The Straw Bale Cafe Interior Design in Holme Lacy

This is the Straw Bale Café, an impressive project developed by Hewitt Studios LLP. It’s located in Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, UK and it was completed in 2010. The whole project cost £180,000 and it involved Integral Engineering Design, Hicks Titley Partnership and it was designed for the Herefordshire College of Technology.

Straw bale cafe 5

The project involves a 100 seat café, a refurbished kitchen and a terrace. It wasn;t designed as a regular café but as a learning aid in low-impact environmental design. The café was built using prefabricated construction elements in order to minimize disruptive on-site works. In fact, the building structure was prefabricated in a nearby barn. The building was also designed to be dismantled after 15 years and at that point most components are going to be re-used and re-cycled.

Straw bale cafe 5
Straw bale cafe 5
Straw bale cafe 5
Straw bale cafe 5

This is also an energy-efficient project. The building is highly insulated and naturally ventilated and daylit. It also generates up to 6kW as a result of using photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine. It was also built using local materials such as cedar for the cladding and organic straw from the College estate. The café has a modular design and the most unusual thing about it is that it can be dismantled at the end of its useful life and the composed can be reused. This is an important detail because the College has long-term plans for the redevelopment of the campus over the next 10-20 years.{found on archdaily}