SALLY RUEL ARCHITECT

The Lily Pad

Built as a space to play music and entertain friends, the straw bale studio at Sunnyside was designed by Quercus Rural Building Design, and built by a team including Sally Ruel.

It uses the Nebraska technique in which the bales are loadbearing, held between an eaves and wallplate and pretensioned with Gripples (normally used to tension fencing wires). An oversailing steel roof protects the lime rendered bales, which are finished internally with an earth plaster.