Building with Earth: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture

196 Appendices

Future prospects

In areas with colder climates, earthen architecture
may never play the dominant role it already plays
in warmer regions. Owing to climatic conditions
and high standards of thermal insulation in Cen-
tral and Northern Europe, for example, exterior
walls need additional external thermal insulation.
In hot and moderate climates of all continents, on
the other hand, solid external walls can be built
from loam without being covered. They provide
a better indoor climate and are more economical
than walls made of natural stone, fired bricks or
concrete.

Nevertheless we find an increasing tendency to
build with loam in the cooler climates of Europe
and America as well. This is due to a growing
environmental consciousness and an awareness
that not only do industrially produced materials
require unnecessarily high energy inputs; they
also consume scarce resources while producing
pollution. Another factor is the desire to live in a
balanced and healthy indoor environment.
In developing countries, where even today,
more than half of the population lives in earthen
houses, modern houses are usually not built from
earth but from industrialised building materials
such as fired bricks, cement concrete and pre-
fabricated panels of various compositions. Even
here, there is an increasing recognition that
the immense existing requirements for shelter
cannot be met with industrially produced building
materials and building techniques, since neither
the productive capacity nor the necessary finan-
cial resources are available. The only seemingly
feasible solution is to use natural, locally available
materials and appropriate skills and tools while
integrating self-help techniques, all of which
make earth the ideal building material.
In such regions, especially those with hot and
moderate climates, an increasing number of
modern buildings already have walls made of
adobes or stabilised soil blocks. With low-cost
housing in these regions, where roof structures
can account for up to one third of total building
costs, the use of earthen blocks for building
vaults and domes is very promising, since these
structural types can be more economical than
industrial roofing while also creating better indoor
climate by virtue of their thermal characteristics,
potential for improved ventilation, and noise-
insulating properties.

Newly developed and successfully tested earth
construction techniques are waiting to be adapt-
ed and implemented in countries where they
have not yet been tried. In order to disseminate

these techniques, guidelines should be developed

and training courses offered.

The practicability of these techniques will have

to be demonstrated not only with residential

projects, in particular with low-cost housing, but

also in public buildings such as hospitals, schools,

and office buildings. This would show that, if

used correctly, earth is a long-lasting and eco-

nomical material that is easily available and easy

to handle and is capable of creating even presti-

gious buildings.

The building of masonry walls from adobes, from

sun-dried, unfired earth blocks, will continue to

be a dominant technique simply because such

techniques can be used by masons in all parts of

the world without special training. Adobe domes

and vaults are an economically and structurally

valuable alternative to the usual flat or slightly

inclined roofs of sheet metal, asbestos cement or

reinforced cement concrete. They will certainly be

used with greater frequency once an understand-

ing of their potential becomes more widespread.

The rammed earth technique is favourable for

moderate and warm climates, and is also eco-

nomical, especially if used with adequate equip-

ment and mechanised technology.

The knowledge of how to construct earthquake-

resistant buildings of adobes and rammed earth

should be disseminated throughout all earth-

quake-prone zones. It has been proven that in

many cases, it was not the use of earthen materi-

als as such that led to the collapse of such build-

ings during earthquakes, but rather incorrect

structural designs and bad craftsmanship.

In industrialised countries in moderate climatic

zones, prefabricated lightweight loam elements

and loam plasters for interior walls will be used

with increasing frequency. In Germany, Austria

and the Netherlands, several types have recently

become increasingly successful on the quickly

growing markets for such products.