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House of Earth / Woody Guthrie

Saturday, July 14. 2012

"In El Rancho Grande," by Woody Guthrie (1936; Santa Fe, N.M.), oil on board.

The legendary Woody Guthrie, an American folk singer, was also a brilliant and distinctive prose stylist, whose writing is distinguished by a homespun authenticity, deep-seated purpose and remarkable ear for dialect. These attributes are on vivid display in Guthrie’s long-lost “House of Earth,” his only fully realized, but yet unpublished, novel written as a direct response to the Dust Bowl. In December 1936 the rambling troubadour had an epiphany while busking for tips in New Mexico. He’d traveled there after a treacherous duster whacked the Texas Panhandle town of Pampa, where he’d been living in poverty. While in New Mexico, Guthrie became transfixed by an adobe hacienda’s sturdy rain spouts and soil-straw bricks, a simple yet solid weatherproof structure unlike most of his Texan friends’ homes, which were poorly constructed with flimsy wooden boards and cheap nails.

An immediate convert, Guthrie purchased a nickel pamphlet, “Adobe or Sun-Dried Brick for Farm Buildings,” from the United States Department of Agriculture. The manual instructed poor rural folk on building adobe homes from the cellar up. All an amateur needed was a home-brew of clay loam, straw and water. Guthrie promoted this U.S.D.A. guide with wild-eyed zeal. Adobes, he boasted, would endure the Dust Bowl better than wooden aboveground structures that were vulnerable to wind, snow, dust and termites. If sharecroppers and tenant farmers could only own a piece of land — even the uncultivable territory of arroyos and red rocks — they could build a “house of earth” that would protect them from dirt blowing in through cracks in the walls.

Read more in an article Douglas Brinkley and Johnny Depp in the New York Times

Categorized in - Books on Earth Architecture, * Mud Brick, New Mexico, North America, United States, - Web Resources
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Earth Building: History, Science and Conservation

Saturday, February 4. 2012

Earth Building: History, Science and Conservation by Paul Jaquin, covers various types of earth construction including adobe, cob and rammed earth. It presents a wide-ranging review of the history of earth building, tracing the development of earthen construction techniques from antiquity to the present day, and showing the development of the techniques with both time and geography. The behaviour of earth building materials is explained using, for the first time, principles from soil mechanics. There is a detailed discussion of strategies for the analysis and conservation of earth buildings to enable engineers, conservation professionals and architects to understand and preserve earth buildings better in the future. Richly illustrated with photographs and diagrams, this book provides an invaluable tool for the conservation of earth buildings.

Paul Jaquin is the author of the website, Historic Rammed Earth, which grew out of his PhD research at the University of Durham.

Categorized in - Books on Earth Architecture
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Small Scale Big Change

Tuesday, May 24. 2011

The role of the global architect in society is changing. Instead of waiting for commissions to come their way, architects are initiating and developing practical solutions in response to dramatically changing living conditions in many parts of the world today. Small Scale, Big Change
focuses on a central chapter of this shift, presenting recently built or under-construction works, many of which are constructed of earth, in underserved communities around the globe by these 11 architects and firms: Elemental (Chilean); Anna Heringer (Austrian); Diebedo Francis Kere (Burkinabe); Hashim Sarkis A.L.U.D. (Lebanese); Jorge Mario Jauregui (Brazilian); Frederic Druot, Anne Lacaton & Jean Philippe Vassal (French); Michael Maltzan Architecture (American); Noero Wolff Architects (South African); Rural Studio (American); Estudio Teddy Cruz (American, born Guatemala); and Urban Think Tank (American/Austrian/Venezuelan).

Without sacrificing concern for aesthetics, these architects have developed projects that reveal a post-utopian specificity of place; their architectural solutions emerge from close collaboration with future users and sustained research into local conditions. The projects--which include schools, parks, housing and infrastructural interventions--reveal an exciting change in the longstanding dialogue between architecture and society, as the architect's roles, methods, approaches and responsibilities are dramatically reevaluated. They also offer an expanded definition of sustainability that moves beyond experimentation with new materials and technologies to encompass larger concepts of social and economic sustainability. Small Scale, Big Change examines the evolving standards of responsibility and participation in architecture and the ways in which architects can engage critically with larger social, economic and political issues currently facing communities around the world.

Categorized in - Books on Earth Architecture
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Arquitectura Con Tierra en Uruguay

Saturday, November 13. 2010

Arquitectura con tierra en Uruguay is a book that offers a tour of fifteen case studies of buildings constructed with earth in Montevideo, Canelones, Maldonado, Rocha and Salto, Uruguay. One of the most significant characteristics of this type of construction technology in Uruguay is the amount of new work, which makes a difference to other countries in the region. This publication presents the works of several architects and builders from 1996 to 2009 in a compilation of 250 photographs and charts.

Arquitectura con tierra en Uruguay makes clear the living traditions of ancient technologies that are increasingly valued. This book is available in Uruguay in the Faculty of Architecture Library (Bulevar Artigas 1031, Montevideo) and in the Library of the Society of Architects of Uruguay (Gonzalo Ramírez 2030, Montevideo). It can be purchased elsewhere through www.entrelibros.com.uy

To preview the contents of the publication visit www.arquitecturacontierra.com.uy

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Arquitectura con tierra en Uruguay es un libro que propone una recorrida por quince casos de construcciones con tierra en los departamentos de Montevideo, Canelones, Maldonado, Rocha y Salto. Una de las características más significativas de este tipo de tecnología constructiva en Uruguay es la cantidad de obra nueva que marca la diferencia con respecto a otros países de la región. En esta publicación se recopilan las obras de varios arquitectos y constructores desde 1996 a 2009 a través de 250 fotografías y gráficos elaborados especialmente.

Arquitectura con tierra en Uruguay da cuenta de la siempre viva actualidad de técnicas milenarias que vuelven a cobrar valor. Este libro se puede adquirir en Uruguay en la Librería de Facultad de Arquitectura (Bulevar Artigas 1031, Montevideo) y en la Librería de la Sociedad de Arquitectos del Uruguay (Gonzalo Ramírez 2030, Montevideo). Puede ser adquirido desde el exterior a través del sitio www.entrelibros.com.uy

Para ver un avance del contenido de la publicación viste www.arquitecturacontierra.com.uy

Arquitectura con tierra en Uruguay - Autor: Alejandro Ferreiro - 120 páginas - 17 x 24 cm - ISBN 978-9974-98-153-9. Alejandro Ferreiro es arquitecto egresado de la Facultad de Arquitectura (UdelaR) en 2005. Se desempeña como docente de la cátedra de Arquitectura y Tecnología y ha participado como capacitador a partir de 2002 en distintas actividades y jornadas universitarias de transferencia tecnológica. Desde el año 2008 comienza a trabajar como profesional liberal en proyectos de arquitectura con tierra y materiales naturales.

Categorized in - Books on Earth Architecture, South America, Uruguay
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Lehmbau-Praxis

Friday, November 12. 2010

Earth is a natural building material that is at once traditional and modern. In recent years it has advanced to become a high-quality material. Its aesthetic qualities and character along with its beneficial effect on the indoor climate and general well-being are widely recognised. Of particular relevance are its environmental properties, for example the incomparably low energy balance of many earth building materials. As an authentic historical building material, earth is also widely used in the conservation and renovation of historic buildings.

Lehmbau-Praxis, written by Ulrich Röhlen and Christof Ziegert, provides an overview of the current state of the art of planning and building earth constructions and is an invaluable reference for architects, engineers, building contractors and tradesmen. Available in English or German.

Categorized in - Books on Earth Architecture, Europe, Germany
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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.

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