Architecture, Design, and Culture using of mud, clay, soil, dirt & dust.
The childhood residence of Mao Zedong is situated in Shangwuchang of Shaoshanchong. On December 26, 1893, Chairman Mao was born in a simple mud-brick farmhouse, which has 13 rooms in the village of Shangwuchang of Shaoshanchong. Here, Mao spent his childhood and youth, attending school and helped his father with his work.
photo by Marcial Blondet
On Wednesday evening an 8.0 earthquake struck central Peru, devastating the Ica region of the Andean country. The official death toll from this unfolding disaster currently stands at 502 [as of 16 Aug — Ed.]; around four hundred of these were residents of Pisco, a city of over 100,000 near the epicenter of the main quake. Pisco is reported to have lost 80 percent of its homes.
Peru’s La Republic reported that Palomino had cautioned and warned homeowners not to rebuild their homes on their own despite the fact that they may have no other choice after so much neglect. Despite this, citizens in Pisco, Peru are informally building adobe houses as a way of recovering after the earthquake.
Dr. Marcial Blondet, a professor of at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Peru, an expert on seismic design for earthen buildings has written Earthquake-Resistant Construction of Adobe Buildings: A Tutorial as well as a number of important text on the performance of mud brick in earthquake zones, particularly in Peru. More resources about earthen architecture in seismic zones and the Peru earthquake can be found at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute website.
In Spain, traditional palomares, or dove-cotes, constructed of mud brick or rammed earth dot the landscape. To see them, you can take La Ruta de los Palomares or any of several other routes. Some are falling into disrepair and others are being restored. Inside are fascinating spaces that house doves. More can be read about these fascinating structures here: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 ].
See more images [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]
Shibam, Yemen, also known as ‘the manhattan of the desert’, is home to the world’s oldest surviving skyscrapers.
The book, Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County
Uruguayan architect Andrés Nogués documents the design and construction of a unique log/mud brick house, la Casa de Adobes en La Juanita (above), as well as providing thoughtful essays on the subject of earthen architecture and links to various earth related sites on his blog, Arquitectura de Tierra en Uruguay. [Spanish Language website]
According to this essay, the oldest mud brick structure in the world is the ceremonial enclosure of Khasekhemwy–Hierakonpolis.
Is there evidence of older buildings? What are they?
According to Wikipedia, “The earliest use of mudbricks was in the Near East during the Pre-pottery Neolithic B period,” which is between ca. 9600 and ca. 8000 BP
Is this the oldest? If not, how long has mud brick been in use?
Start a discussion in the comments section below.
The Adobe Alliance, a Texas based non-profit organization whose aims include to apply cooperative building techniques in earth architecture is seeking a resident intern to work in Santa Fe, New Mexico or from a distance. Responsibilities will include research, image scanning, simple bookkeeping, assisting with workshop organization, website maintenance, and telephone management. The ideal person is a graduate student in architecture, art/art history, public policy or related fields. To learn more, please contact Ms. Simone Swan at simoneswan@gmail.com or visit www.adobealliance.org
Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa: Photographs by James Morris presents 50 large-scale images of structures from monumental mosques to family homes. An exhibit of the photos runs through July 15 at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles. For more information call (310) 825-4361 or visit www.fowler.ucla.edu or buy the book.
An interesting building material production technique is outlined in a recent article by the BBC which suggests a Russian technique for manufacturing building blocks out of sand and seawater. The article also notes that unfired mud brick (adobe) technology has taken off in the US, dispensing with the energy used in firing traditional clay bricks.
