PPS's Festival of Architecture & Design: Straw Bale House Tour

This program is part of Providence Preservation Society's Festival of Architecture and Design (Sep 26 - Oct 30, 2026). You can find the event calendar and information about all events here!

One of the main themes of this year’s Festival is sustainable design, making it fitting that one of our final tours visits two of the first homes constructed in Providence using straw. Straw and natural-plaster construction is an ancient building technique that is reemerging in contemporary sustainable design. The new generation of insulated straw panels offers a balance of low embodied carbon, high operational efficiency, and efficient construction.

We begin in Federal Hill at an 870-square-foot home nearing completion this fall. The house incorporates local hemlock beams, traditional Korean hanji wall finishes, clay plaster, and handmade clay paint, alongside contemporary building-science strategies. We will then move to South Elmwood to tour a straw-panel addition that transformed a 200-year-old house into a two-family duplex. The addition features built-in niches, a loft, traditional plaster on lath, and window benches, creating a warm and tactile living environment.

Both homes are projects of Jenna Yu Design. Yu focuses on environmentally sustainable design, with an emphasis on bio-based building materials, particularly panelized straw, clay finishes, and wood. She believes that, in a changing climate, our built environment should provide healthy, comfortable shelter with minimal energy use while storing carbon and helping reduce the impacts of climate change.

Tickets: $45 General / $40 PPS Members

All tickets are fully refundable up to seven days in advance of each program. After that, tickets are nonrefundable because we may not be able to sell the released tickets within a short timeframe. Thanks for your understanding!