The Chapel of Reconciliation

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The Chapel of Reconciliation is both Germany’s first public rammed earth building in over 150 years as well as the first rammed earth German church. The building was built on the site of the former Church of Reconciliation, which was built in 1894 and was later destroyed, as it was surrounded by the wall dividing east and west Germany. The rammed earth walls in the new church are made using clay mixed with the ground up remains of the former church. The building was designed by architects Rudolf Reiterman and Peter Sassenrath and constructed with help from Austrian rammed earth expert Martin Rauch.

How to Build a Rammed Earth House

From Issue # 23 – September/October 1973 of the Mother Earth News, “How to Build a Rammed Earth House” written by John O. McMeekin: “Back in the 40’s I was considered an oddball. I wore a beard — revolutionary then — and I started, by myself, to build a house out of (of all things) rammed earth. People wondered about me. Today — as a V.P. and corporation director — I appear Establishment, and my home doesn’t look unusual either. It hugs a hilltop landscape, it’s surrounded by spacious lawns and sheltered by big oaks … and in the garage are two (count them, two) Mercedes. But my house is still made of rammed earth.

Drying Mud Bricks

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Sun dried mud bricks, called “Khesht” in Iran, are laid on their side to promote even drying. The patterns created in a landscape of mudbricks can also be considered as an aesthetic part of the process of building with earth. These bricks are being prepared for the restoration of the Naren Rampart in Yzad, Iran. Image by Dr. Hossein Massoud, 2001