The 2015 earthquakes in Nepal left widespread destruction and loss of life in their wake. They also presented an opportunity to rebuild safer and more sustainably. Martin Hammer, architect and co-director of Builders Without Borders (BWB), led a team to design and build a prototype building with its Nepali partner organization to do just that. ‘Paral Ko Ghar’, the first straw bale house in Nepal, is 1.5 stories with a multi-purpose attic, modeled after the traditional rural Nepali house. In addition to a seismically tested straw bale wall system developed for post-earthquake Pakistan, the building utilizes structural bamboo, straw-clay, lime-stabilized earthen floors, split bamboo lath, clay-lime, lime, and clay plasters.

Martin Hammer and Mark Jensen – lead builder, with extensive natural building experience in the US, on US tribal land, and in Kenya – will guide you through this project, used to train local builders while the BWB team members learned equally about Nepali ways of building. Context will be provided with an overview of the earthquake, Nepali culture and society, and descriptions of other sustainable building systems such as compressed earth blocks and earthbag that have been utilized more broadly in the rebuilding effort.