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Earth Construction: A Comprehensive Guide, written by Hugo Houben and Hubert Guillard, is a comprehensive, illustrated handbook deals with the world’s oldest and most widespread building material. This book assembles, orders and clarifies information about building with earth which has up till now been available only in scattered form. Text supported by illustrations deals with the essential aspects of earth construction, taking one step at a time–decision-making, planning, design and the realization of a project–so that the procedures, benefits and precautions are easily accessible and understood by those involved at every level. The accumulated knowledge and experience of centuries of use are presented alongside current technologies and research findings. There is a chapter devoted to disaster-resistant construction techniques, and extensive bibliographies throughout for those who require more details about a particular subject area.

L’Architecture De Terre Au Maroc is a beautiful book about Morocco that focuses on the beauty of Morocco’s earthen architecture. It also tells the story of the technique, shapes and decorations which comprise this sublime architecture. The book contains texts by architect Elie Mouyal, Professor Hubert Guillaud, a specialist in the field earth and the images of Michel Lebrun.

On Thursday 8 November 2007 at 6pm at the International HQ of the Institution of Structural Engineers in London, Paul Jaquin, MEng of the website Historic Rammed Earth, will present a Study of historic rammed earth structures in Spain and India. Paul visited eight locations in northern Spain and three in northern India where he gained a greater understanding of historic rammed earth. Methods of construction, modes of failure and repair techniques were investigated. Use of rammed earth as a modern building material is increasing, and the study of historic structures can inform development of the technique today. A number of examples which are considered to be of interest to practising engineers are presented. The examples deal with the presence of water in earthen structures, cracking and methods of crack repair, the facing of rammed earth with a less permeable material, and medieval seismic protection measures. Refreshments will be served at 5:30. For more information download the lecture poster.

Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal, 41, directed the creation of Al Dar Al Iraqi, a temporary structure on Villa Montalvo‘s Front Lawn, as part of Montalvo’s Iraq:Reframe focus. The structure is symbolic of homes built and inhabited by Iraqis living in rural and impoverished areas prior to the modernization period of the 1950s and beyond. The vast majority of Iraqis live in modern homes built from stone, wood and brick that are similar in size to homes in the United States. The sculpture represents the devastation of the civil and domestic infrastructure taking place in Iraq today. Bilal was forced to create a home in this style during the time he spent in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War. Without any substantial shelter provided, he turned to this antiquated method of building a home when he was exiled from his own.

La Fundación Navapalos e Inter-Acciön (ONGD) organizan los días 23-24-25 de Noviembre de 2007, en el Museo Nacional de Antropología de la Calle Alfonso XII, 68, de Madrid el XXI CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE “CONSTRUIR CON TIERRA”.

El Objetivo de la Fundación en este Congreso es reflejar los avances y cambios en los últimos años, experimentados, tanto personal como profesionalmente en el sector “Arquitectura de Tierra”, en España, en los países de la UE o en el resto del mundo (Íberoamérica, África etc.).
Desde un enfoque etnológico-antropológico y en defensa del Patrimonio Arquitectónico Popular y Monumental, y guiados por un espíritu socio-cultural hacia proyectos de Cooperación Internacional al Desarrollo, nuestro objetivo es el estudio y la investigación de la tierra como material de construcción y el desarrollo de cursos de Formación, que han ampliado considerablemente los ámbitos de nuestra intervención.

Vinculando hoy la tierra como material de construcción con los recursos naturales, el desarrollo sostenible y el ahorro energético en la vivienda contemporánea-bioclimática, se abren las puertas y caminos profesionales y empresariales en la innovación tecnológica, la fabricación mecanizada e industrializada ,sin embargo, sin alejarnos de nuestra preocupación por el entorno construido en tierra, su conservación y rehabilitación, en todas sus dimensiones y como soporte socio-cultural del paisaje rural y urbano.

Mas informacion:
Erhard Rohmer
Fundación Navapalos
Inter-Acción (ONGD)
e-mail: inter-accion@telefonica.net
e.rohmer@telefonica.net
Tel: 91 531 21 55 / 91 521 94 33

The Adobe Alliance will host a Dome Building Workshop November 1-4, 2007 in Presidio, Texas. Learn to build an adobe domed roof by hand under the instruction of maestra adobera Jesusita Jimenez, adobero Efren Rodriguez and Simone Swan, adobe designer-builder and founder of the Adobe Alliance. They will also demonstrate the construction of an adobe brick wall with keyed corners and how to mix and apply a sturdy, waterproof earth plaster enhanced with cactus juice. For more information visit the workshop webpage.

Jim Hallock, Monica Healy, and Jeff Rottler are pleased to invite you to participate in our impending earth building workshop given in conjunction with Joe Tibbets of Southwest Solar Adobe, and Lawrence Jetter of Advanced Earthen Construction Technologies. The workshop will take place November 9, 10, and 11, 2007 at the Best Western Shetland Inn, 3602 S.E. Military Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78223.

“It is estimated that at least 30 per cent of the world’s population, ,some 1.5 billion people, live in houses constructed of raw (unfired) earth”. 1

“Even today, it is estimated that between a third and a half of the world’s population lives in earthen dwellings.” 2

“40 % of the world population lives in earthen dwellings” 3

1.Earth building in Britain – international context and historical background, by R. Nother, with an introduction by L. Keefe. Earth Building, p. 7
2. Smith, Michael, The History of Cob, http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/history.html
3. http://www.earth-auroville.com/index.php

this does not take into account buildings that people work or worship in or buildings that are not occupied, such as dove cotes, grainaries, etc.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/survey_does_des.php

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/cob_building_go.php

The Dachverband Lehm e.V. is the German Association for Building with Earth. Every four years the DVL organises an international conference and trade fair on building with earth in a different earth building region in Germany together with an excursion in the region. After the conferences in 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2004, the LEHM 2008 is the 5th such event organised by the Dachverband Lehm e.V. Each of these events has attracted several thousand visitors. In addition to organising a high-profile conference programme, a central aspect is the presentation of new innovations in earth building products and technologies through a trade fair that takes place parallel to the conference. For more information visit the conference website.