KETCHUM, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) - The Idaho Basecamp held their grand opening Saturday for their Borah Basin Building.
"Plant that seed. That's what we're doing here today. Planting the seed into southern Idaho," said Mathew Gershater, owner of Idaho Basecamp, a seed of sustainability.
"This building is built out of 75 percent recycled material," added Gershater.
"Every single piece of this building was trucked over Trail Creek, piece by piece," noted Matthew Mead.
Mead co-founded Hempitecture and the Borah Basin Building becomes the first public building in the nation made with hempcrete, a rapidly renewable material.
"We're just using one part of the industrial hemp plant — the herd, the wooden core. And so when we combine this with a lime-based binder, and we use it in an insulating wall form as a bio-aggregate infill. we're actually creating a highly insulating wall system that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while also creating an energy efficient and really comfortable indoor environment," Mead explained.
Three years in the making, the nonprofit organization based in Ketchum raised $750,000 for the retreat facility on 13 acres of land along the the Big Lost River.
"The purpose for this building is to be able to have people and organizations and families to be able to come to this place, gather, connect with each other, connect with nature and eventually, reconnect with who we are as individuals," Gershater said. "We want to reach out to schools and nonprofits from all over southern Idaho," not only to offer outdoor adventures, but for people to learn about the environment and tie in science, technology, engineering, math and art in the process.
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