Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (PAKSBAB) is a nonprofit organization created in response to the Kashmir earthquake that devastated Northern Pakistan in October 2005. Our mission is to adapt, apply and transfer straw bale and other appropriate building methods to protect and improve the lives of the poor, especially in earthquake and extreme weather regions of the developing world.
Straw bale construction uses straw, an agricultural byproduct, compressed
and tied into bales, as building blocks. Currently practiced in many developed countries, it offers numerous benefits, including energy efficiency, the use of natural non-toxic materials, and resistance to earthquakes, fire and pests. However, similar to modern conventional building methods, it typically requires the substantial use of energy intensive and high-cost materials, skilled labor, and complex tools and machinery, making it largely
unaffordable for the poor.
In response, PAKSBAB has developed simple, unique, low-cost systems
that utilize indigenous renewable materials, local labor, and adapt traditional building techniques. Our houses are up to 80% more energy efficient at
about 50% of the cost of conventional earthquake resistant construction.
PAKSBAB recently completed a successful shake table seismic research
project at the University of Nevada, Reno, with support from the Network
for Earthquake Engineering Simulation and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. The house survived 8 levels of increasing seismic
shaking and a final acceleration of 0.82g without collapse.
