Joe Trumpey’s Eco-Building on Campus Farm

Under the guidance of Stamps Professor Joe Trumpey, thirty University of Michigan students built U‑M’s only 100% solar powered, natural building during the spring and summer of 2018. As part of Trumpey’s Green Building course, the students built the structure on the Campus Farm, located near U‑M’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The building was unveiled at a capus ​“Harvestfest” celebration on Sunday, October 7, 2018 and will be used in the future to host campus activities and events. This is the second eco-building that Trumpey has designed and erected on U‑M property; during the summer of 2017, students in the Green Building course worked to build a straw-bale house from scratch on the U‑M Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan. Six students returned to Trumpey’s Green Building course to build the structure on the Campus Farm. 

“I advocate for regional thought about local architecture, using local materials, and being able to use natural building techniques to adapt to the local climate,” Trumpey has said of these building projects. 

The Detroit News attended Harvestfest and captured the building in a photo essay.

UM introduces solar-powered Straw Bale Building | Detroit News