Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation

The Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation is a private independent organization, financially autonomous and accountable, registered at the Office of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Hadramut Branch with goal to:

    Set up, operate and manage Architectural Projects including design, infrastructure and urban planning for the rehabilitation of towns and villages, individual sites and buildings

    Carry out Architectural Surveys and documentation; prepare drawings and reports for existing buildings/ sites identified for rehabilitation or restoration and establish their renewal requirements

    Provide specifications and costing for projects based on the above enlisting the expertise and services of Master Builders and craftsmen
    Design of new projects including public and private buildings and extensions, based on sensitive, challenging architectural concepts and use of building materials

    Advise on new projects, design and planning initiatives, taking into account area conservation and rehabilitation legislation building codes and regulations

    Prioritise agricultural development areas, water and spate irrigation and flooding schemes, and assist with setting up organic farming projects
    Assist with organic and industrial waste management

    Publish and disseminate work in progress through Seminars, Conferences and Workshops and liaise with regional and international universities, academics, and professional experts

For more information visit The Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation website.

Building Local


Building Local is a design-build studio that will explore and discuss the aesthetic, assembly and tectonic qualities of local materials: earth, stone, fique, bamboo and wood, engaging students in a series of workshops that will culminate in the design and construction of an efficient and innovative farmhouse. The studio will take place in Barichara, a colonial town located in the North Western region of Colombia. It is open to graduate and upper-level undergraduate students (juniors and seniors) who are interested in engaging in the explorations of these techniques and their use in contemporary architecture.

The studio is organized by:

Maria Carrizosa, a licensed architect in Colombia and holds an undegraduate degree in architecture from Universidad de Los Andes and a dual Master’s degree in Architecture, and City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley. Her design practice in Colombia ranges from institutional to housing projects, developing two award-winning projects for a public library and a music school in rural communities. She has been involved in architectural education in both Colombia and the US and continues her participation as a guest juror in the College of Environmental Design and as an Adjunct Professor at the Diablo Valley Community College. Maria is interested in collaborative practices in both architecture and planning to provide communities with the necessary tools to improve and shape the spaces they live in.

Ana Maria Gutierrez, the co-founder of Organizmo, an organization that promotes the principles of permaculture, bio-architecture and the implementation of intuitive technologies. She holds a BFA in Architectural Design from the Parsons School of Design and Master in Interactive Telecomunication ITP from New York University.

Adriana Navarro, who holds a dual Master’s degree in Architecture, and City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley. Born and raised in Colombia (S.A), she received a BS Arch (Honors) from the University of Virginia in 2004. After working for Rafael Viñoly Architects, and OPX Global in Washington DC, Adriana moved to California to begin her graduate studies in 2007. As a 2010 John K. Branner Fellow, Adriana traveled the world, focusing her research, FAVELA CHIC, on socio-cultural aspects of design, particularly analyzing the role and relationship between architecture, planning and urban informality. Adriana is founder of the blog FAVELissues.

For more information visit http://buildinglocal.wordpress.com

The Terra [In]cognita Project

The Terra [In]cognita (Earthen architecture in Europe) project was created to raise public awareness of the heritage and contemporary application of earthen architecture through the Outstanding Earth Architecture in Europe Award in the following categories:

  • Buildings with archaeological, historical or architectural interest
  • Buildings s subjects of a remarkable and relevant intervention (restoration, rehabilitation or extension)
  • Buildings constructed after 1970
  • View the Terra [In]cognita Project here.

Adobe for Women

Adobe for Women is a non-profit association, founded in 2011, whose goal is the recovery and education of earth construction techniques; this is our contribution to a more human and sustainable use of space and the planet’s resources. The goal of this Project is to build 20 sustainable houses in the indigenous village of San Juan Mixtepec, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

The houses are intended for 20 women in difficult circumstances who will participate in the building process. They will slowly appropriate their future home and simultaneously re find their self esteem, work abilities and hope that will transform the spaces into safe, caring places for their families.
The houses are energy efficient and built with local materials such as adobe and bamboo.

[via Treehugger.com]

Afghan Earth Works

Afghan Earth Works is a non-profit organization working at a variety of sites around Afghanistan. Their goals are simple. They are to create valued, decently paid jobs; to show how earth, the most readily available material, may be used to create comfortable buildings which their occupants will cherish and that they can repair themselves; and to teach updated construction methods so that the buildings are both durable in Afghanistan’s harsh climate, and safe in the earthquakes which periodically devastate parts of the country.

Vote For Earth

Abari has entered the Dell Social Innovation Competition, which operates like a business-plan competition, awarding seed funding directly to the student-led venture that best meets the judges’ criteria. Vote for their project, which seeks establish a center to design and build/prefabricate houses, schools, toilets, furniture etc. out of bamboo and earth. The center will promote traditional (and dying) construction skills by mobilizing community members and appropriating locally available materials like bamboo and earth to build modern ecological, economical and beautiful infrastructure for individuals or communities.

Registration is easy and takes 20 seconds. Vote!

research.terra

research.terra is a multi-language website intended to serve as a tool for the community of both researchers and others interested in the subject of earth construction. It will allow one to follow the research work that has been, or is being carried out, all over the world. The main goal is to create a database that will be updated regularly, containing some basic information regarding the research, such as the title and the direct link for the work (if available online).

The Adobe Alliance Featured in Mother Earth News


Photo by Yasmina Rossi.

“The allure of elegant earthen architecture can be life-changing. At least that was the case for urbane New Yorker Simone Swan, who in the 1970s became fascinated with the ideas and designs of renowned Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy. Then the 40-something executive head of the Houston-based Menil Foundation, Swan moved to Cairo to study with Fathy. She became his most passionate advocate, and transplanted his adobe building techniques to the Southwestern United States.”

[ Mother Earth News | Adobe Alliance ]