[Wonder Warthog]

"Straw! Good grief. Forget about mold, it sounds like a supreme fire hazard. If it didn't mold it would undergo spontaneous combustion some day."

Wrong. Both mold and "spontaneous combustion" relate to the straw (or any other building material) getting wet and not being adequately re-dried. As to the fire hazard--as the last step, all surfaces of the straw are (or should be) covered with a layer of cement or plaster. Straw bale construction is a very old technique, with houses built using it having lasted a century or more.

The schmucks who built this place obviously made every possible error in the book (and some that aren't).

[Mamzelle]

Straw-home theory is sound if done by the experienced and sensible--worth some attention, but this one crassly mismanaged effort will set it back for the duration. Aren't most of these homes built in the dry southwest, combined with adobe techniques? One home I read about was marvelously cool in the desert, with adobe in and out, dry straw in between, walls almost two feet thick. Imagine the window-sills and window-seats.

[Katya]

Visitors recall seeing power tools being charged with solar cells, and rain soaking into straw bales. Jim Buesing said he had a gut feeling that although the crew was strong on enthusiasm, there were complications from weaving together alternate building techniques.

The answer is the idiots trying to build this. You are right, that this is an ancient technique. I have a neighbor who's built quite a luxurious bale building. They have wonderful deep sills and the temperature stability is amazing. Hay bale built properly has no fire risk, as there is little air for combustion. The riskiest time for fire is while building the structure. Obviously they didn't take the damaging rain into account either.