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Rammed Earth

Rammed Earth also called taipa by Portuguese and tapial by Spanish, is a wall building technique by use of natural raw materials like chalk, earth, gravel or lime. It is a type of building that seen a renewal over the past years as contractors seek a natural building technique with more sustainable building materials.

Rammed-earth buildings are easy to construct, thermally massive, noncombustible, strong and durable. Buildings made of this technique are labor intensive with lack of machinery (powered tampers), however, these walls are subject to water spoil if inadequately protected. Buildings made of this method are found nearly in all continents except the Antarctica, in wet and temperate regions of Europe, range of environments, tropics, mountains and semiarid deserts.

For a good and lasting rammed-earth building, one has to compress suitable proportions of damp mixture of clay, sand and gravel. An addition of stabilizer is also recommended to give a strong external support frame. It is quite interesting on how our grandfathers constructed these buildings trying all means to stabilize it to extend of using animal blood something that looks funny to the modern generation. Modern constructors use cement or lime to stabilize their materials.

A building made of rammed-earth technique in its unique design has many advantages and disadvantages. The walls on this design have distinct appearance, facilitate humidity regulation, lessen carbon dioxide emission, environmental friendly, and gives airtight construction. The challenging thing about using this technique is the type soil to be used. Using this technique calls for more attention because of the poor thermal performance and long procedure that needs extra insulation. To protect the building against rain, fire or wind, contractors are advised to use external or internal insulation.

Rammed-earth method of construction has been used in very famous buildings. A good example which marks human history is the building of the Great Wall of China, the Potala Palace in Lhasa and Alhambra in Granada, just to mention but a few. Many of European castles and cores of pyramids like the University of Southern and USC School, of Architecture were made of rammed-earth and fenced with stone (Bui, 32).

Because of contractors using locally available materials to build rammed-earth walls, there is much to save on finance with little waste on material and low embodied energy. Rammed-earth structures use sub-soils which are low in clay (typically ranging from 5% to 15%), the topsoil is used for agriculture. There is also the use of soil excavated from the building’s foundation which helps reduce the energy used and the cost of transportation. Use of rammed-earth technique has resolved the problems to homeless individuals due to high building costs. This method also helps in getting rid of ecological force of deforestation and the toxicity of material assembling related to conventional construction technique (Silva, 12).

After World War II, people began to develop low interest in rammed earth because of the price drop in modern building materials. Opposing ideas were developed from many engineers, tradesmen and contractors who considered the technique a substandard technique and whom many of them had no knowledge on rammed-earth technique. The developed negative ideas led to prevailing perception that buildings made of such materials do not fit earthquake-prone areas making it lose trust in many regions like Chile where rammed-earth structures are not given conventional insurance or government approval.

Images: technical how-to image

Visual image of a rammed earth house

Work cited

Bui, T.-T., et al. "Failure Of Rammed Earth Walls: From Observations To Quantifications." Construction & Building Materials 51.(2014): 295-302. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Silva, Rui A., et al. "Rammed Earth Construction With Granitic Residual Soils: The Case Study Of Northern Portugal." Construction & Building Materials 47.(2013): 181-191. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Rael, Ronald. Earth Architecture. New York, N.Y: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. Print.

McHenry, Paul G. Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and Construction. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989. Print.