Building One House:
A Handbook
For Straw Bale Construction
Red Feather Kicks Off 2004 With Publication
Of Building One House:
A Handbook For Straw Bale Construction
Red Feather Development Group has just published a handbook describing
a straightforward, step-by-step straw bale construction process. The book
was made possible by an Ideas that Matter Grant from Sappi Fine Paper.
Praise for Building
One House:
“As a Chickasaw who has lived in New Mexico,
Montana, South Dakota and Oklahoma, I’ve witnessed the generally
distressed state of Indian homes and housing. Building One House: A Handbook
for Straw Bale Construction describes Red Feather Development Group’s
proven construction process a step-by-step fashion, and will enable tribal
housing personnel, American Indian families, and tribal community groups
to address housing shortages on American Indian reservations. This handbook
brings us a giant step closer to total Indian housing self-sufficiency
and the pride of home ownership. Robert Young and Nathaniel Corum deserve
our honor and support.”
Charles Blackwell
Chickasaw Nation Ambassador to the United States of America
"Building One House—by Community Design Director Nathaniel
Corum—shares Red Feather’s vision and process. This book is
a timely and important tool towards the empowerment of communities facing
housing deficits. . . That so many people living in the 21st century,
in the richest country in the world, should be living in abject poverty,
is a blot on American society. The Red Feather project is extremely important.
It is culturally and environmentally sensitive; it has incredibly low
overheads; it is truly making a difference."
Jane Goodall PhD, DBE
Founder – the Jane Goodall Institute
UN Messenger of Peace
“Our work has its source in the belief that straw bale construction
was bequeathed to us by Nebraska pioneers as a life-affirming promise
to a world in great need. Thus we actively support Red Feather Development
Group’s vision and work because Red Feather demonstrates an inspiring
commitment to fulfill that promise. This book helps bring an essential
quality—replicability—to our desire to make straw bale construction
widely available to under-housed Native American families.”
Matts Myhrman & Judy Knox
Out On Bale
Founders of The Last Straw Journal
“Straw bale construction is at once an American invention and
a sustainable answer to housing needs on and off the reservation. Nathaniel
Corum of Red Feather Development Group has produced an accessible and
informative resource that promises to improve the housing situation on
many American Indian Nations.”
Rick West, Director
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of the American Indian
More than a Handbook
Over the past decade Red Feather has researched many construction methods
and has arrived at a prototype that reflects the needs and resources of
the American Indian communities with whom we work. Building One House
gives the reader information about building a straw bale home from initial
site selection to finished product, while further refining the typical
Red Feather house—a home that is inexpensive, environmentally sound,
and easily adapted to the various skills and needs of tribal members,
owner/builders and contractors. The book also includes a preface by Dr.
Jane Goodall, case studies of several Red Feather projects, and an overview
of the housing challenges facing American Indian communities today.
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