Rikki Nitzkin found her way to straw bale when building her own home in the Catalan Pyrenees. Maren Termens has a degree in Technical Architecture and found straw bale building after volunteering with Institut Tecnològic de la Construcció. Together they founded the Red de Construcción Con Paja (Spanish Straw Building Network) and have since built many buildings and taught over 100 workshops.