Book Review

EcoNest, Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw, and Timber by Paula Baker-Laporte and Robert Laporte, published by Gibbs Smith

Book Review by Susan DeFreitas

Strawbale, cobb, 'earthship' construction - I'd always been under the impression that if you wanted to live in a ecologically sensitive house, you had to be pretty oovey-groovey. (Which, let's face it , I am - but that's beside the point.) This book gives me hope for green building in the US going mainstream. The 'econest' concept seems to have combined the best elements of a whole laundry list of green technologies and then gone on to make it sexy. The result is to the average custom home as Natural Home Magazine is to Better Homes and Gardens.

'Econest' is the result of a collaboration between husband and wife team Robert Laporte and Paula Baker-Laporte. The key component of their system is a series of plywood forms that get bolted to the timberframe of the house-to-be and then packed with wet straw, clay, and soil. When this rootsy stew squishes down to the point where it no longer springs back under impact, voila, the forms are removed and the walls are left to cure. What's created is a house whose skeleton is solid timber and whose muscles are a solid but breathable blend of clay and straw.

Thumbing through the pages of this book, you get the feeling that these two have really arrived at something special. So special, in fact that it had to have its own name, like the Radio Flyer or Cadbury's Egg. The ten homes featured in the book are not referred to as houses, but rather as econests. EcoNests®? No, econests. More than a construction technique, more than a 'healthy home' system, more than an aesthetic, the concept seems to combine principles ranging from Zen to greywater, passive solar to shielded electromagnetic fields and natural lighting.

I thought the background of the authors was interesting because Robert Laporte and Paula Baker-Laporte are not just the ones breaking the story, they're also very much the ones making it. In her glowing introduction, Natural Home and Garden editor Robyn Griggs Lawrence calls them "[a] team… that had been at the core of the movement for years "

A press release that accompanied the book goes even further. Robert Laporte had apparently been building custom homes for 15 years before he came to green building, and it was by way of a literal revelation. Upon attending a talk given by HH Shri Bhagwan Rajneesh on the Vedic science of building known as 'vastu' Laporte had a vision of the massive environmental consequences of the building practices he was currently using.

Around the same time, Paula Baker-Laporte, an architect by trade, was suffering from a series of chronic respiratory infections and mysterious allergies. Eventually, she discovered they were connected to the chemicals that had been used during the manufacture and construction of her home.

Independent of one another, the authors began a serious course of study on ecological and nontoxic building techniques. When they joined forces, so apparently did their personal passions.

According to the information in this book, massive walls made of clay and straw have some pretty amazing qualities: temperature regulating, breathable, light, eco, readily available, nontoxic, and durable as hell. But what may be even more amazing is the fact that it's based on a European tradition known for having produced continuously inhabited buildings over 800 years old. Of course, light straw/clay is still considered 'alternative' or 'experimental' in the US. Go figure.

This book is bound to whip up a frenzy of eco product lust as it makes its way across the progressive coffee tables of America. But there's also enough detailed information in it to satisfy a hardcore eco-geek or serious do-it-yourselfer. (There's also a listing of US builders and architects trained in the econest technique.) Another big asset is the extensive bibliography and index for locating all things eco and nontoxic for the home, from earthen plasters to plant-based sealant.

Probably the most compelling aspect of the book, though, are the narratives written by the people who actually live in the houses featured. They describe a silence 'as thick as honey' in their homes. One of the authors referred to a wild rabbit that hopped through his front door to test the flavor of a bamboo matt just a few days after construction. One homeowner reported that not even the UPS delivery man wanted to leave.

Ah, those buttery earthtone walls, rice paper skylights and silky-smooth rafters. Those heat-regulating passive solar earth-coupled floors, winter gardens and stone patios.

Beware of one thing about this book, folks; it will make where you're living now seem like fast food at a burger joint compared to a seven-course organic feast.. If you're in any way inclined to favor ecological goods and services, this book will make you want an econest of your own the way you already want a hybrid automobile or a weekend at an organic spa.

Which is, ultimately, what gives me hope.

Read more about EcoNest.

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