   
The Wales Institute for Sustainable EducationThursday, July 22. 2010 The Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (Wise), designed by architects Pat Borer and David Leais, uses "Basically plants and earth," to quote Borer. Also animals, as in addition to a timber frame, rammed earth walls and a coating of lime and hemp, it uses sheep's wool for thermal insulation. Wise is part of Cat, the Centre for Alternative Technology. [ Architects Journal ] Computer Modeling to Build Better Mud BricksThursday, July 22. 2010Emerging GhanaWednesday, June 30. 2010 Enviu selected Emerging Ghana by Ana Morgado, João Caeiro, Lara Camilla Pinho, Maria de Paz Sequeira Braga and Maria de Carmo Caldeira, from Portugal, Mexico and Brazil, as the winner of the Open Source-House competition. The materials used are bamboo and dahoma, a local wood, for the modular and lightweight panels. These are held together with strong rammed earth walls. Due to the modular design, inside and outside spaces can be created depending on different needs and environments. Natural ventilation is archived throughout the building, due to the earth walls that keep the spaces cool and shaded areas. Earth House by BCHO ArchitectsSunday, June 20. 2010 BCHO Architects have completed this house buried in the ground in Seoul, Korea to honour the late Korean poet Yoon Dong-joo.  The concrete-lined residence has two courtyards with earth floors, to which all rooms are connected.  The earth used for the walls is from the site excavation. Even though the viscosity of the existing earth was low, only minimal white cement and lime was used so the earth walls can return to the soil later.  Rammed Earth walls provide all the interior spatial divisions and the walls facing both courtyards.  Rammed-earth walls make use of the excavated earth while wood from a pine tree from the site is embedded in the concrete courtyard walls. [ Read more from Dezeen ] EARTHWORKS: International Summer SchoolFriday, June 11. 2010 EARTH WORKS: International Summer School will take place September 1st - 18th, 2010 in Gmunden, Upper Austria. Instructed by Martin Rauch and Anna Heringer, the aim of the summer program is to acquire intensive hands-on experience and to gain application-oriented knowledge in buiding with earth to associate this timeless material to innovative architecture. The central focus in to obtain practical experience and to learn by doing. The program is jointly organized by BASEhabitat, the Technical University Munich , CRATerre-ENSAG and the UIA. Closing date for application: 28th of June 2010. For further information and online-application, please visit www.basehabitat.ufg.ac.at How to Survive the Coming Bad YearsFriday, June 11. 2010 How to Survive the Coming Bad Years, 2008. Soil, straw, water, timber, lime and ceramic pipes. Attingham Park, Shropshire, UK. Commissioned by Meadow Arts for the exhibition Give Me Shelter In an ancient woodland at the core of Attingham's vast 4,000 acre land, an immense clay structure rises through the trees like an oversized Dalek. Both alien and primeval, How to Survive the Coming Bad Years, by Heather and Ivan Morrison, is inspired by traditional rookeries found throughout the Middle East where in return for shelter, the birds provide squab to eat and guano to fertilise the land on which food is cultivated. Ivan and Heather Morison's huge lime covered cob sculpture suggests the vestige of an other worldly civilisation or perhaps a post-apocalyptic future. In this case the structure will provide a nesting environment for Attingham's bird-life, but in return they must give up a share of their young. Handmade Houses & Other Buildings: The World of Vernacular ArchitectureSunday, May 16. 2010 Vernacular architecture, by its very nature, is built from local materials that are readily to hand and is thus defined by the geology and ecology of the region and by local climatic conditions. Constructed by the community using traditional tools, these structures are highly practical, energy-efficient, and blend with the landscape. They carry many of the attributes that we are now seeking in green architecture as we struggle to adapt our built environment to the demands and concerns of the climate-change era. Handmade Houses & Other Buildings: The World of Vernacular Architecture  looks at everyday structures all over the world, from whatever wood, grass, earth or stone that was to hand, in ways that offered practical solutions to the challenges of climate or terrain. Based on immemorial principles, but highly relevant to our newly found environmental concerns, these buildings show the simple and satisfying ways in which humans have worked out how to live and live well, in harmony with their surroundings.Bio-Engineered Sand BrickThursday, May 13. 2010 The winner of the 2010 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition proposes a radical alternative to the common brick: don’t bake the brick; grow it. In a lab at the American University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, Ginger Krieg Dosier, an assistant architecture professor, sprouts building blocks from sand, common bacteria, calcium chloride, and urea (yes, the stuff in your pee). The process, known as microbial-induced calcite precipitation, or MICP, uses the microbes on sand to bind the grains together like glue with a chain of chemical reactions. The resulting mass resembles sandstone but, depending on how it’s made, can reproduce the strength of fired-clay brick or even marble. If Dosier’s biomanufactured masonry replaced each new brick on the planet, it would reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by at least 800 million tons a year. “We’re running out of all of our energy sources,” she said in March in a phone interview from the United Arab Emirates. “Four hundred trees are burned to make 25,000 bricks. It’s a consumption issue, and honestly, it’s starting to scare me.” Read more... Trois Séminaires Thématiques Autour de l'Architecture de TerreWednesday, May 12. 2010Earth Architecture—The Book: NOW IN PAPERBACKTuesday, May 11. 2010
The groundbreaking survey Earth Architecture is now available in a paperback edition. Only a few copies of the hardcover collectors edition are still available, but going fast.
Buy Earth Architecture if you live in the following countries:: [ U.S. | Japan | Germany | U.K. | France | Canada | Australia ]Read what others say about Earth Architecture: 
9th International Earth Architecture Photography CompetitionTuesday, May 11. 2010Abey SmallcombeFriday, May 7. 2010 Cob Visitor Facility, Eden Project Abey Smallcombe is a collaboration between artists Jackie Abey and Jill Smallcombe. Their craft is working with cob, earth plasters and other natural beautiful, sustainable materials. They have successfully carried out a number of large and smaller scale commissions for, the Eden Project, Somerset College of Arts and Technology, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Met Office, National Trust, Sustrans Cycle Paths. They have also exhibited nationally, taught all age groups, lectured internationally and researched earth structures in Europe, USA, India, Africa and Australia. Weddle Gilmore Rammed EarthFriday, May 7. 2010 Weddle Gilmore Black Rock Studio has developed a specialty in trailheads over its 10 years in business. The architecture firm has designed this building type for several municipalities near its Scottsdale, Arizona, base, and it has realized three for Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve alone.  The Gateway to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale, Arizona The Gateway was designed to celebrate the entry and passage into the 36,400 acre McDowell Sonoran Preserve while minimizing the impact on the native desert. The Gateway is the point of access to over 45 miles of trails within the McDowell Sonoran Preserve for hiking, bicycling, and equestrian enjoyment. The project site design achieved the complete preservation of the existing network of arroyos and minimized earthwork alterations of the natural habitat. The building walls are made of rammed earth, recalling a tradition of indigenous desert building while meeting all of the performance requirements of modern use. The roof is covered in native desert cobble so that it blends into the desert when observed from the mountain trails to the east. The Gateway incorporates numerous strategies for resource conservation. An 18 KW solar system generates as much solar electricity as the Gateway consumes to realize a ‘net zero’ of energy consumption. Up to 60,000 gallons of rainwater is harvested through roof collection and storage in an underground cistern–providing 100% of the water needed for landscape irrigation.  Lost Dog Wash Trailhead, Scottsdale, Arizona On the perimeter of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the Lost Dog Wash Trailhead is an example of commitment to environment through its preservation of native habitat, choice of sustainable building materials, and natural resource conservation. The structures are nested into the landscape and incorporate materials that blend with the natural desert environment. The rammed earth walls of the structures utilize earth material that was excavated during foundation construction. The trailhead restrooms incorporate a composting system which minimizes water consumption and saves approximately 200,000 gallons of water annually over a conventional system.  Gray water and rainwater harvesting provides 75,000 gallons of water a year for landscape irrigation. Solar power is provided to the trailhead facilities by a roof integrated 3,000 watt solar electric array that allows the trailhead to be completely self-sufficient and independent of the electric grid. Terres, d’Afrique et d’AilleursSunday, April 25. 2010 The 2nd Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers, Algeria includes an exhibit and symposium entitled Terres, d’Afrique et d’Ailleurs, sponsored by the Algerian Ministry of culture and curated by architect Yasmine Terkhi, which facilitated the participation of 19 artisans from 5 countries (Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria) who prepared wall panels in earth using indigenous techniques and motifs from the communities they represented. Invited speakers to the symposium include Ronald Rael, Hubert Gillaud, Hugo Houben, Salma Damluji, Marcello Cortes, Laetitia Fontaine and many other internationally renowned experts in the field of earth architecture. Vote For EarthMonday, April 12. 2010 |
Quicksearch EARTH ARCHITECTURE — THE BOOK The groundbreaking survey Earth Architecture is now available in a paperback edition. Buy Earth Architecture if you live in the following countries:: [ U.S. | Japan | Germany | U.K. | France | Canada | Australia ]Synopsis Currently it is estimated that one half of the world's population—approximately three billion people on six continents—lives or works in buildings constructed of earth. And while the vast legacy of traditional and vernacular earthen construction has been widely discussed, little attention has been paid to the contemporary tradition of earth architecture. Author Ronald Rael, founder of Eartharchitecture.org provides a history of building with earth in the modern era, focusing particularly on projects constructed in the last few decades that use rammed earth, mud brick, compressed earth, cob, and several other interesting techniques. EARTH ARCHITECTURE presents a selection of more than 40 projects that exemplify new, creative uses of the oldest building material on the planet. An engaging narrative addresses the misconceptions associated with earth architecture. Many assume that it's only used for housing in poor rural areas—but there are examples of airports, embassies, hospitals, museums, and factories that are made of earth. It's also assumed that earth is a fragile, ephemeral material, while in reality some of the oldest extant buildings on the planet are made of earth. The book also touches on many topics that pervade both architecture and popular media today, such as the ecological benefits and the politics of building with earth, particularly in developing nations where earth buildings are often thought of as pre-modern or backward. With captivating discussion and more than 300 images, Earth Architecture showcases the beauty and simplicity of one of humankind's most evolved and sophisticated building technologies. ISBN 9781568987675 8.5 x 9 inches (21.6 x 22.9 cm), Hardcover, 208 pages 222 color illustrations; 96 b/w illustrations; A PAPress publication. About the Author Ronald Rael is an Architect, Author and Assistant Professor of Architecture at The University of California, Berkeley. He is the founder of EarthArchitecture.org, a clearing house of information on the subject. EARTH ARCHITECTURE — THE WEBSITE Dirt—as in clay, gravel, sand, silt, soil, loam, mud—is everywhere. The ground we walk on and grow crops in also just happens to be the most widely used building material on the planet. Civilizations throughout time have used it to create stable, warm, low-impact structures. The world's first skyscrapers were built of mud brick. Paul Revere, Saddam Hussein, Chairman Mao, and Ronald Reagan all lived in earth houses at various points in their lives, and several of the buildings housing Donald Judd's priceless collection in Marfa, Texas, are made of mud brick. The Earth Architecture website focuses on architecture constructed of mud brick (adobe), rammed earth (pisé), cob, compressed earth block or other methods of earthen construction and serves as a database for the discussion and dissemination of events, resources, and images of earth architecture in the context of contemporary architecture culture. Books on EarthSyndicate This BlogTranslateCategories
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