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Home Work:
Handbuilt Shelter

Bill & Athena Steen
Pages 74-75
Pages 76-77
Pages 78-79
Pages 80-81

Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter

Natural Building
Photos by Bill Steen

The image below is a two-page spread (pages 80-81) from Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter. Click on any of the photos on the image to see a larger popup window of that photo (close popup window before clicking another photo). Page text is included below the spread.
Straw bale herbal apothecary, Sue Mullen, Gila, New Mexico Straw bale chicken house, Steve MacDonald, Gila, New Mexico Above and below: Straw bale studio, Lane McClelland and Lauri Roberts, Descanso, California
Straw bale vault in Northern California Penny Livingstone and James Stark in front of their straw bale vault in Northern California Brick dome in Hesperia, California, by Nader Khalili, Author of Ceramic Houses Straw bale studio, Lane McClelland and Lauri Roberts, Descanso, California
Straw bale chapel on a Sedona, Arizona ranch, built in mid-90s Earthbag builder Kaki Hunter, Moab, Utah. Carol Anthony and crew, straw bale workshop, Tlaxcala, Mexico Replica of mound builders’ homes, Evansville, Indiana

More Sample Chapters:

Louie Frazier
The Inspiration for Home Work

Natural Buildings
Photography by
Catherine Wanek

Michael Kahn
Sculptural Village in the Arizona Desert

The Yurts of Bill Coperthwaite

Mongolian Cloud Houses
How to make a Yurt & Live Comfortably

Page 80 Text: none

Page 81 Text: Bill Steen started shooting photos in the late ’60s when he was in college, influenced by photographer Minor White. He continued in the early ’80s, shooting mostly landscapes; in the mid-’80s, when he and his wife Athena started building with straw bales, he started documenting their work “out of necessity.” At times it got a little confusing: “One hand would be covered in mud, and I’d have a camera in the other.” Two books featuring his photos have been published: the best-selling The Straw Bale House and The Beauty of Straw Bale Houses.