The Gaiapolis Foundation, in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a non-profit non-government organization who address the investigation, dissemination, and application of different earthen building technologies (adobe, rammed earth and cob) for the construction of social housing.
South Dakota Rammed Earth
Ralph Patty, Chairman of the Agricultural Engineering Department, supervised the rammed earth research at South Dakota State College in the 1920s and 1930s. Patty’s research was published internationally as well as by SDSC and the USDA Rammed Earth Walls for Buildings- 1926 :Farmers’ Bulletin #1500.
Banco: Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta
Banco: Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta by Sebastian Schutyser and Jean Dethier (author of Down to Earth) et al., is a beautiful book with photographs by Sebastian Schutyser that reveal a neglected African architectural heritage: village adobe mosques. His black-and-white images emphasize an artistic fusion of architecture and sculpture and exalt the strength and beauty of a craft that eludes globalization. The photos emphasize the grain and substance of clay smoothed by villagers’ hands or cracked by erosion, and highlight the solidity of the masonry and the sensuality of the textures. The texts that accompany these stunning pictures are by a leading expert on raw-earth architecture and by a major scholar on African vernacular architecture. Included is an appendix that documents all 500 of the principal adobe mosques of the Inner Niger Delta, with the names of the villages and geographical coordinates. For more information visit www.sebastianschutyser.com
Flagship Class
The flagship class at Northern New Mexico Community College, taught by Quentin Wilson, will be April 28 to May 9 in El Rito, NM. The class is Arches, Domes and Vaults, ADOB 112 and tuition is $54 plus $30 for fees and administrative items. Possible lecturers are Simone Swan and Greg Seelhorst who has 9 years experience in Africa and association with John Norton’s Woodless Construction. For more information visit the Quentin Wilson Website.
Earth Building Article
Earth Building Takes New Shapes, an article from the Home Energy Magazine Online May/June 1999, describes the current technologies and benefits of earth building.
carpetarea.com
Mud Brick Workshop
If you are in Austrailia, a 2-day mud brick building workshop, instructed by Peter Hickson, a specialist mud brick builder with 20 years experience is coming up in May 2003. Click here for more information.
Desert Works
Rick Joy: Desert Works contains masterfully modern designs in rammed earth by this Tucson, Arizona based architect. Joy uses color, texture, and materials to turn the six houses shown here into spare and subtle evidence of humanity in a vast natural world. He uses a similar approach, with expanded functionality, in the three studio/office designs that complete this book. The quiet of the settings and the simplicity of Joy’s approach are perfect partners in producing architecture appropriate to a vast, unpeopled place.
CRATerre
CRATerre-EAG, The Center for the Research and Application of Earth Architecture, is part of the School of Architecture of Grenoble, France, which offers the only Masters Degree in Earth Architecture in the world. The website is only in French, but you can translate at babelfish.
Terra Cruda/Raw Earth
www.terracruda.com has some interesting examples of modern earth architecture. The site is only in Italian, but you can translate at babelfish.