Straw Bale Reciprocal Roof

A home that only cost 3 500 euro.

Straw bale reciprocal roof.

A reciprocal roof is a beautiful and simple self supporting structure that can be composed of as few as three rafters and up to any imaginable quantity within reason of course. It took charlie a little over a year to build his home with a reciprocal roof and lime plastered straw bale walls. I am becoming more and more enamored with the idea of a reciprocal roof for my own round cob straw bale home. Here are some pictures of a beautiful double reciprocal roof i found.

Reciprocal roofs are generally found on round elliptical or polygonal buildings as the weight of. They originated in medieval japan but probably date back further and aspects of reciprocity can be found in the roofs of many early human settlements. But i am also hungry to learn more about the physics strengths and weaknesses of these beautiful elegant yet simple roofs. A reciprocal roof is type of roof where the individual rafters mutually support each other.

My question is this. I will build a building with a reciprocal roof structure with roundwood in central portugal. Non bearing walls will be out of cob on the south side and straw bale on the north side and the floor will be earthen. How exactly do i construct the foundations for this building.

Charlie s home is designed from the natural resources available on the land using stone roundwood straw bales clay turf and lime. All in all it cost charlie about 15 000 23 000. See more ideas about cob house natural building earth homes. A collection of pictures from rubble trench to final straw bale roundhouse with reciprocal roof by matthew robin white.