 23 degrees winter and summer without heating or cooling systems in a harsh and extremely variable climactic zone.

 

The house has an adjacent artists studio built in the same way.

       

 

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