[Christ]

I'm actually looking at strawbale for the exterior wall covering, mixed with mud and used for "stucco" of sorts.

Who - Thanks for the explanation on that.

Now, after building a block wall and back filling it with packed earth, then adding to the exterior a ~1" thick layer of packed earth "stucco", and a living roof/buried wall (just one, for the ramp to the roof), how do you think I'll fare with an average NE PA climate?

(Winters seldom get subzero, average temps around 20-30F, I believe, and Summer average is 70-80F.)

The house plan previously seen will probably get scaled down to about 40x60, and the roof should be concrete (ish).

It doesn't necessarily have to be concrete, but the rules say no wood. (For the house itself... cabinets, interior stuff, etc... that's a different story.. those are probably all recycled from old remodels and such.)

Where can I find more information on slab roofs?

PS - anyone from near this area knows about the shale content of the hills around here... I intend to salvage/use as much as we can from whatever gets dug out of the hill to serve our purposes. Some of it will be used for landscaping, some larger pieces will probably be sold, and smaller "chips" may get used for pave in the driveway area.