Although building with rammed earth was neglected as a construction technique for years, this type of construction is now experiencing a renaissance in architecture. Basically, the benefits include superior thermal mass, temperature and noise protection, strength and durability, low maintenance, fire resistance, load capacity and many more. In addition, the natural beauty of the building material and its environmentally friendly properties are preserved. This time we present to you a selection of the best construction projects where building with rammed earth has brought exceptional results. These 12 works demonstrate the attractive aesthetic finish created by overlaying multiple layers of compressed earth.
Building with rammed earth – advantages
Building with rammed earth is an old technique that has found its way back into modern architecture. Given building codes and jurisdictions that may not recognize the hybrid material as suitable for walls. Basically, rammed earth is soil that can be compacted into rock-hard structures. The rammed earth walls are literally made of the earth on which they stand. These can help anchor a home to its location and provide a sustainable alternative to concrete.
Below we have put together 12 inspiring suggestions for you. These prove that building with rammed earth differs from people's perception of the material, which we can associate with older buildings without modern comforts. The construction projects in our article highlight thisunique materialand make it a part of something bigger.
Layer House
First, we'll introduce you to an example of building with rammed earth from regional, coastal Victoria in Australia. The property is locatednear the beach, but has no ocean view to offer. The terrain is also mostly sloped from north to south and consists of layers of limestone and underground caves. The client's initial brief was to create a large family home that could accommodate many guests and family members at the same time. Accordingly, this should be a high quality, robust home for generations.
Building with rammed earth, architects Kathryn Robso and Chris Rak designed the house as a series of “layers” with intersecting zones and private views. Nestled among the tea trees, there are no expansive panoramic views from the property. For this reason, the team created some smaller courtyards and vistas that allow a different way of looking at the building. The Layer House is still contextual and consists of local building materials and techniques that are the optimal variant for building with rammed earth. In addition to the rammed earth, the architects have...Wood as a suitable materialset. Furthermore, the components made from sand in rammed earth come from the region and were made by local craftsmen. This creates a sustainable and efficient building material that is maintenance-free and age-appropriate. The wood, on the other hand, usually turns gray and ages over time.
While the designers used a simple and pale palette of wood and a light concrete floor when building with rammed earth, they also added some strategic graphic insertions for the interior design. As a result, they succeeded in defining and delimiting living areas in the rooms. The green tiled kitchen island is a beautiful example of this. With a durable tile, the greenery also helps tie the landscaping to the interior.
Negenoord lookout tower
The nature reserve called Maasvalley Riverpark is located on both sides of the Belgian-Dutch border. The concept for the redevelopment of Negenoord focused on spontaneous natural development, natural education, but also recreational use. To fully experience the area, a small observation tower had to be built on a small hill in the middle of the area to protect the tower from winter flooding.
The architecture firm De Gouden Liniaal Architecten also used the technique for building with rammed earth in this project. For the building, the team used local building materials from the Meuse area. The same construction method was also used to create the rammed earth walls. The surface of these walls will slowly erode, so that after some time the gravel will become visible. Inside, a central core with stairs is made of concrete, sandblasted to also reveal the gravel. Through its materialization, the building tells of the place where it was built and is strongly anchored in its surroundings.
Caldera House
The history of this place is deeply rooted in the culture of the region. The region's biodiversity is part of the larger Madrian Archipelago, which stretches from the Sonoran to the Chihuahuan deserts. It is this history and context from which Casa Caldera emerges. This small accommodation is strongly influenced by the climatic conditions; Adaptation to the natural, social, political and economic environment, each to its own weighted and varying degree.
The structure of the shelter looks as if it is created from the native grasses that define the slope and open areas beyond. To emphasize the quality of the refuge, the architects from DUST chose the material of the structure to blend it into the surroundings. The clay walls are made of cast lava rock. The whole thing forms a semi-liquid material that is rammed into a formwork, similar to rammed earth construction. The resulting effect is a subtle contrast to the green surroundings, which blend harmoniously into the landscape throughout the year.
Ajijic – A house made from rammed earth construction in Mexico
For the summer house on Chapala Lake in Jalisco, the architects Tatiana Bilbao SC required an adaptable, integrated and low-maintenance solution. Combined with a simple case, the geometry responds to the way it is constructed. The construction with the surrounding material reflects an ancient system that we often forget due to technological progress.
Colors and textures in the clay walls and landscape merge to bring the house and surroundings together. A close relationship with the client and a group of artists to design some interiors and furniture gave a further step in adapting the housing needs to the users.
The Grounds
The same architect also designed the next project. The Los Terrenos property is near Casa Ventura and is located in a residential area on the southwest side of Monterey, which is a highland forest area. Rammed earth construction is fragmented according to the function and role of each component within the construction site, but they are all enclosed in a perfect square in the general construction plan. Each volume is located in a corner and surrounds an organically shaped pool.
The landscape strategy aimed to reflect and imitate the existing flora and fauna of the site in a design aspect. The social area is located on the resting plate, in a mirrored glass shell that simultaneously reflects and contains the lush surroundings; The main room looks out onto the treetops. The other bedrooms are underground and built with clay and rammed earth in relation to the topography.
The Grat Wall of West Australia
The longest rammed earth wall in Australia and probably the Southern Hemisphere was a finalist in the 2016 Institute of Architects Awards in Western Australia. With a length of 230 meters, the clay wall winds along the edge of a sand dune and encloses twelve houses covered with earth. The architect Luigi Rosselli designed this for the short-term accommodation of a livestock farm during collections. With their 450mm thick rammed earth façade and the dune behind, the residences have the best thermal mass, which naturally cools them in the subtropical climate.
For rammed earth building, the structure is made from the ferruginous, sandy clay that is a predominant feature of the site. Other building materials include the gravel that the locals extract from the adjacent river, as well as the water that comes from the local borehole.
SanBaoPeng Art Museum
This art museum is located in Sanbao Village - a picturesque spot not far from the central city of Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China. In the last decade, porcelain painters moved here to build their own studios. The museum's architecture stands in sharp contrast to its surroundings. The natural geometric shapes define the building. The museum is 150 meters long and this design creates a strange relationship between visitors and the space. The walls, the most important part of the design of the exhibition room, are created with rammed earth during construction.
The passage is a long transparent space, 100 meters long, and around it stretches mud walls 4 meters high. The main materials, such as rammed earth, titanium zinc plates and travertine, erode over time. For this reason, we expect this process of erosion, like the fermentation of wine, because it makes its unique taste even more refined. In addition, Sanbao Village naturally produces a unique soil that is slightly red. For this reason, the architects from the DL studio decided to build the clay walls with local clay, which creates a certain familiarity and tension.
Vineyard House
Planted on a large agricultural estate, this house is located in the middle of the property's vineyard on an almost flat terrain next to a cork oak forest. The peace and serenity of the surroundings welcome the single-story building, which tries to blend in with the landscape as much as possible by blending with the natural elements of the peaceful setting.
Building with rammed earth has created limited communal spaces. These communicate with the entire length of the outdoor terrace, which acts as an extension of the living areas. The demand for sustainable and ecological solutions was the impetus for the introduction of rammed earth construction, which is still a predominant indigenous construction method in some areas of Portugal.
Tuscon Mountain Retreat
The Tucson Mountain Retreat is located in the Sonoran Desert. The house is carefully sited in response to the adjacent arroyos, rocky outcrops, ancient cacti, wildlife, migration paths, sunlight and views. The floor plan is divided into three separate and isolated zones. Each area must be accessed by leaving the occupied zone, going outside and entering another square. This separation solves customers' desired acoustic separation while providing a unique opportunity to continually experience the raw desert landscape.
The house is constructed primarily of rammed earth, which utilizes the expansive soil to provide the desired thermal mass. This means that it has practically no adverse effects on the environment. Solar heat gain is reduced by orienting the house linearly along an east-west axis. This minimizes door and window openings in the narrow east and west facades.
Earth House
The 189.3 m² house is located 25 minutes from Mérida city center. The intention of building with the earth is to create harmony between traditional and modern architecture, tradition and technology, past and present. By combining earth and a conventional material such as concrete when building with rammed earth, old and new work together.
The rammed earth walls are the heart of the house. They create an open space that welcomes guests between the solid floor structure and the Mexican brick vault. Earth is a natural and forgotten resource that is almost free and environmentally friendly. Socially and economically, the increased use of natural materials allows people to become self-sufficient and utilize a resource that is practically beneath their feet.
Zenkonyu × Tamping Earth
So there are almost no general materials to build a building in Honjima. However, for this reason, recovering forces and making desperate efforts could be an improvement for this project. In addition, the sea and the soil on the island provide rammed earth for building with rammed earth. Originally, the construction method was called “HANCHIKU”, in which bitter substances extracted from the sea and slaked lime are mixed with the earth and rammed to improve structural strength.
The architects formed the shape of this building with connecting walls made by aspect ratio. When made by hand, detail and technique were ignored and digging for rational form. Finally, as a result, this building has been shaped by nationality and time while retaining its Japanese atmosphere.
Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre
The Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Center is a specific and sustainable response to the building's unique context - the unusual Canadian desert. In this regard, the building has indoor and outdoor exhibitions that celebrate culture and history. In addition, the desert landscape flows accordingly over the green roof of the cultural center, which was retained by building with rammed earth.
The entrance sequence from the car park takes the visitor through a series of nested concrete walls to an entrance plaza at the end of the rammed earth wall. The plaza, used for gathering large groups and signage of the day's events, runs along a low concrete wall that separates the original desert landscape and the building. This route is defined by the water channel that leads people to the entrance.
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