I am trying to find a way to build a strawbale-enclosed timberframe in Utah, which has a D1 seismic design requirement. It seems that all timberframes in Utah are wrapped in plywood/osb shear walls which I am not particularly interested in. Embedded steel moment frames are also employed frequently, but even if that could be concealed by the strawbales somehow, it relegates the timber frame to ornamental status, and my attraction to timberframing is the elegance of a structure that is useful, beautiful, and efficient.

Perusing some structural engineering forums (I am not a structural engineer, or any kind of engineer for that matter) I found a discussion about timber moment frames (steel connected timber, but timber nonetheless) wherein it was suggested that the posts of the structure could be embedded in concrete and effectively cantilevered against lateral forces, thus creating moment resistance.

Aside from the moisture issues (I'll come back to that), is there any reason why this wouldn't work for a timberframe? Extra long posts could be lowered into prepared holes in the ground, and concrete poured around it. The timbers would have to be large, I'm assuming, but in the end you'd have a true standalone timberframe that also would resist significant seismic loads. And then I could wrap with strawbales without any problems (or OSB).

Of course the main problem with the idea is the wood/concrete connection. What's the point in building a house that will last hundreds of years if the posts rot out in 50? But surely this has been done before? Wouldn't a system that started with lots of drainage, and incorporated multiple waterproof barriers (what about using ICF to form the hole for the beam) prevent the concrete from absorbing moisture and wicking it into the post? The site is at about 6500 feet, so it gets a lot of snow 6 months of the year, which melts and probably makes the ground pretty wet for a bit, but then it's quite dry until the next spring.

Another idea I had was to pour concrete up to 6-12 inches (or whatever) clearance for the post, set the post, then pour some kind of waterproof epoxy around the post that would have the hardness of concrete but not the moisture wicking capabilities. Is there any precedent for this? One of the engineers in the previously mentioned thread said that he had used steel jackets to separate the wood from concrete.

Thanks for your help with this. It's really important to me to do something that is authentic, and not just for show. I'm going to be cutting the frame by hand by myself, so it means more than just a place to live in for a few years.