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MATERIAL FAMILIES & COMMON

MATERIALS

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INTRODUCTION

“Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your

parents. It was loaned to you by your children.”
Kenyan Proverb

Common soil materials:

• Bricks.
• Ceramics.
• Plasters.
• Cement aggregates.
• Earth walls or rammed earth.
• Earth blocks, mud bricks or adobes. Non-processed uses
• Earth bags.
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Earth construction building techniques have been is use

worldwide for thousands of years.
The adobe walls of Jericho date to 8.300BC, parts of the
Great Wall of China are made of rammed earth and mud
brick walls, made over 2.000 years ago.
Earth is used as main material in some of the oldest
constructions that survived till today.
It is estimated that 40% of the world population lives in
earth structures, mostly in developing countries.

INTRODUCTION
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MANUFACTURE
Many feel like with the end of inexpensive oil, there will be a
movement back to lower embodied energy construction
techniques and use of local materials.
Rammed earth walls are constructed by ramming a mixture
of selected aggregates, including gravel, sand, silt and a small
amount of clay, into place between flat panels called
formwork.
Stabilized rammed earth is a modern variant of traditional
rammed earth, that adds a small amount of cement (around
3 to 5%) to add strength and durability. This won’t be
affected if exposed to rain.

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Most of the energy used in the construction of rammed

earth is in quarrying the raw material (soil) and transporting
it to the site (if not extracted from the site).
Use of on-site soil material can lessen energy consumed in
construction (transport).
Traditional heavy wooden formwork have evolved into light
composite ones, made of plywood, wood and steel or
sometimes aluminium.
Traditional technology involved
repeatedly manually ramming the
end of a wooden pole into the
earth mixture to compress it.

Steel manual rammer

MANUFACTURE
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Modern technology replaces the pole with a mechanical Ram

(rammer).

MANUFACTURE
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Pneumatic rammers, dumpy loaders, mixers, etc. allowed to

build faster and get a better-quality finish.
The last decades have seen the widest development in
Australia and Western USA, but also in Canada, Germany,
UK can check (http://www.earthstructures.co.uk).
David Easton in California, USA, and Martin Rauch in Austria
developed innovative solutions.
Australia, Buderim Church
by David Oliver Germany, Berlin
by Martin Rauch

MANUFACTURE
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David Easton’s (USA) structures are most of the time built

with pier walls, meaning that walls are built up to their full
height at once. This way of building is completely changing
the design and possibilities of rammed earth structures.

MANUFACTURE
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APPEARANCE
Similar finishes to Concrete can
be created:
• Brushed finishes help reduce
formwork marks that can
create a concrete-like
appearance.
• Metallic panel framework
create a more homogeneous
appearance.
• Aggregates can be exposed.
• Stones can be incorporated
into rammed earth walls (and
exposed).

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The colour of rammed earth walls is determined by the

earth and aggregate used.
• or the addition of different pigment (or different soils) in
the layers.
The ramming process proceeds layer by layer and this
introduces horizontal stratification to the appearance of the
walls. Nk'Mip Desert Cultural
Centre
• this can enhance the overall appearance Canada
and be used as a main design feature.
• or eliminated with mud render and
other finishes.

APPEARANCE
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Relief moldings or shapes can be incorporated in the

formwork, this can be released after the wall has been
rammed to create a recessed shape.
It is possible to form vertical curves, made by carefully
ramming along a drawn guideline on the interior of the
formwork. Horizontal curves are also possible but require
specialized, and therefore expensive, formwork (as in
concrete construction).

APPEARANCE
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OTHER PROPERTIES
Structural capability
Rammed earth is very strong in compression and can be
used for multi-storey load-bearing walls.
Research in New Zealand indicates that monolithic earth
walls perform better under earthquake conditions than walls
made of separate bricks or blocks.

Thermal mass
Rammed earth behaves as a heavyweight masonry with a
high thermal mass. This slows down heat transmission to the
interior of the building during summer. Ideal for temperate
climate regions.
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Thermal insulation
Rammed earth has only reasonable thermal insulating qualities
(slightly better than Concrete or brick). Insulation materials can
be added to rammed earth walls to further improve it.

Sound insulation
It has excellent sound reverberation absorption and does not
generate the harsh echoes characteristic of many conventional
wall materials (like in all brittle and dense materials).

Breathability
Provided it is not sealed with material that is impermeable,
rammed earth maintains its breathability. This allows for a natural
regulation of internal humidity and better air quality (unlike
concrete, metal, plastic or glass).
OTHER PROPERTIES
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Fire and vermin (pests) resistance

There are no flammable components in a rammed earth wall so
its fire resistance is very good.
Cannot be attacked by pests (unlike timber and other natural
materials).

Durability and moisture resistance

Rammed earth possesses a generally high durability but all types
of rammed earth walls are porous by nature and need protection
from driving rain and avoid long-term exposure to moisture. If
left exposed to rain it will slowly degrade.
Stabilized rammed earth is more resistant to rain, but protection
from heavy rain is advisable (overhangs etc). It will take a long
time to decompose due to the cement content.

OTHER PROPERTIES
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QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION

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