I am a previous student of landscape architecture in America. I now live in Korea.<br><br>Anything helpful? I'll try and do with contacts, here.<br><br>Write me at my e-mail address.<br><br>Kathryn Durham<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 4:35 PM, RT <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ArchiLogic@yahoo...">ArchiLogic@yahoo...</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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========= Forwarded from SB-r-Us @Yahoogroups =======<br>
<br>
Hello.<br>
<br>
I’m a graduate student at Nihon University researching the<br>
interstitial hygrothermal environment of straw bale buildings in Japan. I<br>
have<br>
several questions on a couple of different topics.<br>
<br>
1. I’m monitoring eight straw bale buildings in Japan.<br>
Generally, interstitial humidity and straw moisture content increases<br>
towards<br>
the exterior. Comparing indoor and outdoor humidity levels suggest that<br>
rather<br>
than exfiltration or diffusion of indoor moisture, external moisture is the<br>
primary cause of interstitial moisture. I’d like to investigate the<br>
influence of rain screens on the interstitial environment. It may be too<br>
much<br>
to build identical straw bale structures, but I could build two or more<br>
straw<br>
bale walls protected from any unintended moisture. The structure of the<br>
walls<br>
would be identical except that one wall would have a rain screen. I could<br>
spray the walls with a measured quantity of water (in liters per minute)<br>
and<br>
monitor interstitial relative humidity and straw moisture content.<br>
The recent conversation on ventilated rainscreens has been helpful. Thank<br>
you. I’m looking for construction details of straw bale walls with rain<br>
screens to share with an architect. I’ve found rough wall sections in<br>
King’s “Design of Straw Bale Buildings”, Minke’s “Building with<br>
Straw”, and Chiras’ “The Natural House”. If any one could provide<br>
construction details or detailed photos, I’d be grateful. (Thank you John<br>
in<br>
Australia and André in France for the descriptions.)<br>
<br>
2. I removed samples of straw from two straw bale structures<br>
at our research center. Samples of straw were taken from around five<br>
temperature and relative humidity sensors. One structure has been<br>
monitored<br>
for six years, the other for two years. The condition of the straw was<br>
analyzed for mold and decay. 63 times magnification revealed fungal<br>
hyphae in<br>
what was to the naked eye clean straw. A Yamaco MT-700 C-N Corder was<br>
used to<br>
measure total carbon concentrations. As fungi digest straw, they consume<br>
the<br>
carbon in the straw and give off carbon dioxide. The percentage of total<br>
carbon in the straw should, in theory, decline as the straw decomposes.<br>
Carbon<br>
concentrations were compared with new straw from 2008 grown and dried at<br>
our<br>
research center. As expected, the straw from around sensors with a<br>
history of<br>
high relative humidity had the lowest carbon concentrations.<br>
For those who know more about this then I, is total<br>
carbon a good measure of straw decomposition? What other tests could be<br>
done<br>
to determine the extent of straw decomposition without samples of the<br>
original<br>
straw at the time of baling or building? I was considering comparing<br>
stable<br>
carbon isotopes C12 and C14.<br>
<br>
3. I’d like to submit a paper to the Journal of Asian<br>
Architecture and Building Engineering, a peer reviewed Journal sponsored<br>
by the<br>
architectural associations of Japan, China, and Korea, by April 8 for<br>
publication in November. Would anyone be interested in helping me with a<br>
statistical analysis of the carbon experiment described above? Last year I<br>
received help with a paper from a couple of people on this list. Many<br>
thanks.<br>
<br>
Kindest regards,<br>
Kyle Holzhueter<br>
Nihon University<br>
Graduate School of Bioresource Sciences<br>
Architecture and Regional Ecological Design Studio<br>
1866 Kameino Fujisawa-City Kanagawa-Prefecture 252-8510<br>
JAPAN<br>
<br>
<br>
TEL/FAX (81)466-84-3364<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="http://hp.brs.nihon-u.ac.jp/%7Eareds/" target="_blank">http://hp.brs.nihon-u.ac.jp/~areds/</a><br>
<a href="http://www.cnes.brs.nihon-u.ac.jp/" target="_blank">http://www.cnes.brs.nihon-u.ac.jp/</a><br>
<br>
============= End of Forwarded Material ============<br>
<br>
--<br>
=== * ===<br>
Rob Tom<br>
Kanata, Ontario, Canada<br>
< A r c h i L o g i c at ChaffY a h o o dot C a ><br>
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply)<br>
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