1800 square feet, one bedroom plus sleeping loft, 1 and 1/2 baths. This home is the ultimate in sustainable. Timber frame construction, straw bale walls for insulation, geothermal heating, solar domestic hot water, living roof, passive solar design.  Wheel chair accessible.  Reclaimed sinks, interior windows, and interior doors. All timbers and wood counter tops and stones resourced off owner’s land.  Natural plaster walls made from site-grown oat straw and local clay. Low-VOC and non-toxic finishes. This home is now at the center of a certified organic dairy farm, and the gathering place for a large, extended family and network of friends.
Benson Residence
Ground breaking: blessing the site
Looking for trees
milling walnut, oak and locust for the project
Andra and helpers peeling logs
timber framer Sarah Highland at work
first timber bent goes up
geothermal tubes
geothermal trench
home owner Andra works plugging straw bales
some young volunteers
interior thermal storage stone wall in process
 
RASTRA stem wall, locust frame, straw bale front
reclaimed floor grate installation
grate inlay revealed after grinding floor
side view earth berm
front view from corn field
Installing field stone stem wall, with help
front view white washed
 
solarium entry
foyer
truth window
sun flowers greet guests at the driveway
hand built, hand painted kitchen cabinets
Andra’s Italian tiles used at serving counter
Andra’s window in sewing room/bedroom wall
hatbox closet
Cupola with solar hot water array on living roof
breezeway and garage get built
timber framer Aaron Dennis at work
breezeway entrance
Benson yellow lime wash
side view with gardens
 
site stones used for table top and seat