Wednesday, November 4, 2009

eartharchitecture.org

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


The Oaxaca School of Plastic Arts was designed by Taller de Arquitectura—Mauricio Rocha (via Eartharchitecture.org)
Also check out the works of  Rick Joy

Please read the comment, it IS useful - sevenby3

5 comments:

  1. Here is a list of Links for info on Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) made with CINVA-RAM machines.

    Photos of a Basic CINVA-RAM machine and simple house in Nagoda.

    Sri Lanka should be actively looking into using Earth as a construction alternative to cement blocks. Cement block manufacture requires large quantities of sand. The sand is now mainly dug up from riverbeds and has caused severe environmental effects. It has been one of the main causes of the deepening of rivers to be below sea level, resulting in saltwater intrusion many miles inland. The Gin Ganga in Galle area is now over 40 feet deep and saltwater intrusion occurs as far inland as Baddegama.

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  2. Once I contacted a manufacturer of some "So-Called" "eco-bricks". He gave a load of BS about his projects, and showed me a whole truck load of photos. But he ddnt have any reputable test reports done for his "sustainable blocks" He was unreliable, and I soon gave up on the whole block thing.

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  3. Sri Lankan blocks are of low standards. most of these earth blocks break quite easily.

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  4. Guys bit of a clarification; rammed earth and 'eco bricks' are related but different products.

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