TerraDesigns has been designing and building straw bale, custom homes in Colorado for over four years. Our building system yields a very quiet, energy efficient and beautiful home. Many clients prefer the safe and comforting feeling of thick walls and deep window sills. Straw bale homes can be built multiple stories tall and are easily molded to virtually any design taste you may have. We are straw bale specialists, but our team of four partners offers extensive experience with other materials and all aspects of sustainable building practices. Our experience with solar designs, radiant heating systems, and mountain sites may also benefit your project.

Benefits

Super-Insulated Comfort
R-32+ walls save your heating and cooling dollars and provide refuge from traffic, wind, and other noise. The security and quietude of a straw bale home is simply unparalleled by conventional building systems. No comparable thick walled system can be achieved as cost effectively as straw bale.

Healthy Living
The grounding aesthetic of solid straw bale walls, combined with flexible design considerations, yields personalized and satisfying living spaces. Healthful materials surround you with peace of mind and reduce off-gassing chemicals. Use of local, renewable materials lowers the embodied energy of your home, helping us all live sustainably.

Lasting Value - Superior Quality
Quality construction is a significant strategy for reducing the life cycle cost of a building. Our designs offer greater fire resistance than conventional structures, and are inherently resistant to wind, hail and seismic disturbances. Our finish systems are virtually zero maintenance. Moisture and infestation are of little concern when homes are well -built - just like in a conventional home.

TerraDesigns has built over twenty custom homes in eight Colorado counties. Our system is very efficient to build and yields a high-quality, low maintenance home from $120/square foot. Our design process is driven by our construction experience and enhanced by input from Architects when needed. The result is a less expensive design fee and a beautiful, functional home that can be built within budget. The company is currently building homes in Nederland and Idaho Springs. Both are open to tours by calling the contact number. We have several industry contacts for financing, insurance and any other needs. Our consulting services are available wherever you are in the World.

TerraDesigns also maintains relationships with several Colorado land owners and developers with projects under way or interest in projects that will include straw bale speculative homes.

Harvest Meadows Partnership
TerraDesigns is very pleased to announce a partnership with Green Valley Financial Holdings, to develop a 45 unit Community on over 100 acres in Brighton, CO. Pre-sales are currently being accepted for the first eight unit phase of this community by calling TerraDesigns. Located on Bromely and Havest road, the gated community is called Harvest Meadows. The project will feature high-end homes with extremely green features including several straw bale homes by TerraDesigns. The Land Planning will employ a biological waste water treatment system, clustered units to allow open space beyond the large lots, extensive trails, ponds, and gathering places, and private airport access. Todd Stewart, the marketing director at TerraDesigns, says "We could not be happier to have reached a land owner with such inspiring visions for their property. This is the kind of partnership that can effect great positive change in our building and land planning process. People know that "green building" means comfort and style today, and a better chance of an equally comfortable life for our children. We are honored to participate in building the community model offered at Harvest Meadows."

Philosophy
At TerraDesigns we have always seen the great benefit of our building system not just in its low energy or life-cycle costs, but also in the power of these homes as a vehicle for partnership and social change. One step within straw walls invites us to reconnect with our place in nature. We feel at home within these walls - yet must step outside conventional beliefs about houses. This moment of questioning opens us to remember simple human truths. Truths sought by the cascade of questions our society is asking about; how we use resources; the balance of work, family and money; how we communicate, live together and heal ourselves; in short, how we manifest our partnership within nature's systems. The answers to these questions today are yielding a commitment to higher quality of life. The elements of this commitment are a regular subject of mainstream media coverage and the current quest of our social paradigm. Straw bale homes touch people daily at the heart of our social structure - Home! We are reminded by these buildings, of belonging to the natural systems within which we all live. At TerraDesigns, we are Visionaries and Stewards to this Planet, and we build personally nurturing and environmentally responsible projects for people seeking a higher quality of life.

Mission Statement
Our Mission at TerraDesigns is to deliver beautiful, quality crafted, comfortable, efficient, and resource-wise buildings that inspire peaceful connection to nature and soul.

Our team embodies a vision of prosperity, joyous and gratifying self-expression, and trusting, life-improving partnership between nature, people and buildings.

We believe these values, delivered through sustainable buildings, are powerful vehicles for social alliance, carrying sustainable living, naturally responsive community planning, and spiritual truth, into mainstream reality.

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