Natural building techniques were used in the construction of a demonstration children's cottage/classroom at the Kensington Farm Learning Center. The work was completed by a diverse crew of volunteers, including men, women and children. Click here to view progress photos.

The 300-square-foot cottage is mostly made of materials found onsite at the metropark. Dead ash trees, felled due to the emerald ash borer, were milled onsite to make the timber for framing the structure. Earthen block, straw bales and fieldstone walls were finished with an earthen plaster. Volunteers collected phragmites, an invasive plant species, and bundled the harvested reeds for the permanent thatched roof.

Finishing work included the installation of earthen block benches and application of earth plaster to protect the strawbale and earthen block walls from the weather.

Natural building workshops were offered to cover the basic principles for compressed earth block (CEB) and strawbale construction, and earthen plaster application.

Follow the project's progress and view photos at the Kensington Children's Cottage , a web site hosted by Great Lakes Green Initiative (GLGI). GLGI is working with several high school students who will be reporting on the project as part of a collaborative environmental journalism project with Michigan State University.

River Raisin Institute is partnering on this project with:

Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority
Robert B Prud'homme Design LLC
New Harvest Homes, Inc.
Strawbale Studio
Great Lakes Green Initiative