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Rammed Earth: Old Meets New in Hybrid Material

An ancient technique lends itself to more sustainable contemporary home designs

John Hill August 8, 2011

Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning degrees, and over ten years experience in architectural practice, split between Chicago and NYC. Currently I'm focused on writing and online pursuits. My daily blog can be found at http://archidose.blogspot.com

Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor... More

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Rammed earth is an ancient construction technique dating back to the 2nd millennium B.C. in China that is finding its way into contemporary buildings. Even in the face of building codes and jurisdictions that may not recognize it as a suitable material for walls. What is basically soil compacted into rock-hard structures, rammed earth walls are literally of the earth they sit upon. They therefore help anchor a house to its site and provide a sustainable alternative to materials like concrete, even though some installations may mix portland cement with the soil.

Examples of buildings with rammed earth walls on Houzz are scarce, so interested people should definitely check out Ronald Rael’s great book Earth Architecture, which features contemporary projects in rammed earth and other variations. The few examples that follow illustrate that rammed earth veers from people’s perceptions of the material, which may be associated with older structures devoid of modern comforts. The projects here feature rammed earth among other materials, in ways that highlights the unique material while making it a complementary part of something larger.

This house in Palo Alto, California by CCS Architecture is the most thorough illustration of rammed earth on Houzz. A C-shaped exterior wall on the first floor is formed from soil excavated from the site (the thick walls on this floor plan). This wall is visible in this photo below the ipe-wood-clad volume on the second floor.

Another view of the exterior shows one terminus of the rammed earth wall, as it comes toward us in this photo. Walls painted a similar color of the earth turn the corner toward the interior yard, which then leads you visually to the house on the first floor with generous glazing. This end of the house on the first floor is the living room...

... With a seating area next to the distinctive rammed earth wall. We can start to see the horizontal striations of the wall, which is created since shallow sections are compacted and the formwork is raised as the process continues. Rael compares this process to the coursing of brickwork, although the expression is much more subtle.

The other end of the rammed earth wall (barely visible in the middle-right of this photo) stops just short of the separate studio structure (at left). The second floor bridges the gap between these one-story volumes.

The entrance to the house is from the gap between the main house and studio. The rammed earth walls in this photo are in the background and to the left.

Note: See how the wood walls inside the house have a similar "coursing," arising from a completely different type of construction.

The wood's horizontal layering is more pronounced in this view of the stairs in the elbow of the main house's first-floor volume. A gap between the stair and the rammed earth wall allows access between the two, but more importantly it allows the rammed earth wall to be continuous and therefore appreciated.

Between the entrance and the stairs lies the kitchen, where a long horizontal window is set into the rammed earth wall. Contemporary rammed earth walls are hybrids of old and new techniques, so reinforcing and supplementary structure can be used to frame openings that traditional techniques would not otherwise allow.

This last view of the house — seen towards the end of the plan with the living room pictured earlier — makes the posts evident, buried within the rammed earth walls, that hold up the roof. Rammed earth can be used structurally, if local building codes allow it, but here the insertion of clerestories atop the walls made these slender steel posts necessary.

Furman + Keil Architects

Another house, the aptly named Rammed Earth Ranch in Austin, Texas, is the renovation of an old barn constructed of the material. As architects Furman + Keil attest, "The conversion treats the rammed earth walls with respect, touching them delicately and constructing multi-level living quarters inside the larger volume." A new glass-walled entry inserted into an opening in the rammed earth exterior certainly indicates that something new is happening.

Furman + Keil Architects

Inside, looking back toward the entry, the rammed earth walls are two feet thick according to the architects, and can be seen below the off-white ceiling.

Furman + Keil Architects

Further inside we can see what the architects describe as "a cabinet inside of a shell, a wood mezzanine takes advantage of the spaciousness inside the barn." Like the house by CSS Architecture, walls and other objects are held back from the rammed earth, in a sign of respect that makes the walls a part of the occupants daily lives.

Blasen Landscape Architecture

Last is this house in Napa Valley, California designed by New York architects Eliot Lee and Eun Sun Chun with landscapes by Blasen Landscape Architecture, who won an ASLA award for the project. This photo clearly illustrates the character of rammed earth walls; its color, its texture, and the signs of its making.

Blasen Landscape Architecture

Another view shows how these walls seem to fit so well with the native plants. The reddish earth has a special synergy with the leaves and bark of the trees, for example, as well as the stone from the property. Rammed earth is not just a description of the material; it is a position that links the occupants with the land upon which they reside.

Read More Ideabooks from John Hill:
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