Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Ronald Rael
Princeton Architectural Press | New York
Published by
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East 7th Street
New York, New York 10003
Special thanks to: Nettie Aljian, Sara Bader, Rael, Ronald, 1971
Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning, Becca Casbon, Earth architecture / Ronald Rael. 1st ed.
Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Russell Fernandez, p. cm.
Pete Fitzpatrick, Wendy Fuller, Jan Haux, Includes bibliographical references.
Clare Jacobson, Aileen Kwun, Nancy Eklund Later, ISBN 978-1-56898-767-5 (alk. paper)
Laurie Manfra, Katharine Myers, 1. Earth construction. 2. Architecture, Modern20th
Lauren Nelson Packard, Jennifer Thompson, century. 3. Architecture, Modern21st century. I. Title.
Arnoud Verhaeghe, Joseph Weston, and TH1421.R34 2008
Deb Wood of Princeton Architectural Press 721.0442dc22
Kevin C. Lippert, publisher 2008010582
This book is dedicated to my parents, Christina Casias Rael, whose wisdom and character
was shaped in a small adobe house built by her grandfather in the isolated village of
La Florida, Colorado, and Miguel Arturo Rael (19452008), an honest and hardworking builder
who left a legacy of adobe, wood, steel, and concrete in the San Luis Valley, Colorado.
Anyone who has met them knows how special they were and are.
8 Introduction
16 Chapter 1
Rammed Earth
24 Bowali Visitor Information 56 Eden Project Visitor Centre 96 Red Hill Residence
Centre Grimshaw Architects Christopherchris Architecture
Glenn Murcutt & Associates
and Troppo Architects 60 Sihlhlzli Sports Facility 100 Back 40 House
Storage Sheds and Gallo Powell Consortium
28 Low Compound Chronometry Tower
Jones Studio Roger Boltshauser Architekten 104 NkMip Desert Interpretive
Centre
30 Ooi House 64 Split House Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden
Kerry Hill Architects Atelier FCJZ
108 Residence 1
32 P
almer-Rose House 68 Cemetery Extension and Drachman Design-Build Coalition
Rick Joy Architects Chapel of Rest
Marte.Marte
36 Poll House, Margaret River
Gary Marinko Architects 72 Center of Gravity Foundation Hall
Predock Frane Architects
40 Thurgoona Campus of
Charles Sturt University 76 Residence at Meteor Vineyards
Marci Webster-Mannison Cutler Anderson Architects
44 C
hapel of Reconciliation 80 Vineyard Residence
Reitermann and Sassenroth John Wardle Architects
Contents
112 Chapter 2 156 Chapter 3 178 Chapter 4
Mud Brick Compressed Earth Block Molded Earth
116 La Luz Community 160 Villa Eila 182 Baninajar Refugee Camp
Antoine Predock Architect Heikkinen-Komonen Architects Housing
Nader Khalili
120 Matthews Residence 164 Kahere Eila Poultry
Will Bruder + Partners Farming School 184 Waldorf Kindergarten
8
It is estimated that between a third and a half of the worlds pop- Earth is often typically seen as a building material only
ulationapproximately three billion people on six continents used in rural environments; however, a wealth of earth architec-
lives in buildings constructed of earth.1 The typologies of earthen ture can be found in urban environments. Called the Manhattan
architecture, however, extend beyond buildings for living, and of the Desert, the city of Shibam, Yemen, has a population den-
include structures for working and worshiping, as well as the sity approaching that of New York City, with thirty-two peo-
countless forms of earthen architecture that are not inhabited by ple per acre, and is home to the worlds first skyscrapers: a dense
humans, such as agricultural buildings, city walls, and monu- cluster of five hundred tower houses rising up to nine stories high
ments. In India there are estimated to be as many as 80 million constructed entirely of mud brick.6 Contrary to the perception of
dwellings made of earth, and in China the number of people living earth as a fragile, ephemeral material, earth buildings also repre-
in earthen homes is estimated to be 100 million. 2 In France 15 per- sent the oldest extant buildings on the planet. Using approximately
cent of rural buildings are made of rammed earth, and the United 7,000,000 mud bricks, the Ziggurat at Ur was constructed in 4000
States is the leading consumer of mud bricks in the industrialized B.C.E. Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, constructed between 1000 and
world.3 This makes the ground we walk on and cultivate our crops 1450 C.E., is the oldest continuously occupied dwelling in North
in the most widely used building material on the planetthats America, and constructed entirely from raw earth.
right, dirt. This does not include, nor should be confused with, There are perhaps twenty different methods of employing
other materials that come from the ground, such as stone, cement, earth to construct walls, floors, and roofs of varying dimension and
or metals derived from ore. Earth, by this definition, is simply clay, form.7 The adaptability of the material has allowed it to respond to
gravel, sand, silt, or other friable soils, in which organic materials a wide range of contexts, cultures, and epochs, including the spec-
sometimes exist. Because of the ubiquitous availability of appropri- trum of architectural history from antiquity to the modern era. De
ate soil, buildings constructed of earth can also be found just about Architectura, or Ten Books on Architecture, as it is known today,
everywherein almost every terrestrial biome on the planet. written by the Roman architect Vitruvius, is the only treatise on
Earth buildings are commonly perceived to be used only architecture surviving from classical antiquity, and it continues to
by the poor or found only in developing countries, but there are be an invaluable reference for architects. The primary qualities he
earth buildings of almost every architectural type in use by every felt architecture should represent were firmitas, utilitas, and venus-
economic and social class in both the industrialized and non- tasdurability, usefulness, and beauty. Inherently, earthen archi-
industrialized worlds. Airports, embassies, hospitals, museums, tecture represents this triad of values, and he wrote extensively on
and factories are just a few examples of the variety of earth build- the topic. During Vitruviuss time, Rome was a warren of wind-
ing types found throughout the world. For example, the Seyoun ing streets and precarious multistory tenements (68 stories high),
Airport in Yemen uses concrete columns and beams with mud brick of mud brick and half-timber with cantilevered wooden balco-
infill walls. Many middle-class and wealthy residents inhabit the nies.8 Vitruvius writes of the use of mud brick in the construction
vast mud brick suburbs of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ronald Reagans of city walls and devotes an entire chapter in Book II to mud brick
Rancho del Cielo, also known as The Western White House, masonry, describing with great respect the methods for making
in California; Saddam Husseins childhood home in Iraq; the his- and stacking mud bricks. He speaks of lightweight waterproof mud
toric home of Paul Revere, also the oldest house in Boston; and bricks made of pumice that once dried are able to float on water.9
Chairman Maos childhood home in China were all constructed Vitruvius also writes about the mud brick cellae of the temples of
of earth.4 Several of the buildings housing the minimalist artist Jupiter and Hercules and the mud brick residences of Attalid kings
Donald Judds vast and priceless collection at the Judd Foundation
in Marfa, Texas, are made of mud brick.5 Such diversity speaks to
the wide spectrum of philosophies, social strata, and cultures rep-
resented by this universal material.
9
and Croesus. He also noted that, mud brick walls, so long as they Cointeraux, a French architect born in 1740, is considered
are standing upright nothing is deducted from their assessment, the father of modern earthen architecture. After his discovery
but whatever it cost to make them, they will always be assessed at of pis de terre, the rammed earth architecture of the rural French
this value. And so in some cities, public works and private homes countryside, he was awarded a gold medal in a competition hosted
alike, even royal palaces, are to be seen made of mud brick.10 by the Academy of Picardy for a design that used rammed earth as
But it is the modern era that is most relevant to this book, an inexpensive fireproof construction method. His first incom-
and in the eighteenth century the questioning of Vitruviuss work bustible house, erected in Chorges, in the commune of Hautes-
had profound effects on the culture of architecture. The move- Alpes, in 1786 was well received and considered advantageous for
ment away from neoclassicism allowed architects to establish a use throughout the European countryside at a time when most
more objective basis on which to work, and from this emerged a houses were constructed of highly flammable timber frame and
new way to conceive of architecture at the dawn of modernity.11 wattle and daub. The early success of Cointerauxs work subse-
However, the traditions of earth were so embedded in the culture quently prompted him to devote his entire life to the study and
of building that within the modern movement exists a not-so- dissemination of earthen architecture. He hoped that the use of
well-known history of modern architects reconsidering earth as rammed earth could contribute to improving life in France, which
a material in an era more famous for the use of steel, glass, and had suffered from the social, economic, and psychological burdens
concrete. The Four Elements of Architecture, Gottfried Sempers of several wars, and he believed that it could be a means by which
epoch-making theoretical departure from Vitruvius, challenged the common man could improve the quality of his own life.14 He
neoclassical thinking, but still drew from the tradition of build- developed a typology of earth architecture encompassing a com-
ing with earth. His four elements included roof, hearth, the plete range of housing for the poor and the wealthy in both urban
earthwork, and the lightweight enclosing membranethe latter and rural settings, which included four-story town houses, bour-
two being architectural components based upon load-bearing geois country mansions, and designs for public buildings, churches,
masonry or piled massive earth, such as mud brick or rammed earth, and factoriesmany of which were built.15
and the lightweight enclosure membranes being made of wattle In the same year that Cointeraux completed his incombus-
and daub. 12 tible house, the Duke of Bethune-Charost, lieutenant general of
Furthermore, not only were the traditions of earthen con- Picardy, invited him to experiment with rammed earth construc-
struction being employed at the dawn of the modern movement, tion in Amiens. He was not well received, however, especially by
it has been suggested that the evolving use of modern materi- timber and stone merchants and a wide range of craftsmen who
als was directly influenced by traditional earthen construction feared that if pis became widely accepted they would lose their
techniques. For example, the origins of modern concrete can be livelihood. Master masons and carpenters in Amiens approached
directly linked to advancements made in pis (rammed earth) in the police to complain, and Cointeraux was chased out of the city.16
France. Advancements in this humble construction technique, such His models were then destroyed by the craft guilds who were allied
as developing efficient formwork, experimenting with appropri- to the wood merchants.17
ate aggregate sizes, and adding cement stabilizer, as Jean Baptiste Despite this setback, Cointeraux persisted, and in 1788 he
Rondelet had when repairing the chteau in Ain, were some of founded a school of rural architecture in Paris. By teaching and
the first steps toward the development of modern bton (concrete) publishing fifty works translated into eight languages, including
traditions in France. As Peter Collins points out, it was inevitable English, over the next three decades, he disseminated his exper-
that sooner or later some far-sighted individuals should appreci- iments and philosophies in rammed earth. As a result of the
ate the revolutionary possibilities of this method of construction, publications, knowledge of pis spread across Europe and to the
and seek to extend it by improving on the material used. . . . The first United States, even catching the attention of President Thomas
of the pioneers was an ingenious but ambitious building labourer Jefferson, who visited Cointeraux in Paris to see examples of his
named Franois Cointeraux.13 work in rammed earth and compressed earth block. During that
10 INTRODUCTION
visit Cointeraux suggested to Jefferson that rammed earth for- In the early twentieth century, Austrian-born architect
tifications be used to protect the frontier from attacks by Native Rudolph Schindler visited the Native American pueblos of New
Americans.18 Cointeraux also influenced a new way of thinking Mexico. He captured the vernacular architecture of the high-desert
about architecture in Europe, and he developed a number of stabi- landscape, with its thick mud walls and protruding roof structures,
lization methods that enabled rammed earth to meet the creative in a series of sketches he made during his visit. In 1915 he was com-
demands of forward-thinking architects such as Claude-Nicolas missioned to design a country home made of mud brick in Taos,
Ledoux and tienne-Louis Boulle, whose historical impacts New Mexico, that explored the architectural elements he found in
have overshadowed Cointerauxs contribution to architecture.19 the vernacular. Unfortunately, the design was never realized, and
Nevertheless, historians increasingly consider him as a vision- Schindler moved to Los Angeles to work as the project architect for
ary equal to his contemporaries, and Cointerauxs contributions Frank Lloyd Wright on two experimental projects using a masonry
may have been influential on the work of at least one of his peers. system called textile block. Schindler supervised the Hollyhock
Ledoux, best known for his grand utopian ideas, designed a series House, constructed in 1921, and the Ennis-Brown House, con-
of more humble proposals for fireproof buildings as well as the structed in 192 4, whose forms are drawn from pre-Columbian
Cours de Service, a modest farmhouse situated in the French coun- indigenous architecture. Architectural historian Reyner Banham
tryside, rendered in rammed earth. writes of the Hollyhock House:
Many other well-known architects continued to experiment
with earthen architecture in the nineteenth and twentieth centu- The back sloping walls of its upper parts have sources much
ries in the wake of Cointerauxs groundbreaking work. Antoni nearer home than Mayan architecture. They look to me like
Gaud, the Catalan architect famous for his unique style within the the first visible influence on Wrights work of what was to
art nouveau movement, for example, drew from the traditions of be his third and truest wilderness: the high desert states and
rammed earth in Spain and constructed several projects, includ- their Indian pueblos. If Wright himself had not yet seen
ing the entrance pavilions and stables for the farm of Eusebi Gell those pueblos in 1920, and the adobe construction that give
in 1884.20 Edwin Lutyens, the leading twentieth-century British them their characteristic form, his admirer, assistant, fol-
architect, known for his country houses, made designs in earth in lower and Los Angeles office manager, Rudolph Schindler,
response to material and housing shortages as a result of World certainly had, and had recorded them in drawings.22
War I; and Luis Barragn, the most important Mexican architect of
the twentieth century, utilized mud brick in his early designs. The material considerations for the Ennis-Brown House are
But it was in Germany and Austria that earthen architecture slightly different from those of the Hollyhock House. The textile
was transformed by the zeitgeist of the modern movement. The blocks for the Ennis-Brown House were produced by using soil
German architect Hermann Muthesius, founder of the Deutscher excavated from the site that was mixed with cement, a decision that
Werkbund and influential in the creation of the Bauhaus, was may have been based upon Wrights belief that no house should
a supporter of earthen architecture. As the chief architect of the ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging
Vienna Settlement Office, Adolf Loos, one of the most important to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the
architects of the modern period, designed low-cost rammed earth other.23 However, it is more likely that the decision to use local
housing in the Heubergsiedlung settlement because of the scar- soil in the manufacture of the textile block was influenced by proj-
city of materials after World War I. The economic validity of build- ect architect Schindlers appreciation of earth-building practices in
ing wartime housing of earth was also of interest to the German the American Southwest. The blocks that clad the building can be
architect of Hitlers Third Reich, Albert Speer, during World considered a form of stabilized mud brick construction with relief,
War II, but he considered it a means to fuel the war machine by light, shadow, and the hill itself cast in to the blocks.
conserving steel and concrete for the construction of weapons Wright went on to design other earth buildings. In 1942 he
and bunkers.21 designed the Lloyd Burlingham House, also known as the Pottery
INTRODUCTION 11
House, in El Paso, Texas, which was to be constructed of mud bricks Le Corbusier, one of the most influential architects of the
and contain exposed beams similar to Schindlers design in Taos modern movement, shared Wrights frustration with the war.
twenty-two years before. While Wrights design was not realized Shortly after it began, Le Corbusier closed his office and began to
in his lifetime, Taliesin Associated Architects Ltd. permitted two develop architectural solutions in earth for refugee immigration
versions of the house to be completed posthumously in accordance caused by the escalating war. In 1942 he wrote a small book pro-
with Wrights original sketches.24 Around the same time, one ver- moting earthen construction entitled Les Constructions Murondins,
sion, the Bendheim House, was constructed in Phoenix, Arizona, which outlined methods and techniques for making and construct-
and the other, known as the Klotsche-Soiero Residence, was built ing rammed earth and compressed earth block for use in a wide
in 1985 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. range of residential, agricultural, and civic applications. Most of
Prior to his experiments in mud brick, Wright was interested his earth-built designs were for refugee housing. The houses, to
in rammed earth. In 1932 he began considering the use of rammed be built by occupants themselves, were to have load bearing walls
earth in his proposal for Broadacre City, and ten years later he began of concrete block and rammed earth or pis on the site mixed with
to test these ideas further in the Cooperative Homesteads project.25 logs and covered with turfa kind of prehistoric housing brought
The project was commissioned by a group of auto and defense plant up-to-date. A reversal of all the Five Points.28 Yet the project was
workers, professionals, and teachers in Madison Heights, Michigan, not one that looked to the past and, compared to some of the radi-
just fifteen miles north of downtown Detroit, and was designed to cal thinking that was emerging in technology during the war, Le
house twenty-two families on 120 acres. The design consisted of a Corbusiers Murondin project for installing sophisticated mechan-
two-bedroom low-cost house that could be built by the occupants, ical services in mud-huts showed a greater radicalism of approach,
with a built-in garden where the cooperative could grow their own wrote Banham.29 But his proposals were far more than mud-
food to eat or to supplement their income.26 huts. Le Corbusiers designs included proposals for temporary
To keep the cost of construction low, Wright decided to farm villages with houses and stables, as well as designs for youth
use an ingenious combination of rammed earth and earth berms. clubs, schools, and dormitories all constructed of earth.30 After the
In fact, the project was to be Wrights smallest commissionthe war, Le Corbusier returned to his ideas of building with earth and
house was estimated to be built for between $1,600 and $4,000.27 in 194748 proposed a housing complex in La Sainte-Baume, near
To create a garden, Wright decided to pile the earth that was exca- Marseille, France, that was to be constructed entirely of rammed
vated from the site against the rammed earth walls of the house. earthan unrealized design closely related to his Unit in Marseille,
The areas where soil was excavated were used as retention ponds whose conceptual origins grew from the ideas he developed from
for water that was shed from the roof. The berm of soil against the his explorations of the Radiant City concept.31
walls provided additional thermal mass to the building, sheltered Around the same time that Wright and Le Corbusier were
the building from the wind, and was to be planted with a ground- experimenting with earth architecture in the context of World War
cover of grass and moss. A rammed earth wall created the retaining II, a young architect named Hassan Fathy was waging his own bat-
wall for the berm, and thick rammed earth walls defined the interior tles against an invasion of Western ideologies in architecture by
spaces. To keep the berm and rammed earth walls dry, a large roof reviving and enhancing the vernacular architecture of Egypt. In
with cantilevered eaves extended over the berms. Construction on opposition to his Beaux-Arts education in a British-run univer-
the project begin during World War II, and while Wright was able sity, he adopted the Nubian art of mud brick dome, wall, and vault
to see the walls constructed, labor shortages left him short of work- construction, which made it possible for an entire building, includ-
ers to complete the project. When Wrights project architect was ing the roof, to be constructed out of earth. He also utilized prin-
drafted by the U.S. Army Air Corps, the project came to a standstill. ciples of thermodynamics inherent to earth construction to create
As winter arrived, the heavy Michigan snows dissolved the unpro- passive cooling systems at residential and urban scales. In addition,
tected walls and Wrights vision for a rammed earth utopia. he developed an entire economic philosophy based on mud brick,
12 INTRODUCTION
training mud brick makers, masons, and vault builders. Probably of years. And although mud brick had been used in New Mexico
not since Cointeraux had an architect so ardently advocated the use for centuries, his design had to comply with the strict United
of earth architecture, and in 1945 Fathys work caught the attention States building codes, which required elaborate foundations and a
of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, which offered him his cement plaster skin.34
first major commissionto design an entire city of mud brick. As a result, the mosque was much more expensive than
The new city was to be a relocation settlement for the res- originally anticipated, leaving no budget to construct the individ-
idents of the city of Gourna, whose livelihood was based partly ual homes, which were part of the original master plan.35 Plagued
upon looting the Tombs of the Nobles, which lay directly beneath by these setbacks, the construction of the mosque was ultimately
their city. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of New Gourna had no a product of all that Fathy fought against through his architec-
economic incentives to stay in their new home other than those ture. Despite the constant struggles he faced in support of earth
developed by Fathy involving the construction of the city; and architecture, Fathy continues to inspire people throughout the
instead they chose to continue looting the ancient graves. Fathys world. James Steele, the preeminent authority on Fathy and his
beautiful mud brick city was soon abandoned. The construction work, notes that he is perhaps the earliest, clearest example of a
of New Gourna came to a halt in 1948, only one-third complete, sustainability-oriented architect we can find. Every sustainable
but containing a mosque, a school, arcades, a market, and numer- principle you can mention or want to talk about, Fathy wrote about,
ous houses. In 1969 Fathy documented his struggles with the con- thought about, built, gave us living examples of. That is why his
struction of New Gourna in his seminal book, Construire avec le work is important.36
peuple (Building with the People), a title that was later translated Because of the wealth of historic earthen structures on the
as Architecture for the Poor when published in English. The book planet, not all earthen architecture of the modern period was con-
has become an influential guide to people around the world, as ceived from the ground up. Architects have also had to interact
it outlines the process of mud brick construction as a means for with preexisting structures, creating interesting tensions between
anyone to build low-cost housing that is inexpensive, sustainable, past and present. Perhaps nowhere is the blending of modernity
and beautiful. and tradition more evident than at the Casa Grande Ruins National
In 1980, Fathy received his first North American commis- Monument. Casa Grande, a large earthen structure on the historic
sion, to build the Dar al Islam community in Abiquiu, New Mexico, site, was constructed between 1200 and 1450 C.E. by the Native
for U.S.-born Muslims.32 The community was to have a mosque American Hohokam near Phoenix, Arizona. In 1892 President
and several houses, but the project faced a series of setbacks that Benjamin Harrison designated the area a reservation to protect the
were in opposition to Fathys ideals. Fathys work, primarily in massive ruin, making it the first prehistoric and cultural site to be
Arabia, was based on the architecture of that region. When invited established in the United States.37 The significance of the ancient
to design a mosque in the American Southwest, he originally structure to the history of modern architecture lies in the combi-
wished to explore traditional Navajo building prototypes. Instead, nation of a historic past and its preservation. Many attempts were
he was encouraged to transplant the Nubian vault and dome idiom made to preserve the ruin, and in 1903 a protective covera large
he had adopted in Egypt.33 Furthermore, to build Fathys vaults, galvanized corrugated iron roof with a 6-foot overhang supported
workers were required to use plywood supports because local by 10-inch-square redwood posts embedded into the ground
building authorities were distrustful of the formless techniques was built over the prehistoric earth structure. The entire can-
that had been well established by Nubian masons for thousands opy was then anchored to the ground by cables attached to each
INTRODUCTION 13
corner.38 This act radically transformed the perception of the ruin. of Fathys influential book, which shed new light on Western and
For centuries it had remained an abandoned, hulking mass repre- non-Western architects conceptions of earth as a building mate-
senting the power of a past civilization. Wrapped in its new pro- rial. Also, the projects had to utilize an earthen technology that in
tective cocoon, the historic structure became an introverted and its traditional form allowed for the finished surface of the interior
fragile piece of history. or exterior to be raw, exposed earth. Throughout the world, ver-
In 1928 the National Park Service announced a competition nacular earth building traditions are highly developed, and the level
for a new shelter that would protect the ruin, while falling into of refinement allows for finished earthen wall surfaces, so occu-
the background so as not to take away from its impact. The Park pants have a direct connection to the material. Modern adaptations
Service suggested that a flat roof on a light steel frame be considered of these technologies; however, often cover the earthen surface to
because the steel frame, it was thought, would be as far a depar- protect it and create a separation between the soil and the body.
ture from the design and material of the ruin as can be obtained. 39 I do not consider earth-sheltered buildings relative to this book,
The winner of the competition was Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., because neither the structure nor the finish is necessarily earthen,
son of the landscape architect most famous for the earthwork of and retaining walls of concrete, stone, or, more recently, tires,
Central Park in New York City, who was acting as an adviser to the buffer earth from occupant.
Park Service.40 The intention of this book is to present a survey of projects
Olmsted Jr. sketched a design for a steel hip roof structure that are exemplary of contemporary and progressive earth architec-
with a guy wire system, much like that used on a circus tent, to ture. Earth-building technologies are the oldest known construc-
secure the structure to the ground and protect the roof from uplift tion techniques on the planet, but their use does not necessitate a
due to wind. His design was chosen as the winner, and in 1932 historic style, nor does it reflect a retrogressive technology. Earth
Congress appropriated funds to construct a new shelter over the construction is highly refined, having been studied and improved
ruin. Completed on December 12, 1932, the final design was realized upon for thousands of years. While several of the projects may rep-
with the exception of the guy wires; the hip roof supported by lean- resent a postcolonial positiona reassertion of the material cul-
ing columns was consistent with Olmsteds design, and the ten- ture of earth in order to break from the colonial factions that dictate
sile roof structure incorporated glass skylights. Angled columns, 46 the hegemony of industrial materialsnone of the projects are
feet from the ground to the eaves, were painted sage green to har- influenced by postmodern ideals, borrowing stylistic elements
monize with the mountains and vegetation as well as to provide from the past.
contrast to the ruin.41 But the resulting combination of steel, glass, In selecting projects for this book I chose only designs that
and earth was somewhat counter to the goal of creating a hierarchi- advance the state of earth architecture. Technological, economic, or
cal relationship, with the ruin taking the foreground. Instead, the aesthetic advancements in earthen construction that create a dia-
liberation of the ruin from the cocoon of preservation resulted in a logue with industrial materials, or that explore form, texture, color,
singular expression and a new type of architectureone fusing his- building techniques, or use earth to represent a political or social
toric and modern building traditions. This hybrid form of architec- concern are present in some way in every project. Finally, all the
ture, born from the melding of the new and the old, represents the included projects tackle an important contemporary issue relevant
conceptual basis for the content of this book: works of architecture to the culture of earthen architecture. Among these issues are:
that employ the ancient technology of earth and are informed by
the issues that affect contemporary society. Industrialism Earth is one of the few materials on the planet that
has not been subject to large-scale industrialization. The heteroge-
neity of soil has allowed earthen building techniques to be techno-
I based the criteria for selecting the forty-seven projects featured logically and contextually supple. While many machines have been
in the book upon several important factors. First, I considered proj- devised to advance the state of the material, earthen architecture
ects completed only after 1970the year following the publication remains largely a specialized and traditional practice, unchanged
14 INTRODUCTION
for thousands of years. Yet the advancements of the industrial common building material on the planet is classified as alterna-
revolution have brought about technologies that, when appropri- tive or worseprimitive. At the dawn of every countrys tran-
ately coupled with earth techniques, can result in ingenious hybrid sition to an industrialized society, it makes a concerted effort to
forms of construction. abandon its earth-building traditions at the risk of depleting natu-
ral resources such as wood; investing in construction projects using
Ecology Earth is an inherently ecological material. Earth has expensive industrially produced materials such as concrete, which
excellent thermal mass properties, which can maintain comfort- often perform poorly in developing nations; and losing traditional
able interior temperatures without the need for mechanical heat- cultural knowledge. The perception that industrial materials are
ing and cooling. The utilization of earth requires little embodied better is often coupled with a societys embarrassment about its
energy and structures made of it are highly recyclable. When aban- highly developed, contextually responsive, and deeply meaning-
doned, earthen buildings simply melt back into the ground, and ful traditions.
their ruins can be used to grow vegetation or be reused again as a
building material. Politics The makeup of soil, which differs from one place to
another, makes it difficult to create material standards for earth
Earthquakes International awareness of the consequences of earth- an important consideration in the processing and selling of build-
quakes on earth architecture increased in 2003 after a 6.6 earth- ing materials. This does not bode well for earths role in a capitalist
quake hit the Iranian city of Bam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site society. Increasingly, it is illegal to build with earth because of
made entirely of earth and home to the largest mud brick struc- building codes that are enforced by municipalities. While these
ture in the world, the Bam Citadel. The earthquake killed an esti- decisions are made in the name of safety, it is more likely that
mated one-third of the population and destroyed 70 percent of manufacturers of industrialized products have lobbied to prevent
the city.42 While the majority of the buildings in the city had sur- the use of a free and versatile material such as earthsimilar to
vived in the earthquake-prone region for 500 years and more, Cointerauxs experience centuries ago. In the cases where earth is
earth architecture nevertheless garnered a poor reputation for part of accepted building codes, particularly in the United States,
being dangerous. Thankfully, much research, particularly at the the over-building of bond beams and foundations to allow for the
Pontificia Universidad Catlica del Per; the University of Kassel, lack of knowledge of traditional methods results in higher building
Germany; and the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, costs. These unnecessary enhancements also often require skilled
has advanced the technology of creating earthquake-resistant earth labor and specialized equipment, keeping earth architecture far out
buildings. of reach from anyone but the most wealthy.44
Education There is an ever-increasing number of schools, organi- The issues surrounding the production of earth architecture sug-
zations, and institutions around the world dedicated to the dissem- gest why many of the proposals by the modern masters were never
ination of earthen architecture. The construction of earth buildings realized or did not receive much acclaim. Nevertheless, the works
is an illuminating and fun process, and often builders invite guests of countless architects, builders, and laypeople who have contrib-
to construction sites to teach traditional and advanced techniques. uted to the evolution of earthen architecture over the past several
Many international organizations offer courses and workshops on thousand years have not been in vain. As evidenced by the work
earthen construction, and the University of Grenoble in France in the subsequent four chapters, our planets oldest building tradi-
offers a masters degree in earthen architecture.43 tions continue to inspire and shelter us despite the complexities of
a modern age.
Prejudices The perceived hegemony of the industrialized world
has for decades been directly responsible for causing an inferi-
ority complex among earth-building cultures. Today, the most
INTRODUCTION 15
1Rammed Earth
Rammed earth is the man-made equivalent of sedimentary rock. was raging in the West, French immigrants arriving in the south-
For thousands of years builders throughout the world have com- ern United States were building slave quarters, plantation houses,
pacted soil to create rock-hard structures using only simple tools churches, and schools out of rammed earth. The historic campus of
and manpower, resulting in some of the most beautiful and well- the Southwest School of Art & Craft in San Antonio, Texas, built in
known wonders of the built environment. The Alhambra in Spain, 1848, and the Church of the Holy Cross in Sumter, South Carolina,
the great kasbahs of Morocco, and long stretches of Chinas Great built in 1850, are notable examples of this legacy. While rammed
Wall, begun in the fifth century B.C.E., are only a few examples of earth was taking hold in the United States, Australians, caught up
rammed earths historic global heritage. in gold rush fever, were beginning to establish towns by compact-
Some of the earliest evidence of rammed earths origins are ing the soil of the Central Australian desert.
found in China, where archaeologists have excavated rammed earth The rammed earth process begins with soil selection. Soil
walls built by the Longshan Culture of the Late Neolithic period used to make rammed earth must have an appropriate ratio of sand,
(26001900 B.C.E.), between the Stone Age and the Bronze Agea gravel, and clay to give cohesion, stability, and strength to the wall.
period that also marks the establishment of cities in China. 1 The Commonly, soil used in the construction of rammed earth build-
technology later spread throughout the Middle East and was intro- ings is taken directly from the site, moistened, and compacted
duced to Europe via the Phoenician trading empire, which founded with little thought as to its precise composition. In regions where
the rammed earth city of Carthage. Roman historian Gaius Plinius rammed earth building has existed for hundreds, if not thousands,
Secundus states that the Romans learned the technology from the of years, appropriate soil is selected by location, visual inspec-
Carthaginians and continued its dissemination throughout their tion, smell, feel, and even taste. Traditional builders also found
territories. He also notes the survival of a rammed earth fortifica- many ways to adapt their material to local conditions by inserting
tion built by Hannibal 250 years earlier and writes about rammed branches, water, blood, or lime to prevent cracking or to increase
earth walls in Spain.2 The Romans spread the technology to south- cohesion and durability. Occasionally, long branches or bamboo
ern France via the Rhne River valley, where they built the capital are placed in the wall between compaction layers and parallel to
city, Gaul, in what is present day Lyon. The substantial legacy of the ground, to act as a reinforcement and reduce shrinkage as the
rammed earth country houses and agricultural buildings in the wall dries. However, because rammed earth is now being used in
rural areas south of Lyon is still visible today. places where the tradition has been lost, in places where the tradi-
Native Americans were practicing the technology before tion never existed, or where it must comply with building codes
the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. The Pyramid of the Sun, that demand specific performance values, experts have determined
built of 2 million tons of rammed earth faced with stone, located the appropriate amount of silt, sand, gravel, clay, moisture, and
in Teotihuacn, Mexico, was begun in 100 C.E. and rises to an stabilizing agent necessary to build structures compatible with the
impressive height of 207 feet.3 European traditions of rammed demands of todays rigorous standards. Yet the variability in soil
earth first arrived in the Americas from Spain. The oldest remnant composition makes standardization difficult, and there are many
of a European structure in the Americas is the ruin of a rammed differing opinions regarding the best formula for making a rammed
earth house in the first formal European settlement, the city of La earth structure. The ideal mixture is 15 to 18 percent clay mixed
Isabela in the Dominican Republic, which Christopher Columbus with 23 percent coarse aggregate, 30 percent sand, and 32 percent
founded on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493.4 The tech- silt; but because clay provides good cohesion, mixes with up to 30
nology spread with the Spanish conquest into the southern United percent clay are possible.5
States and South America. In the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese An aggregate composition of several different-size par-
immigrants, arriving to participate in the California gold rush, ticles is necessary to increase wall density and strength, and the
brought the technology to the western coast of the United States. amount of moisture in the mix is critical for good soil compaction.
A small store built of rammed earth in 1877 by Chinese immigrants Appropriate moisture content cause particles to become increas-
can still be found in Dutch Flat, California. While the gold rush ingly dense as the soil is compressed, and moisture levels are good
INTRODUCTION 17
if there is no dust being emitted by the pounding of the earth. But The advancement of formwork has allowed architects to
if the soil is too muddy, it will stick to the formwork or the tamp- escape from the rectilinear geometries of traditional rammed earth
ing device. and use curves and obtuse angles, as seen in the projects by Loco
In modern rammed earth construction, portland cement, Architects, Reitermann and Sassenroth, and Cox Architects. The
emulsified asphalt, or hydrated lime is commonly mixed with the process of compacting soil and the plasticity of earth capture the
soil to increase its compressive strength and water resistance and texture and size of the formwork in the wall surface. In Rick Joys
to reduce the soils expansion due to ambient moisture or precipi- Palmer-Rose House, joints left by the formwork speak to the mem-
tation. Some question these additives, especially the addition of ory of the rammed earth process. The thin layers of cement found
cement, since adding this stabilizing agent in the mixture can be between compaction layers in the Rammed Earth Houses by Jourda
seen as unnecessary, redundant, or producing an admixture that & Perraudin Partenaires express the architects attention to the pro-
is not rammed earth at all, but rather concrete or soil-cement. In cess of assembling and removing the formwork in the facade.
most instances, however, as in the projects in this chapter, the The ramming process begins by filling a formwork with a
added cement is negligible. While asphalt is known to have been small amount of soil and compacting it with a tamping device. Soil
used in earth construction thousands of years agoSumerians, is typically added 4 to 8 inches at a time and compressed to 50 per-
for example, set mud bricks in a mortar of bitumentoday its cent of its uncompacted height. Traditionally, this was achieved by
use might raise eyebrows, considering rammed earths ecological tamping the earth by hand. Manual tampers constructed of wood
reputation.6 or steel with a thick, heavy base are common tools. To compact
The formwork used in the construction of rammed earth the earth, the soil is pounded with these tools until the appropri-
structures is designed to resist the outward forces created by the ate level of density is achieved. In industrialized construction,
compaction of the soil. It also defines the structures shape and pneumatic tampers are more commonly used. These air-powered
allows for the creation of windows, doors, or impressions in the tools are operated by hand and can compact large volumes of soil
earth structure. While traditional formwork may vary slightly at impact levels much greater than human strength can achieve,
around the world, it is generally constructed of wood, is portable, increasing the durability, longevity, and strength of the wall.7 In
and is typically light enough to be manageable by one or two peo- the case of large rammed earth works, gasoline-powered earth tam-
ple. Portable formwork requires a builder to construct only small pers are sometimes employed, as long as the machine fits within
sections of the wall at a time, moving the form along the length of the formwork.
the wall and lifting it as the wall grows taller. Because this system The labor-intensive process of adding and compacting soil
creates joints between the areas of a completed section and a section continues until the desired height of the structure is achieved.
in process, ramming is coursed like brickwork, with each subse- Depending on how the soil is added, different aesthetic results
quent layer overlapping the next, especially at the corners. Tying are possible. Soil compacted incrementally will result in strati-
one section to the previous one may entail quoining the two sec- fication, a subtle detail visible in the walls of the Chapel of Rest
tions together by ramming earth at an incline to create a lap joint. by Marte.Marte. The articulation of earthen layers can be further
In contemporary Western construction practices, the form- accentuated by adding different colors of soil or by increasing
work used in rammed earth has become very advanced, primar- and decreasing the height of the uncompacted layer. The facade
ily through the appropriation of the steel-lined slip forms used in of Hotson Bakker Boniface Hadens NkMip Desert Interpretive
building concrete structures. Like traditional forms, slip forms can Centre is an excellent example of this effect taken to its full poten-
be lifted as the wall grows. In some cases, however, many people tial. A more even and homogenous wall surface can be achieved
or specialized equipment and machinery are required to lift and by adding soil continuously while it is being compacted. The walls
maneuver these forms. In other instances, the formwork that rep- of Gary Marinkos Margaret River House are richly varied rather
resents the entire finished product is erected at once, and workers than layered, exploiting the warmth created by the materials hue.
compact soil within the completed shuttering. The size and nature of the aggregate is also a factor in the resulting
18 R AMMED E ARTH
structure. Erosion by wind, water, and time will reveal the particles
of earth, exposing stones or creating a variegated texture, which is
expressed beautifully in the Storage Sheds and Chronometry Tower
by Roger Boltshauser Architekten and the Chapel of Reconciliation
by Reitermann and Sassenroth.
Increasingly, architects are using rammed earth as a modern
material that is durable, adaptable, and responds to growing envi-
ronmental concerns. A reemergence of rammed earth is occurring
in France, China, Australia, and Germany, and it is being introduced
to areas where it has little or no history, such as Canada and Japan.
In other parts of the world, rammed earth has been introduced in
environments where other earth-building technologies, such as
mud brick, were already common. Arizona, where many earth-
building traditions have been practiced for thousands of years, is
now home to rammed earth projects of international prominence
that display a high level of technical precision and sophistication.
As evidenced by the number and variety of projects in this chapter,
from housing to religious and cultural buildings, rammed earth has
emerged as the most popular earth-building technique in contem-
porary architecture culture.
INTRODUCTION 19
Architecture Firm and Application of Earth Architecture gives an aesthetic rhythm to the facade while
Jourda & Perraudin Partenaires (CRATerre) to develop the technological, providing lateral reinforcement to the tall
Location aesthetic, and environmental objectives of earthen walls, and the thin horizontal layer
lIsle-dAbeau, France their designs. The final proposals explored also helps prevent erosion of the layers of earth
Date an eclectic range of spatial, material, and below. Conceptually, framing the traditional
1984 formal attitudes toward rammed earth con- material in a modern material is a reflection of
struction. While some reflect the traditional the original aims of the Centre Pompidous
In 1980 the Centre Pompidou in Paris vernacular of the region, others challenge exhibition.
sponsored an exhibition to showcase both tradition by exploring innovative approaches. The juxtaposition of traditional and
traditional and modern earth-construction Although there are many interesting modern is also present in the design of the
techniques. The exhibitions success prompted schemes in the complex, some of the projects roof. Unlike traditional rammed earth build-
the Centre Pompidous Industrial Creation employ a postmodern pastiche to reference the ings, whose walls carry the load of the roof,
Centre to host a competition for the creation traditional earthen architecture of the region. here the roof, constructed of translucent poly-
of a new town constructed entirely of earth. Franoise Jourda and Gilles Perraudins design, carbonate supported by a lightweight steel
A partnership was formed between the center however, demonstrates a uniquely progressive truss, is rendered almost invisible next to the
and the mayor of LIsle-dAbeau, an adjacent use of rammed earth. The project comprises massive walls. To emphasize this condition,
town that would incorporate the urban village, two semidetached duplex housing units. The the rammed earth walls do not hold up the
and together they established a site for the three-story apartments contain two bedrooms, truss, which is supported instead by concrete
construction of seventy-two earthen homes in a kitchen, two bathrooms, a living area, and a columns that stand apart from the walls,
an experimental housing complex called garage. All apartments also have access to the creating an eave that protects the earthen walls
Domaine de la Terrethe Earthen Estates. outdoors via balconies, private terraces, green- from rain. The translucent roof also produces
The site for the new complex was divided houses, and private gardens. a greenhouse effect, and the heat is used to
into eleven blocks, each designed by a team The walls were constructed of stabilized warm the building via ventilators that are
of architects. Ten teams of architects and build- rammed earth compacted in wooden form- controlled by a thermostat. At the rear of the
ers, selected in a national design competition work with a pneumatic tamper. In order to apartments, a concrete-block wall defines
aimed at utilizing raw earth technologies, articulate the process, the architects laid a private terraces on the first and second floors
worked directly with technical consultants thin layer of concrete between each lift of the of the complex, providing a transition between
from the Grenoble-based Center for Research formwork. This layering of concrete and earth the interior and the private garden.
opposite, top: Each pairing of semi- opposite, bottom: In back, each apartment
detached units contains two three-story has its own private garden that can be seen
rammed earth apartments. from the concrete-block terrace connected
to the third-story bedrooms.
20 R AMMED E ARTH
21
top to bottom: Third-floor plan; second-floor plan; first-floor plan
22 R AMMED E ARTH
left: Private terraces made of steel right: The architects articulated the process
and concrete block offer a view of the of lifting the formwork by inserting
private garden. a thin layer of concrete between each
layer of earth.
23
Architecture Firm numerous Royal Institute of Australian park headquarters, and reception area.
Glenn Murcutt & Associates Architecture awards for their climate- and Each space opens up to shaded outdoor areas
and Troppo Architects context-sensitive work, won the competition. that are organized along a long central spine
Location Their submission for the center seemed to made of rammed earth. The soil used to con-
Kakadu National Park, grow from the landscapeusing natural struct the wall, sourced locally with help from
Northern Territory, Australia materials and making formal and spatial refer- the Aboriginal Djabulukgu Association and
Date ences inspired by the culture and experience the Gagudju people (who are well known for
1994 of visiting the savannah bush site. their distinctive rock art painted with clay
The primary inspirations for the Bowali pigments) has a distinctive red color. This color
The Kakadu National Park is an enormous Visitor Information Centre were the caves and and the walls height make it reminiscent of
wildlife and nature preserve covering almost escarpments of the Kakadu National Park. the termite mounds, which sometimes reach
7,700 square miles located in Australias Named Bowali, after the Mirarr Gundjeihmi up to ten feet in height, that are visible on the
Northern Territory. Vast amounts of land with clans name for a nearby creek, the center has a approach to the building.
caves and escarpmentshome to crocodiles, long, reflective roof that becomes an actual Aboriginal sacred sites are always
wallabies, dingos, goannas, and a myriad of creek. During monsoon season, rain collects in approached at an angle, and the architects
bird speciesdefine this World Heritage Site. the long central gutter and is channeled to took this into consideration in the design.
In the early 1990s, the park became an increas- spouts, forming waterfalls like those that leap The oblique pathway to the building
ingly popular destination for tourists: visits to from the parks cliffs and shedding water away also allows one to see the entire length of
the park were four times as numerous as in from protected spaces beneath the roof that the building, with the qualities of light and
previous years, and the number of park staff are like the caves found in the cliff walls. As it shadow beneath the corrugated metal roof,
had increased 33 percent. To accommodate does in the park, the water then flows to a as it extends into the landscape. The light
this increased traffic the Australian Nature billabong, or pond, that cools the spaces below that filters through transparent corrugated
Conservation Agency and the parks board the continuous shelter of the roof. It is here in fiberglass and perforated metal, coupled with
sponsored a competition for a new visitor the shade that the entire building program is shadows formed by the vertical slats that
center. A team composed of internationally located. The complex includes an environmen- conceal parts of the building, create a dynamic
renowned architect Glenn Murcutt and tal interpretation center, a bird information experience, similar to that of walking through
Troppo Architects, whose work has received center, gallery, library, cafe, audio/visual area, the bush.
opposite, top: The Bowali Visitors Centre opposite, bottom: Walking along the
meanders through the bush like the continuous wooden deck that connects
creek after which it is named. all the Centres facilities is like a trek
through the bush.
24 R AMMED E ARTH
25
Floor plan
Early sketch illustrating the airy roof canopy over the continuous wood deck
Section
26 R AMMED E ARTH
top: Vegetation, ponds, and shade make bottom left: Long gutters channel bottom right: Termite mounds, tree
the center a continuous part of the water and create waterfalls during the trunks, the canopy, and water are all
landscape. monsoon season. embodied in the buildings forms and
materials.
opposite, top: Adjacent to a massive opposite, bottom right: Colored glass and
rammed earth wall, the pool helps cool small openings give the rammed earth
the air around the house. study the quality of a small chapel.
Floor plan
Low Compound
28 R AMMED E ARTH
29
Architecture Firm The living area is the most prominent spaces to the hillside and alludes to the more
Kerry Hill Architects part of the house. It is composed of a thin metal protected component of the house that
Location roof and elevated platform supported by a contains the sheltered bedroom spaces behind.
Prevelly, Western Australia lightweight steel frame and enclosed by glass, The sleeping area is designed to provide
Date which joins the living spaces with the land- protection from the elements, particularly the
1998 scape. Because the two outdoor decks at each cold southwesterly winds, and to give a sense
end of this hovering transparent box and its of quiet enclosure to the master bedroom
Situated on a sloping site in the semirural land- interior spaces use tallowwood flooring, which and two guest rooms housed within this zone.
scape of Prevelly amid vineyards, rolling hills, is naturally resistant to the elements, there Unlike the living area, which is primarily
the wind and surf of the Indian Ocean, and the is a seamless visual connection between the defined by steel and glass, here meticulously
vast landscape of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste interior and exterior. The kitchen, dining, and detailed rammed earth walls and tallowwood
National Park, a small house asserts itself living areas have an unsurpassed view of the siding create a zone of warmth and comfort.
among these varied environments by respond- national park and take full advantage of the Only small openings penetrate this protected
ing to the particulars of each one. Called the warmth of the winter sun. Reinforcing the space, defined by wood brise-soleil screens.
Ooi House, the three-bedroom, 3,400-square- relationship between inside and outside, the In contrast with the exposed glass-enclosed
foot vacation retreat is divided into two entire space is adjacent to an outdoor courtyard courtyard in the living area, a small earth-
zonesa more public living space that exposes separated from the interior only by glass walls. sheltered courtyard provides privacy for the
one to the qualities of the natural environment This outdoor room contains a reflecting pool guest bedroom.
and a private sleeping area that is sheltered and is enclosed on one side by a massive stabi-
and protected. lized rammed earth wall that anchors the living
opposite, top: The open views toward the opposite, center right: Meticulously
front and dense forest at the rear make up detailed rammed earth walls, tallowood
the parti of the Ooi House. siding, and bris-soleil screens enclose the
sleeping zone.
opposite, center left: Tallowood floors
extend past glass walls to outdoor spaces, opposite, bottom: A glass wall separates
blurring the inside and outside. the living space from an exterior
courtyard that segues between the two
zones of the house.
Floor plan
Ooi House
30 R AMMED E ARTH
31
Architecture Firm make it particularly exemplary as a modern open living room connected to the kitchen
Rick Joy Architects building, but the contrasting relationships and adjacent prep kitchen. The space, shaped
Location between interior and exterior, exquisite by an inverted gable roof, gestures towards
Tucson, Arizona details, its contextual responsiveness, and the a panoramic view of the Santa Catalina
Date juxtaposition of modern and traditional mate- Mountains only a few miles away, framed by
1998 rials result in an architectural tour de force. a floor-to-ceiling wall of structural glass
The house is situated on a 4-acre site along the entire north facade. The interior also
Good desert architecture often blends surrounded by native vegetation at the edge extends outdoors to a 500-square-foot covered
seamlessly with its context while possessing of a large arroyo. As a response to the native patio enclosed by rammed earth walls; a fire-
expressive and responsive form. For example, vegetation and the grandeur of the nearby place is embedded in one of them.
the ruins at Mesa Verde in Colorado can be 7,000-foot-tall Santa Catalina Mountains, The more private wing of the house,
seen as a series of individual structures and the architect nestled the house 25 feet below which houses the bedroom, study, bathrooms,
as a seamless extension of the cliff itself. Taos the elevation of the road, allowing the house and storage, is slightly askew to the living
Pueblo in New Mexico, well known for its to maintain a low profile, and carefully sited wing, aligned with the morning sun to bring
multistory earthen building rising from it so that no trees or cacti were destroyed in eastern light into the bedroom. Like the
the landscape, blends seamlessly with the the construction process. The combination of living room, the bedroom opens up to views
surroundings because of its materiality, while these two factors makes the house almost through an uninterrupted structural glass wall.
shade and shadow articulate the buildings completely hidden from view. This glass wall system is a two-layer system
massing. The influence of these buildings on The 2,800-square-foot private residence custom-designed specifically for the harsh
Tucson architect Rick Joys work is evident in comprises two rectangular rammed earth vol- desert environment. On the exterior, the
the Palmer-Rose House, which blends with umes that define the public and private spaces. 1-inch-thick insulated glass has a tinted coating
and is almost hidden in the landscape while The two segments join at a point, creating a to reflect direct and indirect sunlight; and
simultaneously leaping forward from its desert hinge that emphasizes the main entrance to on the interior, -inch clear tempered low-
environmenta dynamic expression of archi- the house. From here the more public section emissivity glass controls heat transfer.
tectural form. These qualities of the house of the house is revealed, which contains an
Sections
Palmer-Rose House
32 R AMMED E ARTH
33
In contrast to the delicate, almost invisible imparted the memory of the individual panels comprise the inverted roof. Consistent with
quality of the glass, the rammed earth walls are and the layering process in the wall. Quarter- Joys desire to contrast the heavy earth with
massive elements that shield the rooms from inch-thick plate steel welded to steel tubing other materials used in the house, the rusting
the psychological and physical effects of the and gusset plates was used to create lintels for corrugated metal roof reads as thin, structure-
desert sun. So massive are the walls that their doors, windows, and niches in the thick walls, less leaves floating above the earthen walls,
weight, including the foundation, is estimated giving the effect of clean and precise incisions extending at times up to 4 feet beyond the top
to be 500 tons. Three different local soils were into the earth. To help lower the temperature of the wall. Not only does this create a dynamic
used in the rammed earth mixture, each with of the walls during periods of extreme heat, relationship between the ground and the sky,
different amounts of clay, sand, and gravel, an evaporative cooling system blows humid it is also a necessary condition to protect the
and mixed with portland cement and the pig- air over them, preventing heat gain and further battered earthen walls. The shape of the
ment iron oxide to achieve the desired erosion cooling the interior of the house. roofline drains the water toward a single gutter
resistance, structural integrity, and color. The In strategic locations, structural steel that cantilevers far past the house to create a
soil was compacted atop a reinforced concrete columns embedded in the rammed earth walls waterfall announcing the desert rain during
foundation in reusable formwork that support long spanning steel beams that the rainy season.
Site plan
34 R AMMED E ARTH
top left: A skylight washes down the top right: The house, carefully sited so bottom: A fireplace is embedded into one
rammed earth wall, revealing the texture that no trees or cacti were destroyed in of the massive rammed earth walls that
and layers left by the formwork that are the construction process, is surrounded by enclose the outdoor terrace and frame
part of the process of construction. native flora at the edge of a large arroyo. views of the Santa Catalina Mountains.
opposite, top: Rammed earth walls of opposite, bottom: The entire north wall can
varying heights climb the hillside to define be opened or closed with folding plywood
outdoor and indoor spaces. shutters that moderate the amount and
quality of light and heat entering the space.
Section
36 R AMMED E ARTH
37
Floor plan
Section
38 R AMMED E ARTH
top: With its expansive glass walls, the bottom: Wood furniture and partitions
living room is like an indoor courtyard with complement the rammed earth walls
a large fireplace at one end. and separate the more private spaces of
the house.
opposite, top: The teaching wing of the opposite, bottom: Technologies replace
C. D. Blake Theatre Complex is defined architectural motifs: a solar collector
by galvanized metal water tanks, solar panel articulates the entrance to the
collector panels, and rammed earth. auditorium.
Thurgoona Campus
of Charles Sturt University
40 R AMMED E ARTH
41
walls and roofs, which are also clad with cor- staff members and postgraduate students, a cottages named the Rothwells. Between
rugated steel to reflect the suns rays. Thermal Mapping and Teaching Room, an Information 2000 and 2002, six buildings accommodating
chimneys that punctuate the roofline help Technology Hub, and a Herbarium, which forty-six beds with laundry facilities were
keep temperatures comfortable by drawing contains living examples of regional fauna. constructed; and in 2003, another rammed
hot air out of the building. Large eaves and sun Because of the use of alternative materials, the earth building, the Student Association, the
shading devices are also common features; cost of the building is estimated to be between center for students living and working on
they protect the buildings from the high angle 4 and 14 percent less than a conventional the campus, was completed.
of the summer sun while allowing for the structure of this type. Plans for additional buildings follow-
penetration of low winter sun. The C. D. Blake Theatre Complex was ing the ecological concepts set forth by
The first building constructed using these completed next. Its program includes a two- the campuss first buildings are ongoing,
principles was a student pavilion, completed in story teaching complex that contains two and the projects have had an influence that
1996. In addition to demonstrating the ideals thirty-seat tutorial rooms and two theaters has extended beyond its grounds. The success
set forth by the campus staff, it laid the one that accommodates one hundred of Thurgoona has also prompted other
groundwork for the series of ambitious build- occupants and a larger two-hundred-seat local groups, including a church and a local
ings that was to come next. Next built was lecture theater that has an earth-covered roof college, to construct their new buildings in
the School of Environmental and Information to help maintain the thermal quality of the rammed earth.
Sciences. With two stories and 31,958 square space. The expanding universitys next
feet of space, it accommodates one hundred project was a series of rammed earth student
left: Thermal chimneys, which draw right: Clerestory windows admit light
out rising hot air, punctuate the roofline into the auditorium foyer.
of the School of Environmental and
Information Sciences.
42 R AMMED E ARTH
Corrugated metal sun-shading devices
around the windows protect the interior
from the high angle of the summer sun but
allow the low winter sun to penetrate.
43
Architecture Firm Subsequently, in January 1985 the GDR alternatively selected wood and clay to
Reitermann and Sassenroth razed the nave and steeple using explosives. construct the buildingsignificant because a
Location The images of the destruction were televised historic clay mine once existed adjacent to the
Berlin, Germany internationally. church property. The chapel was the first load-
Date Less than five years after the destruction bearing earthen religious building in Germany
2000 of the church, the Berlin wall was removed, and the first public rammed earth structure
uniting Germany once again. The grounds of there in 150 years. The clay used to construct
In 1985 the Church of Reconciliation was the former church, then marked by tall grass, the walls was brought from the nearby town
destroyed by German Democratic Republic two concrete patrol paths, and the remains of of Herzfelde, on the outskirts of Berlin, and
(GDR) border troops. The historic neo-Gothic the church foundation, were given back to mixed with the ground remains of the demol-
Evangelical brick church, consecrated on the community, and the congregation quickly ished church. Crushed brick, tile, and nails, all
August 28, 1894, had an unfortunate location. began to consider what should be done with remnants of the previous church, are embed-
With the swift construction of the Berlin wall the property. While many wanted to erase ded in the walls and visible on their surface,
in 1961, the church, located in the prohibited the history of the citys division as soon as preserving the tumultuous history of the site.
no-mans-land between East and West Berlin, possible, the community instead conceived of The heart of this small, oval building is
was closed off from the city literally overnight. a plan for a new chapel to commemorate the an ovoid room constructed of rammed earth,
Caught within this zone, the building tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. enclosing the worship space. While the shape
remained inaccessible to anyone for more than Rudolf Reitermann and Peter Sassenroth, of the space designates the traditional east-
twenty years. Because of its awkward position two young Berlin architects, were offered west axis of Christian churches by aligning the
in what was called the death strip, the build- the commission to design the new Chapel of entrance of the room to the altar, a secondary
ing created a problem for the GDR, who Reconciliation on the site of the previous axis is created by an alcove where the recovered
patrolled the wall to prevent any crossing to church. Their initial proposal called for con- altar section of the previous church is stored.
the west: the long detour around the church crete and glass, but the community considered It marks the center of the preexisting nave and
made patrol routes difficult, and the steeple these materials representative of the oppres- faces the direction of the original aisle and
was an obstruction to their line of fire. sive wall that had divided their cities and entrance. The new rammed earth altar, which
Sections
Chapel of Reconciliation
44 R AMMED E ARTH
45
houses the baptism and communion vessels, massive noise-absorbing walls and floor
rests atop the original churchs stone refectory creates a space for contemplation separated
and is embedded in the floor, creating another from the busy urban streets of Berlin. Only
connection to the buried remains of the the constantly changing light that enters from
previous church. Steps that at one time went the large skylight at the center of the roof offers
down to the basement are now visible through a connection to the outside. At night, the
a window placed in the earthen floor. Upon buildings screen is illuminated from inside as
the steps rests an unexploded bomb from a beacon that symbolizes unification
World War II that was discovered during the The building was constructed without
excavation process. any heating or air-conditioning system.
An enclosure of vertical wood louvers While this was considered risky at the time,
encapsulates the entire rammed earth struc- it has proved to be one of the most celebrated
ture. While this screen allows for the passage features of the church. Though the walls
of light and air, it is a perceptible threshold thermal mass has the ability to temper radical
between exterior and interior and marks the shifts in temperature, the building is not
beginning of a series of experiences that entirely weathertight. Thus, various seasonal
distance the outside from the inner sanctuary. and religious events are heightened by the
The thick rammed earth walls add a second experience of a living building where heat and
layer of separation: silence created by the cold and dark and light can be celebrated.
46 R AMMED E ARTH
top left: An impression in the thick top right: A wood screen and rammed bottom: At night the chapel is illuminated to
rammed earth wall of the chapel houses earth wall offer a sense of isolation from become a glowing symbol of unification.
an altar section recovered from the the city.
previous church.
Chapel of Reconciliation 47
Organiz ation with a gift of land at the intersection of proper- steel structure in a fish-scale pattern. The
Rural Studio ties owned by three different families. Because lightweight steel frame also supports the
Location the property symbolized a meeting point in aluminum roof that reflects the colors of the
Masons Bend, Alabama the community, Rural Studio students chose earthen walls and the surrounding landscape,
Date to construct on it a multifunction civic build- further adding to the ethereal quality of
2000 ing made of a shrewd combination of recycled the space.
materials and Hale County red earth. The entire roof system is supported by
During the Great Depression, the U.S. govern- Because the property lies on the intersec- laminated cypress beams harvested from
ment widely promoted rammed earth build- tion of two roads, it provided the perfect nearby Akron. These heavy beams are attached
ing to provide low-cost housing for the poor. opportunity to create an architectural land- to steel supports embedded in a concrete bond
In Gardendale, Alabama, in the 1930s, the mark that was visible to anyone coming to the beam that sits on the thick rammed earth walls.
Gardendale Homesteads project funded by community. The open-air structure, whose The locally sourced walls are made of 30 per-
the U.S. Resettlement Administration built form was inspired by vernacular architecture cent clay, 70 percent sand, and a small amount
68 single-story homes on 512 acres; several of of the region, allows the community to meet in of portland cement to help protect the walls
them were prototype houses constructed a cool, shaded space. Informal and formal from the heavy Alabama rains. Long arms
of rammed earth. The success of these experi- events take place here: it is the stopping point of rammed earth reaching out to the commu-
mental houses, some of which are still used for a regional book mobile as well as the coun- nity from entrances on opposing sides of
today, was inspirational to students designing tys mobile health clinic, and it is a meeting the building guide approaching visitors into
a community center in 1999 in one of the place for a local prayer group. The humble yet the structure. Outside, these extensions are
poorest counties in the United States. sublime quality of light created by the partially protected with rusted steel caps that have
Masons Bend, not so far from Gardendale glazed roofwhich gives the building its alter- taken on a hue similar to the iron-rich soil used
and deep within the Black Belt of rural native name, the Glass Chapelcreates an to construct the walls. On the interior, the
Alabama, is nestled in an oxbow on Hale exhilarating space of reflection inside. steel cap is replaced by a concrete bond beam
Countys Black Warrior River. Four extended The glass portion of the roof is made up that follows the various heights of the rammed
families have lived there in poverty for genera- of eighty 1985 Chevrolet Caprice side-door earth wall, taking on various architectural
tions, occupying ramshackle trailers and windows, purchased by the students for and programmatic functions: giving the walls
shacks. For many years, Rural Studio, $120 from a scrap yard in Chicago, Illinois. structural stability, supporting the roof, or
part of the architecture program at Auburn The students ingeniously used the ready- serving as a bench while complementing the
University, has built innovative homes for made holes in the glass, by which the cypress benches and tables that rest upon
Masons Bend residents, and to thank them mechanism that raised and lowered the win- the humble gravel floor inside.
one of the recipients presented the studio dow was attached, to secure the panes to a
48 R AMMED E ARTH
49
Floor plan
Section
top left: The iron-rich Alabama soil gives top right: Located at the intersection
the rammed earth walls that reach out of two main roads, the center is a
to the community a vibrant red color. community landmark.
50 R AMMED E ARTH
The community gathers in the celebratory
space beneath the airy roof structure.
opposite, top: The Wine Centre is sited opposite, bottom left: Earth, steel, wood, opposite, bottom right: The multi-
at the edge of Adelaides 125-acre and glass used in the construction of the layered space is enclosed by a grand
Botanical Garden, where 500 grapevines National Wine Centre parallel the terroir, roof structure supported by laminated
in a semicircular pattern reflect the plan trellis, barrels, and bottles of wine present hoop pine beams.
of the building. in the wine-making process.
West elevation
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53
Floor plan Roof structure
Section
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The immense rammed earth wall, an archi- Directional: This is dummy text.
tectural terroir constructed of soils taken Lorem ipsum dolor. Proin turpis augue,
from Australias leading wine districts, pretium vitae.
guides visitors through the Centre.
Architecture Firm year. During that time, the comparatively encloses the restrooms, offices, and storage
Grimshaw Architects small rammed earth visitor center accommo- for the center, all housed beneath the green
Location dated 2 million people who had come to watch roof. Overhead, a series of fabric tensile struc-
Cornwall, United Kingdom the building of the largest greenhouses in tures shade the courtyard and lead to the
Date the world. entrance to the visitor centers main hall,
2000 Comprising two adjacent buildings, accessible through an opening in the rammed
the center is situated at the edge of a 37-acre earth wall. Inside, the space gives way to shops
The Eden Project, the leading tourist attraction site that was once a quarry for mining china- selling plants, cafes, exhibit halls, and educa-
in the United Kingdom, is considered by many quality clay and derives its crescent shaped tional galleries. An underlying steel structure
to be the eighth wonder of the world. The com- plan from the contours of the enormous pit. makes the large open spaces possible and sup-
plex comprises a number of immense domes The buildings are intentionally concealed ports the aluminum-clad roof that protects the
that house plant species from rain forests and from the parking lot by a green roof that allows rammed earth wall from rain. Because this
warm temperate regions around the world. the soap bubblelike biomes to take visual wall is not structural, it acts more like an infill
Welcoming visitors to the site is the Eden precedent. A long, subtly curved rammed within the steel structurea modern interpre-
Project Visitor Centre. While it is often over- earth wall that extends the length of the build- tation of English wattle and daub or cob houses
looked because of the architectural penumbra ing welcomes visitors, drawing them into the that are traditionally found in Cornwall. On
created by the enormous biomes, this center courtyard-like street defined on one side by the the opposite end of the building a viewing deck
serves as an important introduction to Eden, wall, which is made of high-quality clay taken offers a dramatic view into the clay mine and
offering educational programs and exhibits directly from the site. On the other side, a the biomes, whose forms and high-tech mate-
while architecturally embodying the ecological gabion retaining wall holds back the soil that rials are accentuated by the contrasting natural
philosophies of the park. Although the visitor forms the green roof seen from the parking lot. materials of the visitor center.
center was completed in 2000, the biomes Farther into the courtyard, the gabions
were not open to the public until the following give way to a split-cedar shingle facade that
opposite, top: Curving earthen walls and opposite, bottom: The biomes are
a tensile fabric roof create a dynamic space slowly revealed on the approach to the
at the entrance to the center. visitor center.
Section
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57
Site plan
Floor plan
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top: The enormous intersecting hexagonal bottom left: A view of the grand site bottom right: The ceiling seems to float
geodesic biomes in the former china-clay is presented to visitors entering the above the walls, providing well-lit open
pit are visible from the center. main hall. spaces inside the visitor center for
exhibits, cafes, and galleries.
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61
Various floor plans, elevations, sections of storage shed 1, storage shed 2, chronometry tower
62 R AMMED E ARTH
left: Rich earth tones are heightened by right: Subtle lines in the wall surface
the gray concrete and the northern indicate where thin layers of cement were
European sky. poured to help prevent erosion in the
wall surface.
Split House
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65
Second-floor plan
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top: The house was split in the center bottom: A glass facade defines one side
to preserve existing trees and separate the of the courtyard and brings the landscape
public and private functions of the house. into the houses interior.
Split House 67
Architecture Firm away from it to define the burial grounds. whose subtle details, defined by the use of
Marte.Marte The walls were constructed of soil taken wood and light, are heightened by its purity.
Location directly from the excavation of the church Visitors enter the chapel through two large,
Batschuns, Vorarlberg, Austria grounds, without the addition of any stabiliz- asymmetrical, untreated oak doors, whose
Date ing additives. Earth was poured into formwork wood was harvested in Vorarlberg. Inside,
2001 atop a reinforced concrete foundation and light from a slot in the ceiling overhead illumi-
compacted into 5 -inch-high layers using nates the compacted layers of earth. The
The Cemetery Extension and Chapel of pneumatic tampers. Embedded in the walls of horizontal layers combined with a vertical
Rest is located in the village of Batschuns in the chapel are a concrete bond beam that pro- strip of wood embedded in the wall evoke the
rural Austria, adjacent to a serene meadow, vides lateral stabilization and a pipe that drains form of the Christian cross. Another wall
mortuary chapel, columbarium, and burial water from the roof. hovers over a slot at floor level, illuminating
ground overlooking grand views of the Rhine Just as members of the congregation par- the space by reflecting light off the polished
Valley and the Vorarlberg countryside. This ticipated in the construction of the historic rammed earth floor and calling into question
project was the winning entry in a competition church in 1923, community members, led by the solidity and heaviness of earth. This subtle
whose aim was to expand the burial grounds master clay builder Martin Rauch, assisted in detail is accomplished by a steel beam con-
and create a mortuary chapel to serve an the construction of the walls of the new chapel, cealed in the rammed earth that suspends the
existing church and cemetery designed by which allowed the small project to be con- wall above the floor.
the prominent modern architect Clemens structed within budget. Utilizing a process Outside, two rammed earth walls extend
Holzmeister that was completed in 1923. called calculated erosion by the builder, the away from the chapel and enclose the gravel-
Because the municipality of nearby 18-inch-thick walls are slightly overdimen- covered burial grounds. The shorter of these
Zwischenwasser, host of the competition, sioned, a measure that accommodates for walls is 3 feet thick and defines one entrance to
recognized the importance of their historic erosion and gives the walls a hundred-year the grounds created by a gap between it and the
architecture, great care was taken in selecting life spana conservative estimate by the historic cemetery walls. The longer wall slopes
the winner. Though there was no precedent architects. up toward the meadow, turns a corner, and
for a mortuary chapel executed in rammed The interior of the chapel is a space increases in height. This taller portion of the
earth, the jury selected the elegant and mini- entirely enclosed by earth. A rammed earth wall is a columbarium where names of the
mal design by sibling architects Bernhard floor is treated with wax and polished, which deceased are commemorated in copper script
and Stefan Marte of Marte.Marte. makes it more resistant to water damage. and remains are stored in steel frames embed-
The project consists of a cube-shaped Special panels that can hold clay plaster were ded in the rammed earth.
rammed earth chapel placed in the corner of used for the ceiling, and the continuity of
the site with two earth walls that extend earthen surfaces creates a minimalist space
opposite, top: The cemetery extension opposite, bottom: A gap between walls
includes a mortuary chapel, an urn wall, of the historic cemetery and the new
and a burial ground sited on a gently addition defines the entrance to the site.
sloping hill with a grand view of the Rhine
Valley and the Vorarlberg countryside.
68 R AMMED E ARTH
69
Section and detail of the floating rammed earth wall
70 R AMMED E ARTH
top left: The two large asymmetrical oak bottom left: A vertical piece of wood right: A rammed earth wall floats above
doors were made from wood harvested embedded into the horizontal layers of the floor, creating a slot that illuminates
in Vorarlberg. earth evokes the form of the the interior.
Christian cross.
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73
Site plan Floor plan
Sections
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Translucent polycarbonate panels
reference the rice paper walls of traditional
Japanese architecture.
right: Soil from various parts of the site opposite, top: East elevation
create a marblelike pattern in the rammed opposite, bottom: West facade of
earth walls. guesthouse at dusk
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77
Site plan
78 R AMMED E ARTH
top left: Wood joinery is a counterpoint top right: From the study, a wall bottom: Eighty-year-old oak trees
to the canted rammed earth walls. of glass opens to the views of the oak surround the study.
trees beyond.
opposite, top: View of the northern opposite, bottom: The terminus of the
rammed earth wall and the ironbark rammed earth wall is a dynamic gesture
veranda toward the vineyard.
Vineyard Residence
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81
Site plan
North elevation
South elevation
East elevation
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top left: A glass wall in the master bed- top right: Each column on the veranda bottom left: A steel gutter is folded bottom right: Golden sassafras veneer
room frames a view of the vineyard that is made of two meticulously grafted and bent like grape leaves to carry water unfolds across the surface of the interior,
is defined by the tapering and angled pieces of wood. away from the roof. becoming furniture, such as seats
rammed earth walls. or mantels.
Vineyard Residence 83
Organiz ation three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living concrete, form an inverted roof profile that
Design Build BLUFF room, to arrive at a 1,200-square-foot off-the- diverts water to a cistern for domestic use,
Location grid home with a budget of $30,000. directs views out to the remote landscape, and
Red Mesa Chapter, The site lacked any utilities, which shades the house from the sun.
Navajo Nation, Utah demanded that most of the work in construct- During winter months, however, the
Date ing the house be done by hand. Electricity to sun penetrates through the south-facing wall
2004 power lighting and small electric appliances in of windows along a hallway within the house.
the house is supplied by photovoltaic panels, The warm air absorbed by the thermal mass
Design Build BLUFF is a semester-long course and a propane tank powers the refrigerator and moves into the bedrooms and living spaces
offered by the University of Utahs College of the stove, but those are the only active energy- through the openings in the rammed earth
Architecture and Planning, dedicated to pro- consuming appliances in the house. The house wall. An insulative wall system made of com-
viding housing for families with unique needs is primarily cooled and heated passively via pacted straw sandwiched between clear acrylic
and in challenging circumstances, predomi- the rammed earth wall, the central spine of the panels keeps the warmth in the house. Doors
nately members of the Navajo Nation. With house that regulates the interior temperature that close off spaces inside a house are not a
the unemployment rate more than double the in both the summer and the winter. This traditional part of Navajo homes, and here
national average and with 43 percent of the 18-inch-thick thermal mass was constructed the architects used this precedent to create a
Navajo Nation population below the poverty with sand and clay excavated from the site constant flow of air between the south-
line, Design Build BLUFF (DBB) provides a and compacted to form an architectural feature and north-facing divisions of the house.
noble service. Founder Hank Louis worked reminiscent of the ancient stone walls con-
with the late Samuel Mockbee in Alabama, structed by the Anasazi, the ancestors of the
and in 2000 he brought the ideas of the Rural Navajo. In the summer, the rammed earth
Studio to the Utah desert. In 2004, eight archi- is in shade, remaining a constant temperature,
tecture students enrolled in Louiss studio but in the winter, it is exposed to direct sun-
designed and built the fourth DBB house over light and stores its heat, radiating its warmth
the course of a semester. The house, innovative back into the house throughout the day and
in both its contextual and cultural responsive- night. This seasonal rhythm is regulated by
ness, was named for client Rosie Joe, who an ingenious and dynamic roof structure cali-
resides there with her family. Rosie selected brated to respond to the position of the sun
the site and humbly requested that the house throughout the year. Trusses made of steel
have a kitchen. To this the students added reinforcing rods, typically used to strengthen
opposite: Located far from utilities on right: The thermal mass from a central
the Navajo reservation, the Rosie Joe spine of rammed earth passively heats
House is powered by photovoltaic panels and cools the house.
and propane.
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85
top: Drawing illustrating how water bottom left: Rosie joe comfortably weaves bottom right: Floor plan
collected from the roof is diverted a traditional Navajo blanket in a space
into a cistern and how the roofs design insulated by compacted straw sandwiched opposite: Metal brackets anchor
responds to seasonal solar angles between translucent acrylic panels above the roof structure to the house.
and below the windows.
86 R AMMED E ARTH
87
Architecture Firm architecture technologies in Japan, the archi- interpretation of a house that blurred the
Manabu + Nez/Loco Architects tects sought to blur the spatial boundaries divisions between inside and outside, land-
Location found within the typical house. Their design scape and architecture, natural and artificial.
Tsukuba, Japan also blurred the boundaries between residen- From the interior, a rammed earth ramp
Date tial construction and large-scale construction. took visitors to the roof, a continuation of
2005 The house was located in a Tokyo sub- the houses open-ended circulation system.
urb on a perfectly flat site that the architects The roof was constructed of portable steel
The number of earthquakes that occur in Japan describe as like any other suburb in Japan. plates, commonly found on construction
has prompted very stringent building codes The soil used to construct the rammed earth sites, where they are used to cover excavations
that do not permit rammed earth construction. walls was taken directly from the excavation or to provide traction for heavy machinery.
Though it possesses very high compressive of the foundations, using construction Here, the large steel plates were supported
strength, it has very little tensile strength, techniques and equipment more commonly entirely by the compacted earth and were
and if it is not reinforced, an earthquake can employed for large-scale earthwork projects welded together to form a continuous roof
crumble rammed earth walls to the ground. than for small residential projects. A new structure that also served as a bridge linking
Nevertheless, Tokyo-based Manabu + Nez/ type of landscape was created using backhoes, indoors, outdoors, and two distinct spaces
Loco Architects proposed using zousei, the rollers, concrete-mixing trucks, and earth within the house. To demonstrate the ability
art of excavating and piling soil, in their entry tampersa topography for living. Canted of the house to return the landscape, when
for a design competition whose brief was to masses of rammed earth were formed to make the exhibition of the house ended, the steel
create a concept house that impinged as little walls, floors, and sloping planes that created plates were removed and the house was left to
as possible on the environment. In addition to a loose division of spaces connected in a vari- erode gradually and be reclaimed by the
questioning the nonacceptance of earth ety of ways. The result was a conceptual surrounding vegetation.
Diagrammatic sections
Zousei Architecture
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89
Floor plan
left: The house was constructed using center: The roof was constructed of steel right: The house was constructed entirely
techniques and equipment more commonly road plates. with soil from the site, which was returned
found on large-scale earthwork projects to its original state through natural
then on small residential projects. processes.
90 R AMMED E ARTH
top: The architects explored zousei, the art bottom: Canted masses of rammed
of excavating and piling soil, in their design earth make walls, floors, and ramps that
for a concept house that blurs the spatial create open, connected spaces.
boundaries found within the typical house.
Zousei Architecture 91
Architecture Firm between the lodges to experience the diverse use different textures of wood representing
Kerry Hill Architects landscapes and cultures of the country. The varying levels of refinement: plywood,
Locations: Amankora Resorts derive their name from local milled lumber, and rough sawn lumber .
Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, the Sanskrit words aman, peace, and kora, a Stone, a common element in Bhutanese archi-
and Gangtey, Bhutan circular pilgrimage, in the national Bhutanese tecture, is employed for interior and exterior
Date language, Dzongkha. Visitors making the flooring surfaces and retaining walls, as well as
2005 pilgrimage between lodges travel through in the construction of massive outdoor tubs.
Bhutans central and western valleys, which Though fabrics designed specifically for the
Most structures in western Bhutan are reach heights of up to 9,800 feet above sea spa were woven from nettle, yak hair, and wool
constructed of earth. Wattle and daub is com- level, through forests and glacial landscapes, and employ traditional motifs and patterns,
monly used for interior walls, but rammed over precarious suspension bridges crossing they appear modern in the spare aesthetic of
earth is the dominant building technique in raging rivers, surrounded by snowcapped the interiors.
the region. From humble houses to massive mountains. Between treks, visitors can enjoy Exterior walls are made of locally sourced
fortified monasteries, buildings are con- respite with modern amenities such as high- soil that was carefully stabilized with a small
structed by compacting soil between wood speed internet, fine dining, spa treatments, amount of cement and waterproofing additive.
shuttering, using handheld tampers, and then and shopping at each lodge. This was then poured into metal formwork
rendered with a white lime plaster to prevent The materials, forms, and proportions and compacted in layers using pneumatic
erosion. Earthen building traditions have used by Kerry Hill Architects in the design tampers; small holes left by the tie-rods that
thrived here because of Bhutans political and are Bhutanese in spirit and are informed by held the formwork together recall the con-
geographic isolation; but recent developments traditional regional architecture. Much of this struction process. The exterior surface is
by aid agencies and tourism have begun to inspiration comes from the remote Gangtey treated with a sealant that prevents moisture
change this well-preserved heritage, and earth Goembaa massive rammed earth monastery penetration. These features make them struc-
is increasingly being replaced with concrete. constructed in the seventeenth century of turally superior to traditional earthen walls
Amankora Bhutan Resorts, however, have wood, earth, and stoneclose to where one and more resilient to seismic activity. Whereas
challenged the increasing influence of mod- of the hotels is sited. The lodges balance con- traditional rammed earth walls are often pro-
ernization in the country. Although tourists temporary and traditional architecture; here, tected with plaster, the exposed earthen walls
pay as much as $4,000 per night for a luxury the past and the future come together in a of the resort ironically suggest a different kind
suite in these five-star accommodations, the spa that has the essence of a monastery. of protectionthat of traditional Bhutanese
architecture reflects much humbler ideals. The interiors are an exercise in contrast- building practices in a global society.
The four resort hotels are located in small ing traditional and contemporary materials.
villages, and tourists are encouraged to travel Floors, interior walls, and ceilings alternatively
92 R AMMED E ARTH
93
Gangtey Lodge floor plan
94 R AMMED E ARTH
top: Canted rammed earth walls and bottom left: Small holes in the wall recall bottom right: Interiors are entirely
refined wood detailing are modern takes on the construction process and were created enclosed in different textures of rough-cut,
a centuries-old Bhutanese building by the tie-rods that held the formwork milled, and veneer wood for floors, walls,
tradition. together. and ceilings.
opposite, top: The south side of the house opposite, bottom: View of the valley
is a long, elegant rammed earth wall inter- from the main entrance
woven with dark cedar and glass.
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97
Site plan
bottom left: A large fireplace and entertain- bottom right: Dark panels of stained opposite: The long rammed earth wall is
ment center separates the kitchen from cedar move from the exterior to the exposed both on the exterior and the
the living area. interior, bringing the outside into the interior and defines a corridor that runs
house. the length of the house.
98 R AMMED E ARTH
99
Design Firm design thesis, Powell elected to take on the never exceed 12 inches in width and therefore
Gallo Powell Consortium project from concept through design and con- do not require concrete lintels. The roof is
Location struction drawings and, with the help of his anchored to the wall using long threaded rods
Tucson, Arizona partner, Gallo, the construction of the house. that extend down through the wall and into
Date The design was inspired by the pit houses built the foundation. Irregularities in the earthen
2006 by the Hohokam Native American culture that wall that would make the roof structure
once inhabited the Tucson Basin. Like these difficult to level are resolved by placing 1-inch
The legacy of earthen architecture in Arizona traditional houses, for which builders first dug rigid insulation below a bond beam made
is diverse and extensive. Native Americans, a 2-foot-deep impression in the soil to moder- of wood and a steel channel that is compressed
Latinos, and more recently a growing popula- ate interior temperatures in the harsh desert using the threaded rods. The roof joists are
tion of Anglo-Americans have left traces climate, the living room of the 750-square-foot then attached to a box beam, giving the appear-
of earth in the desert landscape. Often, Back 40 House is buried below grade. After ance that the roof structure is reaching out to
Southwestern architecture responds stylisti- digging the pit, the Hohokam would construct grab the thick walls.
cally to past architectural legacies but ignores a wooden framework upon which mud, made In addition to its structural innovations,
the poetic and environmentally responsive- from the soil taken from the pit, was applied. the roof also responds to environmental
ness of these earthen traditions. Such is not Here, that framework was a reusable plywood concerns. Twelve inches of recycled cotton
the case for the Back 40 House. It was designed form, reinforced with 2-by-12-inch whalers insulation buffer it from the Arizona sun.
by two recent graduates from the University that allowed a crew of four people to build a A central gutter channels water to a reflecting
of Arizona School of Architecture, Andy 6-by-8-foot rammed earth wall section each pool that irrigates the garden and a wall of
Powell and Jason Gallo, who examined ancient day, using soil excavated from the pit. climbing vines. On the roof a passive solar
desert dwelling principles while employing The soil used to construct the walls was system heats water for domestic use, and this
current technologies in environmental think- combined with 4 percent cement for stabiliza- water also warms the house through radiant
ing and making conscious efforts to lean away tion, mixed in a cement mixer, and carried to tubes embedded in the concrete floor slab.
from any trace of historical stylistic mimicry. the forms in buckets. To avoid solar gain, open- Gray water from the sinks and baths is directed
The client, Powells parents, named ings in the 18-inch-thick walls are tiny and to the landscape to irrigate a mesquite tree
the Back 40 House after their backyard, where angled slightly south to capture only moments and other vegetation that in turn, shade the
they wished to have a guesthouse. For his of the winter sun. These small light shafts house from the desert sun.
Back 40 House
10 0 R AMMED E ARTH
Small windows that puncture the thick
walls are angled to avoid any summer
solar gain and are small enough to not
require a lintel.
opposite, top: The building fits perfectly opposite, bottom: Local soil mixed with
within the surrounding desert land- color additives accentuates the rammed
scape without referencing historical or earth layers reminiscent of geological
regional styles. sedimentation.
Site plan
10 6 R AMMED E ARTH
top: The path to the main entrance bottom left: Blue-stain pine was used bottom right: South-facing view of outdoor
guides guests along the massive rammed throughout the interior of the building. amphitheater seating
earth wall that frames views of the
mountains in the distance.
Residence 1
West elevation
INTRODUCTION 113
164-foot-tall pyramid whose construction terminated with the use form of construction at that time.16 After the loss of the American
of more than 140 million mud bricks in 450 C.E., was the largest Coloniesfor which Paul Revere deserves partial creditforced
pre-Columbian mud brick structure built in the Americaslarger the British to look toward Australia as the solution to penal over-
than any mud brick pyramid of ancient Egypt.12 Chan Chan, located crowding, they introduced mud brick traditions to the island
three miles west of Trujillo and built between 850 and 1470 C.E., continent.17
was the largest mud brick urban center in pre-Columbian America, Mud brick is ubiquitous because the soils required to make
with a population estimated to be 30,000 at its height.13 it are as varied as the cultures, periods, and locations that employ
Mud brick was also in use in North America, appearing it. The Spanish word zoquete means mud in northern New Mexico;
around 500 B.C.E. The residences of the great city of Tenochtitln in northern Mexico, it is used to describe a simpleton. When asked
during the fifteenth century, one of the largest cities in the world what the relation between the two meanings was, adobera Jesusita
at the time, with 200,000 inhabitants, were constructed primar- Jimenez, a mud brick mason from Presidio, Texas, said that it is
ily of mud brick. The Spanish conquest later propelled the use of because mud is a material so simple that anyone can use it. No
mud brick in both North and South America with the construction special soil is required for making mud bricks. An ideal soil would
and reconstruction of cities throughout the new world, particularly have coarse aggregate like pea gravel, varying sizes of sand, silt, and
the United States Southwest. The city of La Villa Real de la Santa clay; however, the absence of any one of these will still result in an
F de San Francisco de Ass, known more commonly as Santa F, acceptable brick.18 Nevertheless, the soil composition required to
New Mexico, is the second oldest city and the oldest capital city in create a high-quality brick has been extensively studied. Larger par-
the United States, and it is famous for its city center of mud brick ticle sizes of aggregate and sand help create a stronger brick, and silt
churches, shops, and hotels planned on the Law of the Indiesa and clay bind the various components together. When dry, a mud
set of guidelines signed by King Phillip II of Spain to instruct brick with more clay is less strong but more water-resistant. More
Spanish colonists how to create and expand towns in Spanish aggregate means greater strength, but the resulting brick is more
America, and thought to be influenced heavily by Vitruviuss Ten susceptible to erosion. The range of percentages of each ingredient
Books of Architecture.14 In the heart of the city is the Palace of the to make the optimum mud brick is, as defined by various experts:
Governors, a mud brick building constructed in 1610 as the origi- 27 percent gravel, 6162 percent sand, 2232 percent silt, and 1415
nal capitol. It is the oldest public building in the United States still percent clay.19 The beauty of the material is that making it is not an
in continuous use, currently serving as the New Mexico History exact science; its potential is strengthened by its variety.
Museum. Today, New Mexico is the leading consumer of mud brick Of course, making mud bricks is not possible with all soils,
in the industrialized world, and the history of mud brick, as well but too much or too little of any of the necessary ingredients
as its etymology, can be traced from New Mexico directly back to required to make a mud brick can be corrected by the addition of
the ancient Egyptian builders. Adobe, as mud brick is more com- straw, the third most important ingredient next to soil and water.
monly known, is a Spanish word whose origins are from the Arabic Straw also has other benefits. As a binder, it provides reinforce-
al-tuba, the brick, which came from the Coptic tobe, and from ment, increasing the strength of the brick. It also allows the mud
Egyptian dbt, meaning brick.15 brick to dry more evenly by wicking water from the center of the
It is often assumed that Spanish and Native American tradi- brick, which prevents cracking as it bakes in the hot sun. Other
tions are the only mud brick legacies that exist in the United States. organic additives besides straw are commonly included, depend-
However, during early European settlement, architecture on the ing on the resources that are available to various cultures. Cactus
East Coast was influenced by English earth building. The home mucilage, ox blood, paper, corn husks, and manure are examples of
of Paul Revere, the famous American patriot who warned the binding agents that increase the durability of the material. Manure
colonists of the British military advance during the American dries odorless and has the added benefit of repelling insects. Cactus
Revolutionary War, is the oldest house in Boston. Built in 1680, mucilage increases the adhesion of mortar and plaster and helps
the house is post and timber with mud brick infilla common repels water.
INTRODUCTION 115
Architecture Firm groundbreaking contribution to contempor- elementsa defense mechanism from colonial
Antoine Predock Architect ary earthen architecture that respects past times when settlers fortified their buildings
Location building traditions but also draws from alter- against attack from Native AmericansLa Luz
Albuquerque, New Mexico native sources for inspiration. It was the first embraces the landscape and opens up to views
Date suburban housing development in the world of the Sandia, Manzano, and Los Pinos moun-
19671974 constructed entirely of mud brick, and it was tains in the distance.
also the first major project for renowned It is also a model for suburban develop-
New Mexico has a long and rich history of architect Antoine Predock, designed and built ment. Unlike most suburban housing that
earthen architecture. The oldest continuously between 1967 and 1974. To design a project that sprawls into the landscape, La Luz is compact.
inhabited buildings in the United States, found works within the language of modern architec- Clustered within 42 acres are ninety-six homes
at Taos Pueblo, are multistory earthen struc- ture while fitting within the regional historic adjacent to 500 acres of land stretching to the
tures built by Native Americans in the 1100s. context, Predock intentionally looked beyond Rio Grande River that were preserved for
In the sixteenth century, Spanish settlers the regional styles and instead found inspira- public open space. Each dwelling is connected
introduced mud brick, which radically trans- tion in the desert landscape. to this public landscape, while also having its
formed native building practices and created Mud brick, brown cement stucco, and own private outdoor space as well as access to
an architectural tradition distinct to northern white trim are common to the Pueblo style semipublic communal patios and squares.
New Mexico. Many types of vernacular archi- that emerged in the region in the early 1900s; The buildings are also directly connected to
tecture evolved from these two cultures, the architecture of La Luz combines these the land as all of the mud bricks used to build
and during the twentieth century many traditional materials with concrete and large the homes were made directly on site to reduce
Southwestern architectural styles, such glass openings without the decorative pastiche transportation costs and are stabilized with a
as the Pueblo and Territorial styles, emerged. typical of Southwestern-style architecture. small amount of asphalt emulsion. La Luz
Unfortunately, as the appeal of these styles Rather than copying the forms of traditional proved that large-scale developments can be
grew, architects began to employ superficially architecture, Predock found inspiration in the constructed of earth while being ecological,
motifs inspired by the traditional buildings in silhouette of basalt outcroppings common to profitable, and timeless. Today, almost thirty-
new earthen and nonearthen structures, with the Albuquerque landscape and designed the five years after the communitys inception,
no regard for scale, structure, and meaning. building to emulate their forms. In opposition it joins the legacy of historic earth structures
Nestled in the desert landscape of subur- to the traditional architecture of the region, in New Mexico and is listed in the National
ban Albuquerque, however, is La Luz, a which closes itself off from the landscape and Register of Historic Places.
La Luz Community
opposite, top left: At the terminus of opposite, top right: Mud brick walls were
the double-layer wall, mud brick is left exposed to reveal their texture, color,
cantilevered. and structure.
opposite, bottom left: The wall opposite, bottom right: Curved walls,
surrounding the house is also constructed varying floor heights, and exposed beams
of mud brick. create dynamic interior spaces that are
very different from those in traditional mud
brick houses.
Matthews Residence
opposite, top: From the exterior, the above: Norwegian mud bricks,
vaulted roof, small openings, and thick or Norbricks, dry in the sun.
plastered walls clearly demonstrate
Mediterranean influences but appear at
home in their Scandinavian context.
Camacho Residence
top left: Simone Swan oversees the top right: Camacho mixes mud and straw
construction of the walls as her crew together to make mud bricks and to
prepares to construct the vaulted roof. plaster the walls.
13 0 Mud Brick
North elevation
Floor plan
top left: Locals wishing to gain above left: As the mud brick walls are
experience in sustainable building not structural, they were stacked on top
practices made 14,000 mud bricks by of a stabilized rammed earth foundation
hand from the red soil of the site. beneath a steel roof structure.
133
Architecture Firm This unique environment initially prompted Because traditional mud brick walls are
Arup Associates Arup to employ highly sophisticated engineer- not earthquake safe, Arup designed a timber-
Location ing software and modern building materials frame wood structure, based upon Japanese
Shey, Ladakh, India to address the environmental challenges, but joinery techniques, that serves as the primary
Date the firm soon discovered that costs associated load-bearing structure and is infilled with mud
2001 with importing industrial materials were far brick. The large beams are connected by steel
too high and looked to local building tradi- plates and provide large open spaces inside;
The Druk White Lotus School, located in tions. The result is an architecture that is much outside, they project beyond the double-glazed
Ladakh, India, a Tibetan plateau that is one of like the education offered at the schoola windows to support sunshades and trellises
the last strongholds of indigenous Buddhist collaboration between technological advance- for climbing vines. The structure also supports
culture, was created to prepare the children ments and tried-and-true traditions to produce a roof made up of a tightly arranged row
of Ladakh for the challenges of the twenty- a model for appropriate and sustainable of willow branches covered with rock-wool
first century through modern education. modernization. insulation, waterproof felt paper, and is cov-
In 1997 the Drukpa Trust, a charity based in Although the climate is harsh, sunshine ered over with a layer of grass and mud. The
the United Kingdom to advance learning is abundant, and in order to make the most of roof is an improvement on traditional earthen
according to the universal philosophy and this rich resource, Arups design takes advan- roofs, which lack insulation and waterproofing
nonsectarian practice of Tibetan Buddhism, tage of solar energy through both active and material, and it prevents the heat collected
asked Arup Associates to propose a master passive technologies. Photovoltaic panels in the Trombe walls from escaping.
plan that would ultimately serve 750 elemen- charge batteries that do everything from run Arups master plan, when finished,
tary and high school students. The first phase computers to pump water. To create a passive will include several innovative mud brick and
of this long-term project was a nursery and solar heating system for the school, Arup granite buildings in addition to this school.
infants school that uses both traditional and Associates designed a ventilated Trombe wall The entire complex will ultimately be
modern building materials and employs system constructed of mud brick, granite, organized on the pattern of the traditional
methods that respond to the extreme condi- and glass. The mud bricks thermal mass stores nine-square southsouth east facing mandala,
tions of the high-desert environment. the winter suns warmth for evening heating, a geometric pattern that represents the cosmos
The location of the school presented and granite surfaces protect the brick from metaphysically and symbolically in Tibetan
the projects primary challenge. Ladakh is erosion. Spaced in front of the thick walls is a Buddhism; and it will be surrounded by a
the highest plateau region in Northern India, double layer of glass, and above and below the series of concentric circles made up of low
reaching up to 11,000 feet above sea level. massive walls are adjustable openings that walls, tree plantings, and stupas. Scheduled
The average rainfall in this high-altitude desert allow heat to be transferred from the air cavity for completion in 2011, the complex will
is less than 2 inches per year, and winter between the glass, and earthen wall to the include a library, computer and science labs,
temperatures can be as low as -30 Fahrenheit. room inside. This allows for the temperature dining halls, faculty and student housing,
With winter come heavy snows, making of the rooms to be controlled and keeps the and an open-air temple that will serve as the
access only possible by air. Furthermore, the young students comfortable. heart of the campus.
region is prone to seismic activity.
opposite, top: South elevation of the opposite, bottom: A wall of glass allows
Nursery and Infant School and Junior the thick granite and mud brick walls
School to absorb and retain heat from the sun.
Section
13 6 Mud Brick
top left: Granite cladding protects the top right: Warm materials make a bottom: The timber-frame structure was
mud brick walls. comfortable learning environment designed for stability during earthquakes,
for the children. and the mud brick infill is the thermal mass.
Sections
13 8 Mud Brick
Subtly curved mud brick walls, ventilating
wood louvers, and stone foundations
and pavers found on site are the primary
architectural elements of the wine cellar.
Section details of timber structure and Elevation detail of curved mud brick infill walls
through mud brick wall
Isometric drawing of mud brick infill walls Reflected ceiling plan detail showing overhang of wood screens above mud brick walls
opposite, top: The wine cellar complex opposite, bottom: A forest of wooden
comprises several large warehouses trusses comprises the interior of the
organized along an axis parallel to the wine storage area.
vineyard.
opposite, top left: A view of the entrance opposite, bottom: Light and air pass Roof plan
to the distillery shows its rural site through a screen created by diagonally
surrounded by cuj trees. placed mud bricks.
Casa Corralones
First-floor plan Detail of bond beam on top of thick mud brick wall
opposite, top: The art installation, located opposite, bottom: A local rancher
on an isolated road in West Texas, visits the sculpture.
replicates a luxury boutique.
Prada Marfa
Floor plan
Christines House
Section
Introduction 157
A detail of naturally compressed earth,
called tepetate, which was carved from
the ground.
Introduction 159
Architecture Firm Villa Eila is a private residence located rectangular space. Meals are also prepared
Heikkinen-Komonen Architects at the northeastern outskirts of the town of in the living room, which has built-in
Location Mali, Guinea, at an elevation of 4,790 feet cupboards and a counter. A gap between the
Mali, Guinea above sea level in the Fouta Djallon high- ceiling and the roof allows cross ventilation
Date landsthe origin of the Niger, Senegal, and to completely circulate around each indepen-
1996 Gambia rivers. Temperatures are mild, ranging dent volume.
from 62 Fahrenheit in the winter to 88 Each of the rooms is constructed of a
Round mud brick buildings with thatched during the summer. For three months during single thickness of stabilized compressed
roofs are common throughout Guinea, but the rainy season, precipitation is constant earth blocks measuring 10 by 10 by 20 inches
because traditional earthen structures have and the annual rainfall averages 20 inches. and rendered with a cement stucco. Each
become associated with poverty, fired brick, The house is sited on a narrow terraced compressed earth block is made of soil that
produced in small kilns that consume large strip of land, on a west-facing slope with contains approximately 12 percent moisture,
amounts of wood and are associated with picturesque views of the surrounding peaks. mixed with 3 to 5 percent portland cement.
progress and status, supplanted traditional A continuous roof structure, whose columns In accordance with the aims of the architects
earthen technologies. As a consequence of this and beams are constructed of hard mahogany and client, many of the building components
practice, deforestation became an increasing harvested from local forests and joined using were made by local villagers. The compressed
problem in the forests of the Fouta Djallon simple steel fasteners, shades the indoor earth blocks were made by hand using a
region of Guinea. In addition, corrugated metal and outdoor living spaces beneath it. The slope press imported from Belgium that allowed
roofing, despite its extremely poor thermal and of the roof is parallel to the slope of the site; a team of six workers to produce between
acoustical properties, especially during the hot and to protect against strong winds, thin steel 700 and 1,000 blocks a day.
and rainy seasons, began to replace traditional rods are attached to the overhangs on the east Floors are covered with glazed ceramic
thatched roofs. Eila Kiveks, the founder of and west sides of the roof, extending to the tiles handmade by women from the nearby
the Finnish development association Indigo, foundation, which anchor the roof to the village of Colci using molds built by a local
was concerned about what was happening in ground. On the east side of the house, the rods carpenter. Outside, the terrace floor is covered
the country and decided to construct a house support a woven bamboo screen that filters with red gravel. The large -inch-thick roof
that would exemplify economical and eco- the morning sunlight and gives privacy to the tiles were made by hand on site from cement,
logically efficient building and promote local outdoor toilet and bathing area. fiberglass, and plant fiber, and are curved to
traditions through simple technological In the shade of the roof are several rooms interlock and overlap each other. Woven straw
improvements. The Finnish firm Heikkinen- of varying shapes. Round volumes at each mats, another locally sourced craft, cover
Komonen Architects was commissioned to end of the villa serve as guest rooms. A square the ceilings in the northern guest room and
create a prototype house to advance existing room is used for storage and houses the the main living area and master bedroom.
technologies and conserve resources particular bath and toilet facilities. Sleeping quarters
to the local climate and economy. are connected to the living room in the large
Villa Eila
Site plan
Section
opposite, top: A water tower marks opposite, bottom: The thick walls are made
the entrance to the compressed earth of a double layer of stabilized compressed
block campus. earth blocks exposed to the exterior, which
rest upon a concrete foundation.
Floor plan
opposite, top: N3 installed at the 2000 opposite, bottom: The 40,224 compressed
Venice Biennale peat bricks were strapped with polypro-
pylene to form a stackable building module.
opposite, top: The narrow channel of water opposite, bottom: Textures cast into the above: Tepetate infills a concrete structure,
that runs the length of the main plaza walls aid in navigation. Students who allowing for walls as high as 40 feet tall and
allows users to navigate with the sound of can still perceive light but cannot make interiors with large spans.
bubbling water. out details are guided by the stark
contrasts between light and shadow in
passageways.
Site plan
Sections
173
architecture firm earth blocks, which were used for the walls Krs village. Traditional roofs in Burkina
Dibdo Francis Kr and even the ceiling of the school. Faso are made of thatch, but increasingly,
Location The bricks used for the school have a small corrugated metal roofs are appearing in new
Gando, Burkina Faso amount of cement mixed with the earth to construction. During rainstorms, however,
Date increase their compressive strength and to they become very noisy due to rain pounding
2001 protect them from the seasonal rains. Local against the metal. Here, a metal roof was used,
villagers used a hand press, which allowed but an airspace between the earthen ceiling and
There is a small school that is a marvel of them to manufacture a large number of bricks the roof creates an acoustical buffer. Welding
ingenuity and community spirit on the south- each day, and construction of the walls was was already a well-established local skill in
ern plains of Burkina Faso, in the small village performed by them. Above each load-bearing the community and Kr took advantage of
of Gando. It came into existence primarily wall is a concrete bond beam; metal rods the fact when designing the ingenious truss
because of a young architects desire to build a spanning the space of each classroom are system that supports the lofty metal roof.
school for the children of his village. Architect anchored to the bond beam and suspend a Each lightweight metal truss was built to be
Dibdo Francis Kr was the first person from ceiling made of compressed earth block. This lifted onto the structure without the use of
Gando to be educated abroad, and believing ceiling moderates indoor air temperature cranes and was fabricated using simple tools
that education was the primary vehicle for the and creates an acoustical break between the reinforcement bar, a hacksaw, and a small
advancement of his community, he decided classroom and the metal roof above. welding machine. The schools east-west
to ensure that education be available in his The thick earth walls help keep the orientation ensures that very little of the wall
village. While studying architecture in Berlin, interior spaces of the school cool. The three surface of the school is heated by the direct rays
Kr and a group of friends created a fundrais- earthen classrooms stand independent and of the rising and setting sun, and during midday
ing association called Schulbausteine fr disconnected from each other, and airflow the roof keeps the entire building in shade.
Gando, Bricks for the Gando School, to pro- around each classroom further assists in keep- Gandos Primary School is a model for
mote the construction of a new school for the ing interior temperatures down, which also client-village activism and many near-by
children of his town. He was also able to obtain helps students stay alert on hot days. The villages have followed its lead by forming
the support of the government agency separation of classroom spaces also defines organizations to construct their own schools.
LOCOMAT of Burkina Faso, which helped small outdoor spaces in the shade of the can- Furthermore, the skills that villagers learned in
train masons in the community to make bricks opy, which are used as outdoor classrooms the construction of the school have attracted
using compressed stabilized earth. Men, and break spaces. the attention of local authorities, who now
women, and children of the village were A soaring metal roof takes advantage of hire them to construct municipal projects in
trained to construct stabilized compressed the skills and resources already available in the region.
Primary School
Section
Introduction 179
the process, cob structures can be highly sculptural. A straight line is on the tradition, the formwork might be left, becoming the pri-
not the norm in a cob construction, but window and door openings mary structural support for the building, or the formwork is wat-
and walls can be leveled using a paring iron to create cleaner edges tle, embedding further reinforcement in the wall; in other cases,
and walls. the shuttering is removed, and the wall is allowed to dry as if it
The simplicity of the system has allowed the technique to were one giant mud brick.
flourish throughout the world. Native Americans piled mud to cre- The Juana Briones House, built in 1845 near San Francisco,
ate large multistory dwellings. The ruins of Casa Grande, built of California, is a unique example of this type of construction, which
cob between 1200 and 1450 by the Hohokam culture near Phoenix, is called encajonado, a Spanish term that describes stuffing mud
Arizona, became the first prehistoric cultural site to be protected into a framework of lath.7 In the United Kingdom, many houses
in the United States.5 The multistory Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, were built during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centu-
which was constructed of cob between 1000 and 1450 and is the ries by combining straw, chalk, and soil and pouring the mix into
oldest continuously occupied dwelling in North America, is still a formwork. Once the material dried, the formwork was removed
thriving village. In northern Yemen, zabur, as cob is called there, is to expose the brilliant white walls.8 This is similar to Marwan
a sophisticated tradition; multistory dwellings and fortifications of Al-Sayeds use of gypsum in a poured earth wall in Phoenix,
piled mud are still being constructed today by Bedouin cultures. In Arizona; the color helps bring a quality of lightness to the massive
the United Kingdom, where the word cob originated, building with poured earth walls while reflecting the desert sun. Nader Khalilis
piled mud flourished from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. superadobe, in which flexible sacks of earth are stacked to create
In Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England, many quick, low-cost disaster housing, is a radical take on poured earth
typologies, from humble farmhouses to stately manors, as well as traditions.
the birthplace of sixteenth-century writer and explorer Sir Walter
Raleigh (founder of the first English colony in the Americas) were Extruded Earth
constructed of cob. With British colonization the use of cob spread Pushing a soil mixture through a die to create precise profiles is
to Australia, New Zealand, and North America. In New Zealand, common in the brick- and terracotta-making industry. The process
English colonists constructed over 8,000 cob houses.6 begins with mechanically mixing precise amounts of shale, clay,
Today, cob is very much alive thoughout the world. In and other soils with water. This results in building units that bene-
the United Kingdom the long, curving cob wall in Associated fit from a high degree of quality control as the soil mixture is homo-
Architects Cobtun House demonstrates how well suited this sim- geneous for each batch and profiles are equal in dimension, with
ple technique is to combining high and low technologies in an eco- flat faces that were formed by steel molds. As profiles are extruded,
logical design. In Heringer and Roswags design for a childrens the soft, moist clay is cut with a series of wires to the correct length,
school in Bangladesh, the sculptural potential of cob is explored after which it is air dried for several days. Following this, tradi-
in the caves carved out of the wall where students can study, play, tional bricks are fired in a kiln to the point of vitrification. Those
or sleep. bricks not entering the kiln are called green bricks, and increas-
ingly, architects are considering these as building modules because
Poured Earth the precision inherent in the process makes the production of large
Pouring earth into formwork and allowing it to dry is a technol- quantities of high-quality earthen building units possible. The soil
ogy that contains elements of wattle and daub, rammed earth, content for green bricks must have a lower clay content than those
mud brick, and cob. When wattle is used on an exterior wall headed for the kiln, but the precision of the process also allows
and an interior wall, the resulting gap is filled with mud. While for this as well as for more accurate cost estimation than is pos-
rammed earth construction requires laborious tamping, here, sible in traditional mud brick manufacturing. Also, customized
when the mud is dry, the resulting shape is achieved. Depending shapes and lengths can be created by changing the profile of the
Introduction 181
architecture firm anywhere in the worlda technique he calls cement. Because the bags can be filled by hand,
Nader Khalili superadobe. the structures can be built by anyonemen,
Location Superadobe was developed as a system women, the elderly, and the young. As the
Baninajar Refugee Camp, Khuzestan for building small stand-alone structures that bags are filled, they are stacked and wound in
Date could be clustered together to serve larger increasingly smaller circular patterns to form
1995 programmatic needs without the use of domed structures.
extensive skilled labor. It was also designed As each course is layered, barbed wire
Iranian-born architect Nader Khalili has to be used in cases where both temporary and is placed between the bags. The barbed
long been interested in the earthen architec- permanent shelter was needed in areas that wire keeps the bags from slipping and gives
ture of his home country. Since founding lacked access to building materials, particularly the structure a tensile strength that is comple-
the California Institute of Earth Art and wood. What resulted is an ecologically and mentary to the compressive strength of
Architecture (Cal-Earth) in 1991, he has economically appropriate tactic to house the the earth. When the structure is complete it
expanded upon the traditional earth-building millions of people displaced by natural and is plastered with local soil that also might be
techniques of Iran, inventing unique and human disasters. mixed with lime for increased water resistance.
useful earth-building processes in response In 1995 Khalili partnered with the United Since superadobe was extensively
to important global issues. Early on, Khalili Nations Development Programme and the developed and tested in earthquake-prone
experimented with creating waterproof United Nations Refugee Agency to build California, it meets stringent building codes.
ceramic houses by setting fire to entire earthen emergency shelters for Iraqi refugees displaced The flexibility of the structure, curved forms,
structures, similar to firing a clay pot in a kiln. by the Persian Gulf War, using the super- and barbed wire reinforcement give a super-
Later, Cal-Earth collaborated with NASA to adobe technique. The refugees themselves adobe structure surprising resistance to
explore construction techniques for building constructed fifteen shelters in the Baninajar seismic forces. This makes it an ideal building
on the Moon and Mars, using the soil of those Refugee Camp in Khuzestan, Iran, at the cost system for housing victims of earthquake
celestial bodies. Khalilis attempts to vitrify of $20,000, $3000 less than the budget disasters or for housing in places with active
soil with fire eventually led to experiments allocated for the project. faults. Superadobe is an ideal housing solution
where he constructed buildings with small The superadobe technique is simple: to other natural and man-made disasters as
plastic bags that were to be filled with lunar or polypropylene sandbags 14- to 18-inches well, and, ironically, Khalili has made the
Martian soil and affixed together with Velcro. in diameter, which can be up to a mile in materials associated with earthquakes, floods,
Khalilis exhaustive, hands-on research has length, are filled with dirt, sand, or clay and and warssandbags and barbed wireinto an
evolved into an innovative technique that uses optionally mixed with a small amount of elegant and useful housing solution.
local soils to respond to human housing crises a locally sourced stabilizer, such as lime or
Waldorf Kindergarten
left to right: A wattle made of metal lath typically be buried in the ground, was opposite: Smoke emerges from small
gave structure to the lower hemisphere instead exposed; the lower half was filled openings in the charcoal furnace.
of the mud oven; the mud-plastered with wood to form a sphere; the wood
bottom half of the sphere, which would was encased in a mud cocoon.
19 0 Molded e arth
191
Architecture Firm and mud, and tun, a large vessel. It contains gives the walls their rough texture and high
Associated Architects four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, insulation value, which is supplemented
Location a modern kitchen with pantry, wine storage, by recycled newspaper embedded within the
Worcester, United Kingdom and an open-plan living space. Designed wall. At 3 feet thick, the walls create a sensuous
Date by the Birmingham-based firm Associated enclosure that keeps the house comfortably
2003 Architects, the project was the winner cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
of the Royal Institute of British Architects A corrugated metal roof caps the earth
For thousands of years cob builders, with the Sustainable Building of the Year award in walls, protecting them from the rains common
help of oxen trampling a mixture of straw, 2005 for its innovative use of an ancient build- to the climate. The roof also collects rain-
water, and clay, have built countless homes in ing material in a modern way, as well as for water, which is stored in a tank to irrigate
the bitter climate of coastal Britain by piling reducing impact on the environment through the organic vegetable garden and to supply
this mix atop a stone foundation in courses a number of ecological features that were the water-efficient washing machine and low-
molded in place by hand. After each layer employed in the design of the house. flush toilets. A large overhang on the roof
of cob was set, it was allowed to dry for two Most of the soil used to construct the also shields the walls from the summer sun.
weeks, and then another course was placed walls was taken from the excavation of the On the south side, a 6-foot-long trellis of grape
atop the previous, with doors and window site. Because the soil had a low clay content, vines cantilevers from the roof to create a
openings being shaped as the walls grew. additional soil with a higher clay content from seasonal solar shade for the large glass opening
Today, these charming historic homes, many a nearby construction site, originally destined that looks out upon the vast landscape sited
500 years old or more, continue to be occupied for a landfill, made up 25 percent of the final against the River Avon. In the summer,
and fetch high market prices; and because of mix. Using pitchforks, the mixture was piled the shade of the broad grape leaves prevents
recent increases in lumber prices and a growing atop a stone and recycled-brick foundation. solar gain through the glass, and the reverse
interest in ecological building practices, cob Because the walls were formed by hand, occurs when the leaves disappear and the low
construction in Great Britain and throughout not with formwork as in rammed earth winter sun penetrates the glass, warming the
the world is once again gaining popularity. construction, the walls have a subtle organic concrete floor and massive earthen walls.
Whereas most new cob houses reflect tradi- quality. The sand, clay, silt, and gravel from In combination with other solar features, such
tional styles, the Cobtun House is the two sites, when mixed with water and as a solar hot water heating system and heat-
representative of more contemporary straw, created a building material that pos- retaining window blinds, these elements
sensibilities. sesses a high compressive strength, dries make the Cobtun House much less expensive
The Cobtun Houses name comes from with minimal shrinkage, resists cracking and to operate than a conventional house.
the combination of the Anglo-Saxon words erosion, and is 100 percent recyclable. The
cob, the building material made from straw high straw content used as a binder in the cob
Cobtun House
Elevations
Shading and rain diagram used to derive the form of the house
Pealoln House
opposite, top: Colorful doors create opposite, bottom: The second story
welcoming entrances on the south of the building was constructed of a light
elevation. bamboo framework clad with bamboo
strips on wooden frames.
Handmade School
Section
20 0 Molded e arth
left top: The interior was plastered with left bottom: Cave spaces for studying, right: Detail of bamboo structure
a light-colored clay-and-lime wash to playing, or napping embedded in the cob wall
brighten the spaces of the school.
202
Acknowledgments and contemporaneous information on very short notice; Virginia San Fratello, who in addition to inspiring me,
Enrique Larraaga, who is an incredible resource on also fearlessly accompanied me to the Middle East,
South American architecture; my brother, Michael C. South America, Mexico, Europe, Africa, and throughout
Rael, for his immediate support, interest, and assistance the United States, and who continually read drafts,
in countless aspects of this project; Patricio del Real, copyedited, offered a critical eye to the selection of
a mentor who made me recognize the potential of this images, and was invaluable to the organization and
project early on; and Quentin Wilson, a modern-day assembling of the manuscript.
Financial support for the research was made possible Cointeraux, who teaches, builds, and hosts conferences
by generous grants from the Graham Foundation for and online newsgroups on the subject of earth
Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; the Richard A. architecture.
McMahan Fund for Excellence; the Clemson I have great respect for several professors at
Advancement Foundation; the College of Architecture, Columbia University, including Laurie Hawkinson,
Arts and Humanities at Clemson University; The Richard Plunz, Grant Marani, and Pamela Jerome, whose
Architectural League of New York; and the William F. wisdom and guidance was influential at the genesis of
Kinne Foundation at the Graduate School of Architecture, the research; as well as for my corecipient of the William
Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. F. Kinne traveling fellowship, David Green, with whom
I am indebted to the faculty and staff of Clemson I traced the legacy of Franois Cointeraux in southern
University who have supported and assisted me with France.
this work, especially Professor Jos Caban, chair of I am very grateful for the cooperation and interest of
the School of Architecture (19942005); Professor the staff of all the participating architecture firms and
Robert Hogan; Daniel Nadenicek, chair of the organizations, and the individuals and photographers
Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture; who provided me with images, drawings, information,
Professor Barbara Ramirez; Dr. Ted Cavanagh, chair of and contacts. I would like to extend my appreciation to
the School of Architecture; and Janice C. Schach, dean the Aga Kahn Trust for Culture, Eva Madshus, senior
of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. I am curator of collections and exhibitions; and Vidar
grateful to Clemson School of Architecture staff Esther Ibenfeldt, fotoarkivar / photo archivist at the National
Kauffman, Sandy Elgin, Michelle McLain; Gunnin Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design in Oslo; David
Architecture Library Reserves staff member Michael Nix; Winchester at Casa Grande Ruins National Park; and
and the staff at the Charles E. Daniel Center for Building Stacy Jed at Architecture for Humanity for helping me
Research and Urban Studies in Genoa, Italy, Andrina locate and providing me with difficult to find photos.
Molinelli Casazza, Angela Sechi Ceresoli, and Silvia Several students at the University of Colorado,
Siboldi Carroll, whose hard work, patience, and humor Clemson University, Auburn University, the University
made the process much easier and much more enjoyable. of Houston, and the Southern California Institute of
Many people have supported this work by offering Architecture were extremely helpful in organizing
their expertise on the subject, through letters of support, research, contacting architects, digitizing information,
advice, reading drafts, allowing me to experiment with and executing drawingsespecially Casey Crawmer,
earth, and pointing me in the right directions. It is their Jennie West, Blane Hammerlund, Jeremy Fletcher,
contributions that have given the work great diversity. William Smith, Robert Eleazer, and Meera Kachhla.
Thank you to Stanford Anderson, Bradley Bell, Quentin I owe a great deal to Clare Jacobson, Linda Lee, and
Branch, Karoon Davajian, Ingar Dragset, Michael Dorothy Ball at Princeton Architectural Press for their
Elmgreen, Mark Glover, Yahaira Graxirena, Paul Jaquin, assistance, patience, and guidance through every phase
Jesusita Jimenez, Dr. Antonio Moreno-Losana, Martin of this project. Linda and Dorothythank you for your
Rauch, Amanda Reeser, Ashley Schafer, Jennifer Siegel, enthusiasm, attention to detail, and understanding. I
Francisco Uvia, Maria Vergara-Wilson, and Dr. Darla could not have been more fortunate than to have had the
and Norm Whisler. opportunity to work with both of you.
Special acknowledgment goes to Simone Swan The lives of my entire extended family and ancestors
for providing me with seven years of ongoing are the inspiration for this book, as they knew the true
conversation directly related to the subject of modern meaning of living in buildings made of earth. I am greatly
earth architecture; Jerry Portwood, whose talent was appreciative of the San Fratello and Turner families for
instrumental to the success of this project; Pax, who their continual support and interest.
donated server space to facilitate file transfers of images; None of this would have been possible without the
Julian Reisenberger for providing me with translations support of my wife, traveling partner, and colleague,
203
Notes brick for his concrete box sculptures on permanent 28. Charles Jencks, Le Corbusier and the Continual
display in Marfa. Revolution in Architecture (New York: Monacelli Press,
6. The density of New York City is approximately 41 2000), 243.
people per acre based on population data from 2000. 29. Reyner Banham, A Critic Writes: Selected Essays by
7. Jean Dethier, Down to Earth, 8. Reyner Banham (Berkeley: University of California Press,
8. Vitruvius, Ten Books of Architecture, trans. Ingrid D. 1999), 53.
Rowland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 30. Willy Boesiger, Le Corbusier: Oeuvre Complte
Introduction 1999), 10. 19381946 (Zrich: Artemis-Aidc, 1971), 9499.
1. Many academics, authors, builders, writers, and 9. Ibid., 36. Air pockets present in pumice enable this 31. Le Corbusier, Willy Boesiger, Hans Girberger, Le
architects have noted that between one-third and one- volcanic rock to float. Corbusier, 191065 (Zrich: Verlag fr Architektur,
half of the population of the planet lives in buildings 10. Ibid., 40 1991), 254, notes that La Sainte-Baume was to be
constructed of earth, although none have cited the origin 11. Kenneth Frampton, A History of Modern Architecture, constructed of rammed earth. Sarah Menin, Nature and
of this number directly. See, for example, Jean Dethier, 3rd ed (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992), 8. Space: Aalto and Le Corbusier (New York: Routledge
Down to Earth: Adobe Architecture, An Old Idea, A New 12 Kenneth Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture: 2003), 152, points out that La Sainte-Baume was only
Future, trans. Ruth Eaton (New York: Facts on File, The Poetics of Construction in Ninetheeth and Twentieth one of a series of prototypes developed out of
1983), 8; Elizabeth Lynne and Cassandra Adams, eds., Century Architecture, ed. John Cava (Cambridge: Corbusiers Radiant City ideal.
Alternative Construction: Contemaporary Natural Building Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2001), 32. Simone Swan, Elegant Solutions, Saudi Aramco
Methods (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000), 45. World 50, no. 4 (1999): 1627.
8889; Paul Graham McHenry Jr., Adobe and Rammed 13. Peter Collins, Concrete: The Vision of a New 33. James Steele, An Architecture for the People:
Earth Buildings (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Architecture (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, The Complete Works of Hassan Fathy (London: Thames
1984), vii. 2004), 2021. & Hudson, 1997), 147.
2. Paul Oliver, Earth as a Building Material Today, 14. Easton, The Rammed Earth House, 10. 34. Ibid.
Oxford Art Journal 5, no. 2, Architecture (1983): 35. 15. Martin Meade and Jean-Claude Garcias, Return 35. Swan, Elegant Solutions, 25.
Oliver points out that while no one knows how many to Earth, Architectural Review, October 1985, 67. 36. An interview with James Steele, Abdel Wahed El-
earth buildings are currently in use, estimates run as 16. Paula Lee, Cointeraux and the School of Wakil, and Hasan-Uddin Khan, Legacy of Hassan Fathy,
high as 80 million. Lynne and Adams, eds., Alternative Agritecture in Eighteenth-Century France, Journal of Saudi Aramco World 50, no. 4 (1999): 5463.
Construction, 89. This number reflects rammed earth Architectural Education 60, no. 4 (May 2007): 44. 37. A. Berle Clemensen, Casa Grande Ruins National
and mud brick combined. 17. Meade and Garcias, Return to Earth, 67. Monument, Arizona: A Centennial History of the First
3. David Easton, The Rammed Earth House (White 18. Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Prehistoric Reserve 18821992 (United States
River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1895), 135. Department of the Interior/National Park Service,
1996), 5. Paul G. McHenry Jr., The Adobe Story 19. Jean Dethier A Back-to-the-Earth Approach to 1992), 38.
(Albuquerque: Univeristy of New Mexico Press, Housing, UNESCO Courier, March 1985. 38. Ibid, 51
2000), 37. 20. See Georgi Georgiev, The Renaissance of 39. Ibid, 79.
4. Orlando Romero and David Larkin, Adobe, Building Rammed Earth, Aspects Magazine, January 2001, 40. Robert Smithson, the American artist famous for
and Living with Earth (New York: Houghton Mifflin, http://gaiapolis.hit.bg/rammedearth.html; and Gijs Van creating modern sculpture through the manipulation of
1994), 8. The Paul Revere House is constructed of Hensbergen Gaud: A Biography (New York: Perennial, earth, is quoted naming Olmsted Americas first
timber frame with a mud brick infill, which was a common 2003), 7172. earthwork artist. See Niall Kirkwood, Manufactured
technique at the timeas noted via telephone interview 21. Ruth Eaton, Mud: An Examination of Earth Sites: Rethinking the Post-industrial (Oxford: Taylor &
with Patrick Leehey, research director at the Paul Revere Architecture, Architectural Review, October Francis, 2001), 128.
House. Rancho del Cielo, the former Western White 1981, 228. 41. Clemensen, Casa Grande Ruins, 8081.
House of former president Ronald Reagan, where he 22. Reyner Banham, A Critic Writes (London: University 42. The fatalities were reported by BBC News on
spent more than a full year of his eight years in office, of California Press, 1996), 142. Friday, December 26, 2003. See http://news.bbc.co
was first named Rancho de los Picos after Spanish settler 23. Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright: An .uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3348613.stm.
Jos Jesus Pico, who moved north from Mexico and built Autobiography (San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2005), 43. For more information on organizations that offer
the original adobe house in 1871. Chairman Mao was 168. workshops and other educational opportunities, visit:
born on December 26, 1893, in Shaoshan, Hunan 24. Brendan Gill, Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd http://www.eartharchitecture.org and click the
Province, China, in a simple thirteen-room mud brick Wright(Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 1998), 18. organizations link.
house. Saddam Hussein was born in Tikrit, Iraq, on April 25. Easton, The Rammed Earth House, 1617. 44. For excellent essays on the politics of building with
28, 1937, and grew up in the town of Al Dawr, a mud 26. Robert Twombly, Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life earth, see Jean-Louis Bourgeois and Carollee Pelos,
brick town on the banks of the Tigris River. and His Architecture (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Spectacular Vernacular, The Adobe Tradition (New York:
5. Brigitte Huck, Donald Judd Architecture (Vienna: 1979), 263. Aperture, 1996).
Hatje Cantz, 1991), 35. It is interesting to note that, 27. Berdeana Aguar and Charles Aguar, Wrightscapes:
according to Marianne Stockebrand, director of the Frank Lloyd Wrights Landscape Designs (New York:
Chinati Foundation, Judd originally intended to use mud McGraw-Hill Professional, 2002), 249.
204
Chapter 1Rammed Earth Conference, Ghardaia, Algeria, December 9, 2006), 4. Easton, The Rammed Earth House, 10.
1. Anne P. Underhill et al., Systematic, Regional Survey 1. http://www.lavoutenubienne.org/IMG/AVN_ 5. Jean Dethier, Down to Earth: Adobe Architecture,
in SE Shandong Province, China, Journal of Field paper_Ghardaia_vs2-lite.pdf An Old Idea, A New Future, trans. Ruth Eaton (New York:
Archaeology (1998): 453. 8. James Talboys Wheeler, The Geography of Herodotus Facts on File, 1983), 8.
2. Gaius Plinius Secundus, ed. John F. Healy, Natural (London: Longman, Brown, Green, 1854), 41415. 6. Laurence Keefe, Earth Building, Methods and
History: A Selection (London: Penguin, 1991), 338. 9. Douglass Bailey, Prehistoric Figurines: Representation Materials, Repair and Conservation (London: Taylor &
Healy translates Plinys description of the walls as and Corporeality in the Neolithic (New York: Routledge, Francis, 2005), 67.
compacted because they are made by packing earth 2005), 168. 7. Ibid., 94.
down between two sets of shuttering, so that the material 10. Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture, trans. Ingrid D. 8. Energy and Resources Institute, Institut Catal
is stuffed in rather than raised up. Rowland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, dEnergia, and Asia Urbs Programme, Sustainable
3. Hugo Houben and Hubert Guillard, Earth 1999), 36. Building Design Manual (New Delhi: Energy and
Construction: A Comprehensive Guide (Rugby, UK: 11. Houben and Guillard, Earth Construction, 9. Resources Institute, 2004), 119.
Practical Action, 1994), 14. 12. Peter I. Bogucki, The Origins of Human Society: The 9. Gernot Minke, Building with Earth: Design and
4. Kathleen Deagan and Jos Mara Cruxent, Blackwell History of the World (Malden, MA: Blackwell Technology of a Sustainable Architecture (Basel:
Archaeology at La Isabela: Americas First European Town Publishers, 1999), 351. Birkhuser, 2006), 64.
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), 98. 13. Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember, Encyclopedia
5. See, for example, Paul Graham McHenry Jr., Adobe of Prehistory (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Chapter 4Molded Earth
and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and Construction Publishers, 2001), 20. 1. Jean Dethier, Down to Earth: Adobe Architecture, An
(Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984), 98. David 14. Roberta M. Delson, Planners and Reformers: Old Idea, A New Future, trans. Ruth Eaton (New York:
Easton, The Rammed Earth House (White River Junction, Urban Architects of Late Eighteenth-Century Brazil, Facts on File, 1983), 8.
VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1996), 30. Eighteenth-Century Studies 10, no. 1 (1976): 41. 2. wattle and daub, Encyclopdia Britannica Online,
6. Stephen L. Sass, The Substance of Civilization: 15. The American Heritage Dictionary of the http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9076299
Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the English Language, Fourth Edition, s.v. Adobe, http:// (September 11, 2007).
Age of Silicon (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1998), dictionary.reference.com/browse/adobe (accessed: 3. David Easton, The Rammed Earth House (White River
126. August 27, 2007) Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company,
7. Further proof that the process has achieved an 16. Telephone interview with Patrick Leehey, research 1996), 9.
industrial status is well-known California-based architect, director at the Paul Revere House, July 2007. 4. Joseph F. Kennedy, Catherine Wanek, and Michael
author, and builder David Eastons acronym for an 17. Norval Morris and David J. Rothman, eds., The Smith, The Art of Natural Building: Design, Construction,
earth-building technique he invented: P.I.S.E. Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment Resources (Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society
(pneumatically impacted structural earth), a play on in Western Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Publishers, 2002), 132.
the French term pis. 1995), 76. 5. A. Berle Clemensen, Casa Grande Ruins National
18. Paul Graham McHenry Jr., Adobe and Rammed Monument, Arizona: A Centennial History of the First
Chapter 2Mud Brick Earth Buildings (Tucson: University of Arizona Press Prehistoric Reserve 18821992 (United States
1. Hugh Chisholm, The Encyclopdia Britannica 1984), 48. Department of the Interior/National Park Service,
(Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge 19. The range of values for the soil percentages were 1992), 38.
University Press, 191011), 2:382. derived from mud brick soil composition values by 6. Kennedy, et al., The Art of Natural Building
2. Michael Balter The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhyk: McHenry Jr., Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings, 50; Design, 133.
An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization and from Gernot Minke, Building with Earth: Design and 7. More information about the Juana Briones House,
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005), 13. Technology of a Sustainable Architecture (Basel: which is currently in danger of being destroyed, can be
3. Banister Fletcher et al., Sir Banister Fletchers A Birkhuser, 2006), 65. found at http://www.brioneshouse.org.
History of Architecture(Oxford, UK: Architectural Press, 20. Stated by Mel Medina, owner of the Adobe Factory, 8. Laurence Keefe, Earth Building, Methods and
1996), 31. the largest mud brick production site in the world. Materials, Repair and Conservation (London: Taylor &
4. According to Websters New Collegiate Dictionary, 21. McHenry Jr., Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings, 4. Francis, 2005), 13.
1974 edition, The Germanic prefix, ur- means 22. www.adobefactory.com.
prot(o)-, first, oldest, and original, making the
speculation of the link between the proto-city Ur and the Chapter 3Compressed Earth Block
word urban even more intriguing. 1. David Easton, The Rammed Earth House (White River
5. Hugo Houben and Hubert Guillard, Earth Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company,
Construction: A Comprehensive Guide (Rugby, UK: 1996), 10.
Practical Action, 1994), 13. 2. Ibid.
6. Bruce Bower, Ancient Birth Brick Emerges in Egypt 3. Hubert Guillard, Thierry Joffroy, and Pascal Odul,
Science News 162, no. 7(2002): 110. Compressed Earth: Manual of Design and Construction
7. T. Granier et al., The Nubian Vault: Earth Roofs in the Volume II (Brunswick, Germany: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn
Sahel, (paper presented at the Living in Hot Deserts Verlagsgesellscahft mbH, 1985), 10.
205
Design Credits Center of Gravity Foundation Hall Casa Corralones
Designers: John Frane, Hadrian Predock Designers: Mathias Klotz, Magdalena Bernstein
Residence at Meteor Vineyards Prada Marfa
Designers: James Cutler, Bruce Anderson Designers: Michael Elmgreen, Ingar Dragset,
Vineyard Residence Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello, Joerg Boettger
Designers: John Wardle, Andrew Wong, Fiona Dunin, Christines House
Grant Roberts, Aimee Goodwin, Tarryn Deeble, Designers: Amy Green Bullington, Stephen Long
Chapter 1Rammed Earth Zoe Geyer, Fiona Lynch
Rammed Earth Houses Rosie Joe House Chapter 3Compressed Earth Block
Designers: Francoise Jourda, Gilles Perraudin Designers: Natalie Baker-Wadsworth. Larry Curtis, Villa Eila
Bowali Visitor Information Centre Kristofer Larsen, Mitch McComb, Clio Miller, Designers: Mikko Heikkinen, Markku Komonen
Designers: Glenn Murcutt, Phil Harris, Adrian Welke Jimmy Nielsen, Aaron Raymond, Scott Woodruff Kahere Eila Poultry Farming School
Low Compound Zousei Architecture Designers: Mikko Heikkinen, Markku Komonen
Designers: Eddie Jones, Neal Jones, Doyle Hostetler, Designers: Manabu Sawase, Takehiko Nez N3
Harold Williams Amankora Bhutan Resorts Designer: Tom de Paor
Ooi House Designer: Kerry Hill Center for the Blind
Designers: Kerry Hill, Rowena Hockin, Albano Red Hill Residence Designer: Mauricio Rocha
Daminato, Robert Allan Designers: Chris Botterill, Christopher Harty, Primary School
Palmer-Rose House Rhonda Mentiplay Designers: Dibdo Francis Kr
Designer: Rick Joy Back 40 House
Poll House, Margaret River Designers: Andy Powell, Jason Gallo Chapter 4Moulded Earth
Designers: Gary Marinko, Jill Marinko NkMip Desert Interpretive Centre Baninajar Refugee Camp Housing
Thurgoona Campus of Charles Sturt University Designers: Bruce Haden, Brady Dunlop, Designer: Nader Khalili
Designer: Marci Webster-Mannison Norm Hotson, Stephanie Forsythe, Tina Hubert, Waldorf Kindergarten
Chapel of Reconciliation Julie Bogdanowicz Designer: Gernot Minke
Designers: Rudolf Reitermann, Peter Sassenroth Residence 1 House of Earth and Light
Masons Bend Community Center Designers: Mary Hardin, John Folan Designer: Marwan Al-Sayed
Designers: Forrest Fulton, Adam Gerndt, Dale Rush, Extension for the Charcoal Burners Hut
Jon Shumann Chapter 2Mud Brick Designers: Smiljan Radic, Marcela Correa
National Wine Centre La Luz Community Cobtun House
Designers: Richard Desgrand, Philip Cox, Designer: Antoine Predock Designers: Martin Bull, John Christophers,
Steve Grieve Matthews Residence Simon Jesson, Richard Slawson, Adam Wardle
Eden Project Visitor Centre Designer: William Bruder Pealoln House
Designers: Nicholas Grimshaw, Andrew Whalley, The Eco House Designer: Marcelo Corts
Jolyon Brewis, Vincent Chang, David Kirkland, Designer: Sverre Fehn Handmade School
Michael Pawlyn, Jason Ahmed, Vanessa Bartulovic, Camacho Residence Designers: Anna Heringer, Eike Roswag
Dean Boston, Chris Brieger, Antje Bulthaup, Designer: Simone Swan
Amanda Davis, Florian Eckardt, Alex Haw, Arrillhjere Demonstration House
Perry Hooper, Bill Horgan, Oliver Konrath, Designer: Brendan Meney
Angelika Kovacic, Quintin Lake, Richard Morrell, Druk White Lotus School
Tim Narey, Monica Niggemeyer, Killian OSullivan, Designers: Sean Macintosh, Roland Reinardy,
Debra Penn, Martin Pirnie, Juan Porral-Hermida, Caroline Sohie, Jonathan Rose, Ian Hazard,
Mustafa Salman, Tan Su Ling James Fleming, Masato Minami, Martin Self,
Sihlhlzli Sports Facility Storage Sheds and Davina Rooney, Omar Diallo, Rory McGowan,
Chronometry Tower Francesca Galeazzi, Dorothee Richter,
Designer: Roger Boltshauser Marek Monczakowski, Ian Grace, Leslie Dep,
Split House Jess Siddhu, Neil Marlow, Vicky Coy
Designer: Yung Ho Chang Bodega en Los Robles
Cemetery Extension and Chapel of Rest Designers: Jos Cruz Ovalle, Hernn Cruz, Ana Turell
Designers: Stefan Marte, Bernhard Marte Cocuy Pecayero Distillery
Designer: Rafael Mattar Neri
20 6
Selected Bibliography Lee, Paula. Franois Cointeraux and the School of
Agritecture in Eighteenth-Century France. Journal
of Architectural Education 60 (2007): 3946.
McHenry, Paul Graham Jr. Adobe and Rammed Earth
Buildings. Tucson: University of Arizona Press,
1984.
. Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and
Bourgeois, Jean-Louis, and Carollee Pelos. Spectacular Construction. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1984.
Vernacular: The Adobe Tradition. New York: Aperture, . Adobe: Build It Yourself. Tucson: University of
1996. Arizona Press, 1985.
Bretts, M.C., and T.A.H. Miller. Rammed Earth Walls . The Adobe Story: A Global Treasure. Albuquerque:
for Buildings. U.S. Department of Agriculture University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
Farmers Bulletin 1500 (1937). Minke, Gernot. Building with Earth: Design and
Damluji, Salma Samar. The Valley of Mud Brick Technology of a Sustainable Architecture. Basel:
Architecture: Shibam, Tarim & Wadi Hadramut. Birkhuser, 2006.
Reading, U.K.: Garnet Publishing Limited, 1997. Morris, James, and Suzanne Preston Blier. Butabu:
Dethier, Jean. Down to Earth: Adobe Architecture, An Old Adobe Architecture of West Africa. New York:
Idea, A New Future. Translated by Ruth Eaton. Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
New York: Facts on File, 1983. Olvier, Paul. Dwellings: The Vernacular House World
Earth Architecture. http://www.eartharchitecture.org. Wide. London: Phaidon Press, 2003.
Easton, David. The Rammed Earth House. White River, Romero, Orlando. Adobe: Building and Living with Earth.
VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1996. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Facey, William. Back to Earth: Adobe Building in Saudi Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture Without Architects: An
Arabia. London: Al-Turath with the London Centre Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture. Garden
of Arab Studies, 1997. City, NY: Museum of Modern Art and Doubleday,
Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment 1964.
in Rural Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Spears, Beverley. American Adobes: Rural Houses of
1973. Northern New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of
Gruner, Dorothee, and Jean Dethier. Banco: Adobe New Mexico Press, 1986.
Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta. Milan: 5 Continents Steele, James. An Architecture for People: The Complete
Editions, 2003. Works of Hassan Fathy. London: Thames & Hudson,
Guillard, Hubert, Thierry Joffroy, and Pascal Odul. 1997.
Compressed Earth: Manual of Design and . Hassan Fathy. London: St. Martins Press, 1988.
Construction Volume II. Brunswick, Germany: Friedr. Steen, Athena, and Bill Steen. Built by Hand. Salt Lake
Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellscahft mbH, 1985. City, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2003.
Houben, Hugo, and Hubert Guilard. Earth Construction: Tibbets, Joseph M. The Earthbuilders Encyclopedia:
A Comprehensive Guide. Rugby, U.K.: Practical The Master Alphabetical Reference for Adobe &
Action, 1994. Rammed Earth. Bosque, NM: Southwest Solaradobe
Kapfinger, Otto. Rammed Earth. Basel: Birkhuser, School, 1989.
2001. Vitruvius. Ten Books on Architecture. Translated by Ingrid
Keable, Julian. Rammed Earth Structure: A Code of D. Rowland. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Practice. London: Intermediate Technology Press, 1999.
Publications, 1996.
Keefe, Laurence. Earth Building: Methods and Materials,
Repair and Conservation. New York: Taylor & Francis,
2005.
Khalili, Nader. Racing Alone: A Visionary Architects
Quest for Houses Made with Earth and Fire. New
York: Harper & Row, 1983.
207
Image Credits Nobuaki Nakagawa 45, 8991
Rafael Mattar Neri, Arquitectos Asociados 143
Alberto Piovano 14447
Planungsbro fr kologisches Bauen Kassel 185
Jason Predock 73, 75
Juan Purcell 138, 139, 141
Smiljan Radic 190, 191
All drawings respective architects. Ronald Rael 9, 21, 151b
Christian Richters 135t
Adobe Alliance 127, 128tr, 129l Rick Joy Architects 32, 34, 35tr
Aman Resorts 93, 95 Jacqueline Stevenson 37, 39
Arkitekt Sverre Fehn AS, 12325 Sur Tierra Arquitectura 197
Atelier FCJZ 6567 Derek Swalwell 41, 42r, 43
Don Barker 135b, 137tl, 137tr Taller de Arquitectura Mauricio Rocha 170, 171, 173
Ilinca Bazgan 101, 103 Bill Timmerman 18789
Peter Bennett 9799 Troppo Architects 25, 27
Mark Boisclair 29t, 29br Onerva Utriainen 161, 165, 166
Bolthauser Architekten 6063 Marci Webster-Mannison 42l
Brendan J. Meney Architects 13133 Milton Woodley, reproduced with the kind permission of
Cal-Earth Institute / Aga Khan Trust for Culture 183 the University of Adelaide, South Australia 55
Peter Cook / VIEW 57, 59 Scott Woodruff 86tl, 86bl
de Paor Architects 169
Dibdo Francis Kr 175, 177
James Evans 151t
Martin Farquharson 31t, 31cl, 31cr
John Folan and Mary Hardin 109, 111
Trevor Fox 53bl, 53br
Catherine Gasmier reproduced with the kind permission
of the University of Adelaide, South Australia 53t
John Gollings 31b
George Grant. Courtesy of The National Park Service:
The Western Archeological and Conservation Center
13c, 13r
Art Grice 77, 79
Chinch Gryniewicz 137b
Heikkinen-Komonen Architects 163, 167
Daniel Hennessy 84, 85, 86r, 87
Henrik Hille 122
Kurt Hrbst 199, 201
Timothy Hursley 29bl, 33, 35 tl, 35b, 49, 50tl,
50tr, 51, 117, 119, 153, 155
William Henry Jackson. Image courtesy Colorado
Historical Society WHJ14397/10037869.
All rights reserved. 131
Jesusita Jimenez 128tl, 129r
Courtesy Jourda & Perraudin Partenaires 23
Lizette Kabre 149
Bruno Klomfar 45, 47, 69t, 71bl
Martine Hamilton Knight 193, 195
Niel Koppes 121
Nic Lehoux 23, 105, 107
Ignacio Martinez 69b, 71tl, 71r
Trevor Mein 81, 83
208