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Larisa Brojan 
House design in the 21th century: ecological design: case 
study of a straw bale house in Slovenia
ArchTheo 12 – Theory of architecture conference
House & Home from a theoretical perspective
Istanbul 31. 10. 2012 - 3. 11. 2012
Prispevek je bil predstavljen na 12i mednarodni konferenci 
ARCHTHEO 12, ki je potekala v Istanbulu od 31.10.-3. 11. 
2012. Koordinator konference Efe Duyan, glavni svetovalec pa 
Asst. Prof. Dr. Elvan Gökçe Erkmen. Prispevek je bil recenziran 
ter pregledan s strani znanstvenega odbora konference s člani:
Vsi prispevki so objavljeni v zborniku z naslovom  House and 
Home – from a theoretical perspective, in sicer v dveh delih, 
kamor je vključena tudi spodaj predstavljena študija.
Znanstveni odbor konference je bil sestavljen iz 7 profesorjev iz 
različnih fakultet: 
• Prof. dr. Edward Casey
• Prof. dr. Aylâ Fatma Antel
• Prof. Bart Lootsma
• Assoc. prof. dr. Aydan Balamir
• Assoc. prof. dr. Bülent Tanju
• Assoc. prof. dr. Murat Cemal Yalçintan
• Asst. prof. dr. Elvan Gökçe Erkmen
• Aykut Köksal
• Erdal Özyurt
Use of conventional building materials and techniques still 
dominates despite of global effort for more environmental 
friendly design. A number of projects aim at overcoming the 
aesthetic or structural boundaries, in each case aspect of energy 
consumption is neglected.
To achieve a result of ecological design the primary task of a 
design is a selection of a main building material with low impact 
on the environment and people. The use of renewable resources 
like organic material such as straw is significant contribution 
to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. From ecological point 
of view there are many important values calculated within 
environmental impact and defined such as primary energy 
content, global warming potential and acidification potential.
Building use and its maintenance is the longest part of the 
whole building life cycle. The life cycle can be divided into 
three phases, pre-construction, use and after use. Contemporary 
practice dictates guidelines for low energy consumption 
especially in the phase of use, although basic building material 
has the major influence on total energy balance. In the case 
of straw bale building there are many positive characteristics 
compared to conventional construction, such as availability of 
resources, sufficient isolation properties, negative embodied 
energy, local availability, etc.
The use of local materials was typical choice in the past, whereas 
nowadays residential buildings are built up with conventional 
materials such as brick and concrete. Designers nowadays do 
not give much of attention when it comes to choosing basic 
building material. Usually the material is chosen according 
to the investor’s financial capacity. Investors rarely demand 
unconventional materials, such as straw. This type of material 
often raises concerns about the performance, and there are also 
few investors who categorically reject it. The advantage of 
this material is held in the accumulation of CO2 in the straw, 
therefore the final energy balance is characteristically lower.
Straw has a long history in architecture. For the longest period of 
time it was used as a layer of thatch or a binder in a clay building 
techniques. At the beginning of the 20th century, simultaneously 
with invention of steam machine for making straw bales, straw 
bale building technique was developed and mostly used in 
combination with timber and clay. Basic properties of straw are 
the isolation properties which are quite suitable, but the greatest 
advantage of straw is its organic structure which is completely 
recyclable and it is locally available practically worldwide.
Straw bale building is suitable not only for rural area. Many 
already built buildings prove that the straw and specific building 
techniques can be applied in urban area as well. The design of 
the presented single-family house is orientated environmental 
friendly. Currently built project in Radomlje (Slovenia) is based 
on the idea of low carbon footprint. Consequently the choice of 
natural materials was obvious. Structure of the house is timber 
frame filled with straw bales and rendered on both sides of 
the wall with clay. Exterior wall is additionally protected with 
a layer of lime wash. Another step in environmental design is 
orientation of the house with minimum glassed area on the north 
side and largest glassed area towards the south which present 
low heat loses.
BROJAN, Larisa. House design in the 21th century: ecological 
design: case study of a straw bale house in Slovenia. V: DUY AN, 
Efe (ur.), ÖZTÜRKCAN, Ceren (ur.). ARCHTHEO ‘12 : 
conference proceedings, 31 Oct-3 Nov 2012, Mimar Sinan Fine 
Arts University, [Istanbul]. 1, House & home from a theoretical 
perspective. Istanbul: DAKAM Publishing, cop. 2012, str. 38-
46, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 2870916]
Borut Juvanec
Architectural theory : order in reality
Symmetry: Art and Science
International Society for the Indisciplinary Study of 
Symmmetry ISIS 
Folk Architecture – Vernacular Architecture
8. – 10. junij 2012, Budapest - Veszprém - Szentendre, 
Madžarska
Mednarodna znanstvena konferenca Symmetry of Forms 
and Structures se je odvijala na temo prostorskih struktur in 
harmonije. Symmetry konferenca združuje znanstvenike z 
različnih področij, kjer se pojavlja simetrija ali asimetrija. Na 
teh srečanjih se srečujemo matemetiki, industrijski oblikovalci, 
arhitekti, fiziki, gradbeniki, urbanisti, arheologi, ki se praktično 
ukvarjamo na realnih primerih in razvijamo teoretične modele in 
metode dela. Namen konference je v povezovanju idej, vedenja 
in utrjevanju misli o ravnovesju. 

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Order is very interesting thing, even in architecture. Mostly in 
architecture, maybe.
From classical times to the present, harmony has meant a healthy 
mind in a healthy body: in philosophy as well as in architecture. 
The beauty itself cannot be defined. It is a matter of fashion and 
applicability, that vary over time.
Knowledge, schooling, heritage are elements that are not so 
different in their results. Schooling gives shape to scientific 
knowledge, heritage knows only order. Order does not mean 
recipes, for instant use, but can be applied to architecture with 
individual inspiration, without constraint or command. 
‘Order and reality’ is an eternal question but the wise man used 
myth for the realization of wisdom. Wisdom in architecture, 
especially in vernacular architecture, means understanding 
materials, techniques and design. The elements of the house, and 
the house itself, mean the essential parts of materialism as well 
as in symbolism.
Simple man, as a builder, could not know everything or master 
all the skills. An architect has to coordinate wisdom, skills and 
the  ability of workers and of users. 
Harmonization is the most important part of an architect’s work, 
and the most visible.
Simplification of the work and avoiding mistakes are the 
elements of designing space, the result is aesthetics.
Geometry and mathematics are very important elements of sense 
in architecture. Simplification is of primary importance, because 
only simple things can be visible, understood, in the end real.
The use of simple mathematics and geometry is essential for 
architect’s work, from prehistory till today. 
One of the first architectures, sacral complex Hagar Him in Malta, 
shows the simple mind and anthropomorphic understanding of 
the prime man: use of his own elements. In groundplan, the 
morulla and symmetry are in use, as well as the corbelling.
The next elements are square, cube, triangle, and the use of 
square root of two in plain, square root of three in space, and 
finally the golden section, the closest proportion system to the 
man himself.
The square
A square is one sixth of a cube, of its outer faces. It has four sides 
and all right angles. It is defined by its diagonal, the square root 
of two.
The cube
After a sphere, a cube is the simplest body. Its use can be 
described in terms of the whole cube, its half, its third, and 
several cubes in composition.
The triangle
A triangle can be of different types but the most usable is 
equilateral, with all three sides the same. Its height is equal to 
the square root of three divided by two. Stone objects in dry 
stone from the ancient monuments as well as from shepherds 
huts have construction in corbelling: the construction of stone 
shelters is always the same, composed with help of the square 
root of three divided by two, but the elevations are quite different 
- from Iceland to Yemen and from Lanzarote to Palestine.
Golden section
The golden section is the most usable system of proportion 
system, in which the shorter part has the same ratio to the longer 
one as the longer part to the whole, where this is the sum of the 
shorter and longer parts together.
Proportion systems in use: square roots
Square root of two: Slovene kozolec/hayrack is composed in a 
square, with help of its diagonal - in plain, in its main elevation.
Square root of three is equal to the height of an equilateral 
triangle. It is in use for composing the corbelled dome.
Three thirds of a cube: 
Where the cube is cut into three parts, three segments with 
dimensions 3 : 3 : 1 appear.  The beehive hut in Slovenia is 
embraced in a cube. 
Two thirds of a cube:
The ground plan of a house has a ratio of dimensions 2 : 3, 
including side elevations, while the main facades are embraced 
in a square 3 : 3. The granary near Vrhnika is composed in this 
order.
Three cubes:
A Slovene kozolec/hayrack in the space is a composition of 
three cubes, in which only one length is determined, the others 
are the result of diagonals: the diagonal of a square is the square 
root of two, and the diagonal of a rectangle with sides one and 
√2 is the square root of three.
A kozolec (hayrack) in Slovenia is the only ethnic architecture I 
know (May 2010:66).
Conclusions
Order in architecture is used for simplifying work, for avoiding 
mistakes - in technical mean of the construction. The use of such 
order results in beauty.
With the help of order, even unschooled, but not unskilled, man 
can achieve the effect: good, usable, achievable and harmonious 
objects, which are successful and beautiful and in which the users 
enjoy living. Quality of life means culture itself: the culture of 
mankind and of architecture, in time and in space.
And nobody is perfect. Except vernacular architecture.
JUVANEC, Borut. Architectural theory : order in reality. V: 
NAGY, Dénes (ur.). Folk architecture - vernacular architecture: 
traditions and rural development, Budapest - Veszprém - 
Szentendre, Hungary, June 8-10, 2012, (Symmetry, 1-2). 
Melbourne-Kew: International Society for the Interdisciplinary 
Study of Symmetry, 2012, str. 68-73, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 
2723716]
Borut Juvanec
Clay in Architecture: Slovenia and beyond 
UL Faculty of Architecture, Slovenia 
RESTAPIA 2012 International congress on rammed earth
Universitat Politècnica de Valéncia
Valencia, 21. – 23. 6. 2012
Earthen architecture is more or less architecture in clay, but the 
boundaries between earth, clay, gypsum, lime and stone are 
not very clear. Earth, soil and turf can be used in construction