From Field to Form: Straw Panel Discussion at Parsons School of Design by The Architectural League NY and Healthy Materials Lab
From Field to Form: Straw
A series event by The Architectural League of New York. An independent forum that supports and highlights transformative work in the allied fields that shape the built environment. Creating a space to stimulate thinking, debate, and action on today’s converging crises in service of a more livable, inclusive, and just world.
From Field to Form is a series of events exploring the possibilities, life cycles, and architectural implications of plant and earth-based materials. The Straw series panel discussion from 4/29/24 included our co-CEO and director of vision and strategy, Ace McArleton and Director of Building Science and Sustainability, Jacob Deva Racusin.
Panelists Discussion at Parsons School of Design
Organized in partnership with Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design, The Architectural League of New York put together a panel of experts to discuss the use of straw as a building material.
“What will it take to accelerate the use of straw for buildings? Can we address our housing crisis with straw? How can we accelerate the adoption of straw for urban building fabric? What are the unique opportunities for designing with straw?”
You can view the discussion and answers to these questions provided by the panel of experts on Youtube.
Event Panelists
Ace McArleton Co-CEO and director of vision and strategy at New Frameworks.
Jacob Deva Racusin The director of building science and sustainability.
Alex English Farmer and small business owner. He works with the Kenyon family at Nitty Gritty Grains, a family-owned and operated farm that produces certified organic grains in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Paul Lewis is a principal at LTL Architects based in New York City and professor at Princeton University School of Architecture.
Jonsara Ruth Discussion moderator and co-founder and design director of Healthy Materials Lab (HML) at Parsons School of Design, where she is an associate professor and the founding director of the MFA Interior Design program.
Watch the Full Discussion on YouTube
New Frameworks is actively working to address the issues highlighted by The Architectural League of New York by being an inclusive multi racial-, women-, queer-, and trans owned worker cooperative. To address the housing crisis in our local communities and beyond, we have recently transitioned to providing high performance ADU’s (accessory dwelling units.) Our Casitas are prefab modular homes ranging from 300SF to 900SF that are created from locally sourced plant-based materials, mainly straw, softening our ecological impact while providing state of the art comfort.
Championing Sustainability, One Casita at a Time
From reducing design costs to simplified, climate-positive construction, New Frameworks’ Casitas make sustainable living accessible, affordable, and attainable. Join us in redefining housing, one Casita at a time.
To learn more about our Casita designs, reach out today.
