The Historical airport of Maybod in Yazd Province has been suggested by the Maybod Research Center as the center for the Adobe International Research Institute. Considering that Iran is an earthquake-prone country, establishing an international research institute for studying earthen structures would provide a proper basis for reengineering and strengthening of these structures. “Taking into account that Iran has the highest number of earthen constructions in the world, this decision would provide international facilities for preserving these monuments. Earthen constructions are parts of Iranian traditional architectural style which has a history of over 8000 years. Establishing an international center in Iran would promote Iran’s technical abilities in regards to earthen structures. Keeping in mind that Iran is an earthquake-prone country, the establishment of this center would also provide an opportunity to reengineer and strengthen our clay structures according to the international standards,” said Mohammad Hassan Khademzadeh, head of Mega Projects.
Christopher Columbus and Rammed Earth
The Columbus house, built by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and made of rammed earth and cut limestone, is the oldest remnant of a European structure in the Americas.
Rammed Earth is for Everyone
Rammed Earth is for Everyone, claims this new blog devoted to rammed earth. Good bibliographies and examples of soil mockups.
Earthen Architecture Association
The Earthen Architecture Association, headquartered in the Czech Republic, is an organization whose members are interested in Earthen Architecture and natural materials, promotes use of clay in new buildings and protection and preservation of existing clay houses as a part of our cultural heritage.
Earth Ammunition
In the ruins of an ancient mud-brick city in northeastern Syria, archaeologists have uncovered what they say is substantial evidence of a fierce battle fought there in about 3500 B.C., which includes the discovery of 120 clay balls that were meant to be fired from slings, as well as 1,200 smaller “bullets.”
Rammed Earth at MIT
A team of MIT architecture students built a wall behind the MIT Museum of rammed earth using a combination of 30 percent Boston Blue Clay mixed with sand and gravel. Twelve tons of this clay, common at depths of 30 to 60 feet in the metropolitan Boston area, came from the excavation site of a new building at Harvard. “The wall will serve as a long-term test of rammed earth in New England, allowing us to observe the way various soil types used in construction stand up to the climate,” said Joe Dahmen, a graduate student in architecture who is leading the project. [ more at livescience ]
Virtual Mud
Heinz Ruther, professor of Geomatics at the University of Cape Town, has embarked on a project aimed both at preserving the sites, and also at making them accessible – in virtual form – to people across the continent who may not have the means to get there themselves. BBC | Africast [via]
Building with Earth Conference
Building with Raw Earth Today: International Conference on the Preservation, Promotion and Protection of Earth Architecture. December 9-10, 2005. Download conference schedule [Italian Language]
The Complete Works of Hassan Fathy
An Architecture for People: The Complete Works of Hassan Fathy 
Steele, an architect himself, presents Fathy’s built projects and discusses the design philosophy underlying his work. Steele’s book is a tribute to Fathy as a compassionate designer and as a master craftsman who held strongly to traditional values and beliefs at a time when the historical amnesia and standardization of Modernist architecture dominated.
Node 1 and Contour Crafting
“Node 1” is a conceptual architecture project by French Architect François Roche which lacks most of the usual architectural accoutrements: blueprints, material suppliers, subcontractors. Instead, Roche imagines a programmable assembly device dubbed the “viab,” a construction robot capable of improvising as it assembles walls, ducts, cables, and pipes. A viab would produce structures that are not set and specific, but impermanent and malleable – merely viable – made of a uniform, recyclable substance like adobe.
The closest thing to a viab today is a modest mud-working robot, called “contour crafter”, invented by Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of engineering at the University of Southern California. Two years ago, California-based architect Greg Lynn was talking to Khoshnevis about the same topic. [ 1 | 2 | 3 ]