As our first owner built straw bale structure we opted to build an agricultural storage facility so that we could have a place to put all the trees, plants and permacultural supplies. It's permitted in Tehama County through an Agricultural Building Exemption Permit and gives us a chance to practice some of the building techniques we plan on using on the main house.

The Design
A simple 24' x 20' rectangle using modified post and beam box columns, 2-tie straw bale infill, standard roof trusses, exterior rebar pinning of bales, a slab foundation, stucco plaster exterior and gypsum plaster interior. The building uses more lumber than I like but I wanted the structure to be strong and easy to build (i.e. minimal bale notching,columns to provide more lateral support, etc...) The box columns consist of a 4x4 and 2x4 sandwiched between 2 1/2" OSB boards. These support a 3 1/2" Glu-Lam beam across the tops and sit on a double sill plate toe up using 2x6 and 2x4 lumber. The 2-tie straw bales go inbetween all the box columns.