Architecture, Art, Design, and Culture using of mud, clay, soil, dirt & dust.
Bricks made with wool. (Credit: Galán-Marín et al.)
Spanish and Scottish researchers have added wool fibres to the clay material used to make bricks and combined these with an alginate, a natural polymer extracted from seaweed. The result is bricks that are stronger and more environmentally-friendly, according to the study published recently in the journal Construction and Building Materials.
EARTH WORKS: International Summer School will take place September 1st – 18th, 2010 in Gmunden, Upper Austria. Instructed by Martin Rauch and Anna Heringer, the aim of the summer program is to acquire intensive hands-on experience and to gain application-oriented knowledge in buiding with earth to associate this timeless material to innovative architecture. The central focus in to obtain practical experience and to learn by doing.
The program is jointly organized by BASEhabitat, the Technical University Munich , CRATerre-ENSAG and the UIA. Closing date for application: 28th of June 2010. For further information and online-application, please visit www.basehabitat.ufg.ac.at
How to Survive the Coming Bad Years, 2008. Soil, straw, water, timber, lime and ceramic pipes. Attingham Park, Shropshire, UK. Commissioned by Meadow Arts for the exhibition Give Me Shelter
In an ancient woodland at the core of Attingham’s vast 4,000 acre land, an immense clay structure rises through the trees like an oversized Dalek. Both alien and primeval, How to Survive the Coming Bad Years, by Heather and Ivan Morrison, is inspired by traditional rookeries found throughout the Middle East where in return for shelter, the birds provide squab to eat and guano to fertilise the land on which food is cultivated. Ivan and Heather Morison’s huge lime covered cob sculpture suggests the vestige of an other worldly civilisation or perhaps a post-apocalyptic future. In this case the structure will provide a nesting environment for Attingham’s bird-life, but in return they must give up a share of their young.
The Centro di Documentazione sulle Case di Terra is hosting the 9th International Earth Architecture Photography Competition with the theme “Le case di terra paesaggio di architettura”.
CALENDAR:
Entry deadline: 30/06/2010
Judges meeting: 07/08/2010
Announcement of results: 31/08/2010 on the Internet page: www.casediterra.it
Works exhibition: dal/from 18/09/2010 al/to 30/09/2010 presso il / in the CED Terra Casalincontrada
Opening: 18/09/2010
Prize-giving: 18/09/2010
JURY:
President of jury:
Mr Maurizio Morandi – University of Firenze
Jury
Mrs Concetta Di Luzio – Mayor of Casalincontrada
Mrs Stefania Giardinelli – Terrae onlus Association
Mrs Gaia Bollini – Città della terra cruda National Association
Mr Gianni Ortolano – Member of Fotoclub Chieti
TEMPORARY JUDGES:
Mr Gabriele Esposito – Associazione Terrae onlus
Mrs Caterina Buccione – Associazione Terrae onlus
PRIZES: FIXED SUBJECT: “RAW EARTH ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES” One single section: B/W and Colour
1° Classificato/1st prize winner: Euro 515,00
2° Classificato/2nd prize winner: Euro 260,00
3° Classificato/3rd prize winner: Euro 130,00
To the five outstanding photographs: a book on earthen architecture
SPECIAL PRIZES
– To the best photograph on new earthen architectural structures;
– To the best photograph on earthen architectural structures in the Abruzzo Region;
– To the best photo of earthen architecture in Italy;
– To the best photo of earthen architecture in the world;
– Special prizes for schools.
PRESENTATION
The 9th International Photo Competition on “Earthen architectures: landscapes of architectures” is an initiative of the Municipality of Casalincontrada, in the Italian province of Chieti and the Documentation Centre on Earth Architectures, Terrae onlus Association The “rediscovery” of the knowledge linked to earthen architecture recomposed in images, like tiles of a mosaic made of people, things, material and places. Images that could be interpreted as “surviving structures” or “new scenarios”, as well as architectures of the territory, memories and situations.
For more information visit the competition website.
Cob Visitor Facility, Eden Project
Abey Smallcombe is a collaboration between artists Jackie Abey and Jill Smallcombe. Their craft is working with cob, earth plasters and other natural beautiful, sustainable materials. They have successfully carried out a number of large and smaller scale commissions for, the Eden Project, Somerset College of Arts and Technology, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Met Office, National Trust, Sustrans Cycle Paths. They have also exhibited nationally, taught all age groups, lectured internationally and researched earth structures in Europe, USA, India, Africa and Australia.
In a small shed on an industrial park near Pisa is a machine that can print buildings. The machine itself looks like a prototype for the automotive industry. Four columns independently support a frame with a single armature on it. Driven by CAD software installed on a dust-covered computer terminal, the armature moves just millimetres above a pile of sand, expressing a magnesium-based solution from hundreds of nozzles on its lower side. It makes four passes. The layer dries and Enrico Dini recalibrates the armature frame. The system deposits the sand and then inorganic binding ink. The exercise is repeated. The millennia-long process of laying down sedimentary rock is accelerated into a day. A building emerges.
The new material (inorganic binder + sand or mineral dust) has been subjected to traction, compression and bending tests. The results have been extraordinary and the artificial sandstone features excellent resistance properties. Effectively this process returns any type of sand or mineral dust back to its original compact stone state.
The binder transforms any kind of sand or marble dust into a stone-like material (i.e. a mineral with microcrystalline characteristics) with a resistance and traction superior to portland cement, to a point where there is no need to use iron to reinforce the structure. This artificial stone is chemically one hundred percent environmentally friendly.
The process is four times faster than conventional building, costs a third to a half as much as using Portland cement, creates little waste and is better for the environment. But its chief selling point may simply be that it makes creating Gaudiesque, curvy structures simple.
Read more at [ Blueprint Magazine | Dezeen | Previously ]
The Decembery/January issue of the French language magazine, ecologik, is devoted to the subject of Architecture en Terre.
SOMMAIRE #12 – décembre 2009/janvier 2010
ACTUALITÉ: réalisations – concours – expositions – les forêts, un marché de dupes ? – lumière : perspectives urbaines – livre, de la lutte des classes à la lutte des places
SOCIÉTÉ: la ville durable et connectée
URBANISME ET PAYSAGE: métamorphose d’une autoroute
PROCESSUS ET TECHNIQUES: les nouveaux dilemmes du patrimoine
DOSSIER EN TERRE: sur les traces d’un patrimoine mondial – manifeste pour le droit de construire en terre crue – le CRAterre, l’expérience made in France – retour d’expérience sur le Domaine de la Terre – la physique des grains – terre contemporaine : hôtel Amankora au Bouthan, maison d’habitation en pisé en Colombie, workshop structures en terre au Bangladesh, architecture d’intérieur à Paris, centre culturel du désert Nk’mip au Canada, maison Palmer-Rose aux Etats-Unis, maison Rauch en Autriche, école de Maosi en Chine, école des Arts au Mexique
INNOVATIONS: eaux de pluie, eaux usées : collecter, assainir et valoriser
BÂTIR SAIN: l’air est-il plus respirable dans un bâtiment LEED ou HQE?
SUISSE: passif en plein massif
PROSPECTIVE: accessibilité : et si on osait le pragmatisme ?
FAL e.V. invites you to participate in our trainer courses 2010 Clay Plaster for trainers I and II, see below. For both courses you can apply for an individual grant within the European Programme Grundtvig. The grant covers basicly all costs: course fee, accommodation, full board and travel costs. Conditions for applying for a Grundtvig grant are: You live in one of the member states of the European Union ( exept Germany) and you work in or you are a member of an organisation, company, NGO .., which is more or less involved in adult education. This may also be a company training self builders or training on building sites. If you are interested in participating in our 2010 European courses and you want to ask for a Grundtivig mobility grant, the deadline for submitting your application is the 15 January 15th 2010. For information on the course and on how to obtain the grant please see http://lernpunktlehm.de/wp3/?page_id=324
Comenius/Grundtvig course DE-2010-1018-001
New Educational Approach in Sustainable Natural Building Part I
Clay Plaster – Module 1
Workshop for trainers and educators
Trainer: Burkard Rüger
May 15th – May 22nd 2010
Comenius/Grundtvig course DE-2010-1019-001
New Educational Approach in Sustainable Natural Building Part II
Clay Plaster – Module 2
Workshop for trainers and educators
Trainer: Irmela Fromme and Andrea Silbermann
Guest: Japanese master plasterer Harada
July 17th – July 25th 2010
Apply for a grant within the EU-Progamme Grundtvig!
You find the courses on the Grundtvig Data base http://ec.europa.eu/education/trainingdatabase/
Language: The course language will be mainly English. However our trainers speek English, French and German. If you are not familiar with these languages we can provide training materials also in Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Slowenian and Slowak language. Ask your National Agency for Grundtvig on the conditions for applying for a grant. You will find the addresses of your national agency here.
Please contact herz@earthbuilding.eu, if you need more information. We also would like to inform you about the Grundtvig course” Permaculture Educators’ Course including Transition Initiatives, June 11th – 18th 2010 , by our partners Living House in Denmark. For more information contact:
Uta Herz
FAL e.V.
European School for Earth Building
www.earthbuilding.eu
Tel: 0049 30 41 716601
email: herz@earthbuilding
Credit: The White balance
Dan Brill Architects has designed a £50,000 extension to an Edwardian home on the outskirts of Winchester using rammed chalk. The chalk, which makes up the soil of the site was considered as it is a traditional technique in the region and because of the large amount of excavation required to accommodate the addition.
Credit: The White balance
The clients, who wanted something contemporary and innovative, appreciated rammed earth and more so the pristine appearance of the stark, white chalk walls. The material has been used in modern construction in the Pines Calyx project. It was also used in the construction of eight experimental cottages at the Department of Industrial Science and Research at Amesbury between 1919 and 1921. Construction is slated for later this year.
Andrea Morgante, founder of Shiro Studio, has collaborated with D-Shape to produce the Radiolaria pavilion, a complex, free-form structure produced using the world’s largest 3D printer. Measuring 3 x 3 x 3 metres, the structure is a scale model of a final 10-metre tall pavilion to be built in Pontedera, Italy, in 2010. D-Shape developed the first large-scale stereolithic printer in 2008 aiming to offer architects the design freedom that rapid prototyping allows them but has so far been confined to scale models. When D-Shape commissioned Andrea Morgante the design for the first large-scale structure to be printed the ultimate aim was to produce a geometry that could be self-supporting and demonstrate the capabilities of this innovative technology: being made of artificial sand-stone material and without any internal steel reinforcement the pavilion’s design and execution had to be intrinsically resilient to several static stresses.
The printing process takes place in a continuous work session: during the printing of each section a ‘structural ink’ is deposited by the printer’s nozzles on the sand. The solidification process takes 24 hours to complete. The new material (inorganic binder + sand or mineral dust) has been subjected to traction, compression and bending tests. The results have been extraordinary and the artificial sandstone features excellent resistance properties. Effectively this process returns any type of sand or mineral dust back to its original compact stone state. The binder transforms any kind of sand or marble dust into a stone-like material (i.e. a mineral with microcrystalline characteristics) with a resistance and traction superior to portland cement, to a point where there is no need to use iron to reinforce the structure. This artificial stone is chemically one hundred percent environmentally friendly.