Cadmon Whitty, Straw Bale Contractor and Expert

Name: Cadmon Whitty

Occupation: Straw Bale Contractor and Expert

Place of Residence: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Background and Personal History: Cadmon’s career in construction began in the late 1970’s when he joined a “regular” building crew and began learning the conventional methods using wood, concrete blocks and steel. After half a decade of doing so, and inspired by seeing an alternative-construction site in Georgia, Cadmon embarked on learning as much as he could about such ways of building. This took him to Mexico and Central America, where he was exposed to countless new methods. Then, in 1990, he relocated to New Mexico, discovered straw bale construction — and he has never looked back.

In 1991, Cadmon founded Paja Construction, and has spent 23 years — as well as tens of thousands of hours — expanding the parameters of using straw for houses, walls, retrofits, insulation, and art.