News
Performing Arts Centre Taking Shape
Stonehenge? No, it 's the straw bale core structure of the sustainable, ecofriendly Madoc Performing Arts Centre currently under construction. Twelve days after breaking ground, Sir Sandford Fleming College students, led by instructor Chris Magwood, had the pillars standing, and were just finishing up the foundation wall.
By Diane Sherman
May 13 2008
Stonehenge? No, it 's the straw bale core structure of the sustainable, ecofriendly Madoc Performing Arts Centre currently under construction. Twelve days after breaking ground, Sir Sandford Fleming College students, led by instructor Chris Magwood, had the pillars standing, and were just finishing up the foundation wall. Six hundred feet of geothermal piping has been set six feet underground where the former baseball diamond was at the Centre Hastings skatepark and recreation field.
Magwood prefers to use hemp straw, from a local farm, as it is a stronger, more durable fibre than any other type of straw.
After a meet-and-greet gathering in the Madoc library May 7, the students went back to work and had the bales bound and standing by the following Friday. They are set to make a hexagon. The open area will be filled in with regular square bales and the whole thing will be finished in mud. Guided tours of the site are being given each Thursday starting at 5:30 pm for anyone interested in the sustainable building concept.
Previous page: Modules
Next page: Menu Manager