New Frameworks’ Seed Program
Growing a Movement. Building a Future. Together.
At New Frameworks, we believe that how we build is just as important as what we build. The Seed Program is our commitment to creating a new future—one where high-performance, carbon-smart, and socially just building practices are accessible, scalable, and shared.
What is the Seed Program?
The Seed Program is a three-year journey designed to grow a thriving ecosystem of natural builders, designers, and manufacturers. It’s for mission-aligned businesses that are ready to take action on climate justice, transform the construction industry, and build deep regional resilience by working together.
Choose Your Path: Seed Program Tracks
We know that different businesses have different strengths, goals, and capacities. That’s why the Seed Program offers three distinct pathways designed to meet you where you are and help you grow from there.
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This is the most comprehensive version of the Seed Program and is ideal for businesses that want to integrate strawbale insulation systems from top to bottom. Whether you're launching a full-service operation or looking to deeply embed natural straw bale building into your company’s DNA, the Full Program equips you with a 360° understanding of how to design, build, and run a business around designing for and building high performance straw-structural insulated panels. See the full breakdown for the Full Program.
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For builders, craftspeople, and fabricators, this module focuses on the physical construction, delivery, and installation of strawbale panel systems. It’s a great fit for shops that want to take on straw panel production in their region or contractors interested in becoming go-to installers for these systems. See the full breakdown of the Manufacture and Install module.
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For architects, engineers, and design professionals, this module dives deep into how to integrate S-SIPs into your projects from concept to construction documents. This is where performance meets creativity—helping you design straw bale houses with confidence, push the envelope (literally), and meet evolving energy and climate codes with straw as insulation. See the full break down of the Design module.
Join the Movement
Whether you're a craftsperson, architect, panel fabricator, or a small design/build shop, the Seed Program is your entry point into a movement that puts powerful tools as they relate to carbon-storing, straw bale construction into the hands of everyday people. It connects you in a decentralized, collaborative network with real momentum for change in the built environment.
Why the Seed Program?
The construction industry is one of the largest contributors to the climate crisis—but it doesn’t have to be. Through bio-based, carbon-storing building systems like straw-based structural insulated panels (S-SIPs), we have the opportunity to not only reduce emissions but actively reverse them. These panels combine the natural advantages of straw as insulation with the efficiency and strength of modern prefabrication techniques.
Strawbale construction and straw bale housing solutions offer some of the most compelling answers to today’s environmental and social challenges. Whether you're dreaming of a modern straw bale house, developing intergenerational housing, or reimagining community infrastructure, straw bale homes offer healthy, durable, and regenerative alternatives to conventional buildings.
But technology alone isn’t the answer. Real change happens when these tools are paired with the right training, values, and community support. That’s why the Seed Program exists: to share the knowledge, skillsets, and relationships necessary to make sustainable, high-performance straw bale housing replicable, accessible, and grounded in justice.
The story of the Seed Program
and the greater Seed Collaborative
“It all started from the desire to make healthy, natural, comfortable homes more accessible to all, and make the industry providing them resilient instead of extractive and destructive.” -Ace McArleton, Co-Founder of New Frameworks
Program Structure: A Three-Year Arc
The Seed Program is built to support your evolution — from learning the ropes to launching your own business and recognizing your own impact.
Year 1: Intensive Learning & Peer Connection
Your journey begins with a rigorous and collaborative learning year. Small cohorts (usually 2–4 participant groups) move through the curriculum together, building bonds and support networks that last long after the program ends.
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Deep dives into core topics like S-SIP science, straw bale construction methods, natural building systems, building codes, supply chain logistics, and market development.
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Direct access to our team and guest mentors to ask questions, troubleshoot, and refine your understanding of topics such as straw insulation, climate-adaptive design, and regional straw supply networks.
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Opportunities to share your progress, get feedback, and strengthen your communication and business planning.
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Focused time to build mutual support, shared tools, and ongoing collaboration with other participants and past cohorts.
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One-on-one guidance from New Frameworks staff tailored to your goals and unique challenges in straw bale house design, production, or installation.
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A 4-day immersion at our Essex Junction, Vermont shop where you’ll engage in real-time manufacturing, installation, and technical consulting using straw bale panels and carbon-smart strategies.
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Ongoing mentorship and support as you apply your newfound knowledge to real-world projects.
Seed Program Tracks: Breakdown
Full Program: Design + Manufacture + Install + Business Planning
This is the most comprehensive version of the Seed Program and is ideal for businesses that want to integrate strawbale insulation systems from top to bottom. Whether you're launching a full-service operation or looking to deeply embed natural straw bale building into your business’s DNA, the Full Program equips you with a 360° understanding of how to design, build, and run a business around designing for and building straw-structural insulated panels.
Participants in the Full Program receive training across all three core areas:
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Learn how to incorporate straw-structural insulated panels into high-performance designs, including code compliance, building envelope strategies, modular panel detailing, and thermal modeling using straw as insulation.
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Get hands-on with panel production and job site delivery logistics—from raw straw bale material handling to precision installation methods for construction with straw-structural insulated panels.
This track is ideal for:
Design/build companies
Emerging manufacturers
General contractors seeking to expand services
Anyone ready to take on multiple roles in the straw panel supply chain
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Build a plan that’s financially sound, values-aligned, and ready for growth. This includes marketing, operations, team development, and pricing structures tailored to the straw bale housing market.
Manufacture + Install Module: Hands-On Construction Path
For builders, craftspeople, and fabricators, this module focuses on the physical construction, delivery, and installation of strawbale panel systems. It’s a great fit for shops that want to take on straw panel production in their region or contractors interested in becoming go-to installers for these systems.
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How to manufacture panels efficiently and safely using straw bale insulation
Construction sequencing, panel layout, and on-site integration
Shipping, staging, and weather protection best practices
Material sourcing, moisture management, and QC protocols
Installation troubleshooting and builder education around straw bale homes
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Timber framers or SIP installers transitioning into high performance, sunstainable construction
Builders looking to develop their own manufacturing line for straw-structural insulated panels
Teams ready to plug into a growing regional supply chain of straw bale panels
GC teams looking to add additional revenue into their income streams
Natural building enthusiasts that would like to see more straw bale homes in their area
Design Module: The Brain Behind the Build
For architects, engineers, and design professionals, this module dives deep into how to integrate S-SIPs into your projects from concept to construction documents. This is where performance meets creativity—helping you design straw bale houses with confidence, push the envelope (literally), and meet evolving energy and climate codes with straw as insulation.
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Panel design strategies and modularity
Detailing for energy performance, water, air, and vapor control
Integration with both conventional and natural building systems
Coordination with engineers and builders
Navigating permitting and code language with confidence
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Architectural firms interested in sustainability
Passive House or net-zero designers
Freelance designers and energy consultants
Anyone working on affordable, carbon-smart strawbale housing projects
Independent makers.
Shared purpose.
The Seed Collaborative isn’t a franchise. It’s a network. Each member operates independently but connects through shared research, open communication, and collective problem-solving.
Monthly calls. Collaborative design sprints. Shared testing and tooling. Policy advocacy. Peer mentorship.
This model of decentralized cooperation builds strength where it's needed most: in local communities.