A local medical centre made of straw bales – it sounds a bit suspicious to many people. But the nature protection NGO Little Earth recently constructed such a building for the first time in Tajikistan.

The construction started in June 2010 with the financial support of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature. Our organisation wanted to both highlight straw as a building material which is locally available and also to show the use of renewable energy technologies such as a solar cell, and air and solar collectors. The medical centre was built in the Choryakorroni Dara village. It is situated not far from the capital, but in spite of that fact, the local rural community is quite poor. Through this project ‘Little Earth' wants to show the advantages of a low-energy house and at the same time to improve the village's health care.

Buildings from straw have a long history

People have been using straw as a building material for centuries. Straw houses have been built on the African plains since the Paleolithic Age. Straw bales were used in construction 400 years ago in Germany. In USA the first documented use of hay bales in construction in Nebraska was a schoolhouse built in 1896 or 1897. Straw bale construction was greatly facilitated by the mechanical hay baler, which was invented in the 1850s and was widespread by the 1890s. In some parts of the world you still can find houses made from straw bales more than 100 years ago. Nowadays, straw has again become a rather popular material for environmentally friendly building designs and construction.

Advantages of the straw bale medical centre

The lack of heavy structures in the straw bale house has several advantages. Firstly, straw has good insulation attributes and keeps the house warm for a long time. Secondly, it is quite lightweight and this helps to avoid a massive foundation and walls, which meant that we could save on a lot of materials, like cement and bricks. Straw is a natural material - walls made from the straw bales breathe and provide people inside with a comfortable and healthy atmosphere. The floor in the straw bales medical centre is insulated with 20 cm claydite and the ceiling with a 15 cm layer of straw that was covered with clay. The energy saving is completed by double-glazed windows and energy efficient bulbs.

The medical centre will be partly heated with the solar air collector that has been installed on the roof. At the same time a solar cell provides electricity for LED-bulbs in the case of a blackout (this is a normal occurrence since access in the village to the electricity grid is limited to few hours during winter).

Finally warm water is provided by a solar collector, which was built during a workshop organised in cooperation with GTZ and Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF). Thanks to its water tank on the roof, a limited amount of water is always available, even if there is no electricity for the pump.

First experience was not easy

The first experience was not easy. It took time to convince people that buildings from the straw are possible and that they are safe. By involving local people in taking responsibility for the project, there have been some difficulties in dividing tasks and costs. For the initial phase of construction two consultants from Belorussia were invited to provide technical assistance to ‘Little Earth' and local masters. Although the construction period lasted much longer than expected, we are pleased with the results. Soon the brand new and warm medical centre will open its doors to the first visitors from local community.

Steffen Beiwinkel - ‘Little Earth' volunteer from Germany