Greg Esparza takes one of his architectural cues from his days running an Austin, Texas, farmers’ market back in 2009, when he was also launching his design career. “It’s like the Michael Pollan rule: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants,” Greg says. “If we are trying to nourish ourselves with ingredients our grandmother would recognize, why wouldn’t I want to build a house with materials she would recognize?”

A cofounder of design-build firm Moontower, he applied Polan’s advice to build an experimental home in Austin: a shed-roofed two-bed, two-bath made of cross-laminated timber and clad in a patchwork of mottled brown panels. (It was part of the city’s AIA Homes Tour this year.) The material is unmistakable. “When people come up to it, no matter who they are, they are like, ‘This is cork, right?’” Greg says.

The 1,000-square-foot residence is made mostly with plant-based products, aspiring to be one of the healthiest the city has seen. Greg’s initial focus in designing residences was human scale, but it has since expanded to include promoting the well-being of people and planet by addressing the short-comings of traditional construction—namely excessive waste and toxic, energy-hungry materials. “In 12 years of making buildings, I saw a lot go to the landfill. It becomes a drag when you see that over and over,” says Greg.

To find a better way, Greg began researching raw plant-based materials with a limited carbon footprint. He came across a project from the 2000 World Expo in Germany, where Portuguese architects Álvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto de Moura teamed up with Corticeira Amorim, a leading cork producer, to use high-density cork slabs for exterior walls. The benefits were clear: Cork naturally contains suberin, a waxy substance, that prevents it from absorbing water; though biodegradable over a stretch of time, it’s sturdy and long-lasting, even when exposed to moisture; it’s not volatile, so it doesn’t off-gas and cause health problems for workers and homeowners.

And, Greg thought, if the bark worked to protect a tree—the ones harvested in Portugal to make cork panels can live to 500 years old—it’d work for a house. “We’re using cork exactly as how it’s used by the tree,” he says. “It’s protecting the structure of the tree, and is the delineator between the outside and the protected inner environment.”

The home is the first from Greg’s new company, Cross Cabin Build and Supply, a distributor of many of the products he used to build the house. It’s meant as a prototype that can easily be replicated for future clients, combining a panelized building system with cork finishes, cross-laminated timber (CLT), laminated paper countertops, and natural wood floors. There’s no tile, drywall, foam, concrete, or specialty finishes, so few specialty tools were required for the build. Greg did much of the finish work himself, including attaching the cork panels to create the facade. He, his wife, Jackie, whom he met at the farmers’ markets he used to organize, and their 12-year-old daughter, have been living here part-time since October.

Of all the materials used for the house, Greg is partial to the cork, with its subtlety shifting color, soft and seamless texture, and ability to dampen sound. “You feel a connection to nature. It’s a compelling aesthetic, and it’s good for your health.” Up front, it costs more than conventional siding, says Greg, but the upkeep over the long-term is much less. It will never need a new paint job, and will weather without losing its integrity.

$21,778.50 Steel Helical Pile Foundation With Steel Beams	$3,750 Grading and Site Work	$133,894.50 Cross-Laminated Timber Package and Installation
$14,041.50 Mafi Natural Wood Floors	$15,046.50 Metal Roofing	$8,937 VaproShield Water and and Air Barrier System
$1,321.50 Miscellaneous Hardware	$30,688.50 Electrical	$39,889.50 Plumbing
$34,200 Mechanical System	$6,736.50 Plumbing Fixtures	$4,023 Lighting
$13,632 Custom Kitchen Cabinetry	$8,320.50 Interior Carpentry (Including Custom Furniture)	$2,128.50 Custom Interior Barn Doors
$6,129 Amorim Cork Cladding and Waterproofing in Shower	$3,635.54 Richlite Black Diamond Countertops	$9,072 Appliances
$15,469.50 Windows & Skylight	$10,725 Doors	$5,797.50 HempWool Batt and Rigid Wood Fiber Roof Insulation
$11,742 Amorim MDFacade Cork Cladding and Insulation	$18,076.50 General Conditions, Including Permitting	$22,012.50 Landscaping, Including Stock Tank Pool
$1,777.34 Deck Stain	$3,883.50 Salvaged 2x4 Pine Deck	-$17,100 Estimated Savings From Salvaged Windows, Doors, and Stain Grade
Grand Total: $429,608.38

Greg often thinks about all the people that have touched the home’s cork panels, from the farmers in Portugal, where the material makes up 16 percent of exports, to the producers of the units, to the tradespeople who helped him finish the home. He also can’t help but wonder about the people who, 100 years from now, might disassemble the house for its parts and use the cork for something else. “Whatever they do with it, it’ll still be useful,” he says.

Budget Breakdown: A Gable Cottage Clad in Cork Pops Up in New York for $381K

Project Credits:

Designer: Greg Esparza with Moontower and Cross Cabin Build + Supply / @crosscabin

Builder/General Contractor: Moontower

Structural Engineer: Apex Engineers

Landscape Design: Casey Boyter Gardens