rammed earth | GIZMODO.cz

The Rammed Earth House in Slovenia merges traditional rammed earth building techniques with modern solar energy production methods to reinterpret the early 20th-century farmhouse for today.

Rammed earth is a sustainable building method that has been around for millennia. Dating back to as early as the 9th–7th millennium BC, rammed earth has been trusted as a reliable building method and material for homes and structures on every continent except Antarctica. Bringing the method to Slovenia, three architects Merve nur Başer, Aslı Erdem, and Fatma Zeyneb Önsiper conceptualized their tiny home called Rammed Earth House to reinterpret early 20th-century farmhouses, holding onto a traditional pitched roof and introducing modern solar energy production methods.

In conceptualizing the Rammed Earth House, the team of architects set out to balance contemporary energy production practices with traditional building methods. Located in Dobrava, a settlement in Slovenia’s flatland region, the Rammed Earth House is inspired by the famed floating roof designed by Slovenian architect Oton Jugovec. Since rammed earth involves compacting a mixture of subsoil into an externally supported framework, the three architects behind Rammed Earth House conceptualized a concrete foundation and timber framework. It’s generally difficult to make changes to a rammed earth structure, but the home’s overhang roof allows cement to be added in the case that extra stability is needed. Rammed Earth House is sheltered with an overhang green roof that works to protect the building material from the threat of erosion as Dobrava experiences rainy, temperate, and snowy seasons.

Rammed Earth House’s sustainable build allows for passive insulation and heating methods to cool and warm up the home.

Specifically oriented to take in the sun rays during winter months and block them out during hotter seasons, the Rammed Earth House takes cues from its surrounding environment and climate to ensure comfortable, passive heating and insulation throughout the year. Windows are also strategically placed around the house to allow cross-ventilation throughout the home and changing seasons. The green roof also holds an array of photovoltaic panels to power the home with harnessed solar energy and a rainwater collector for water recycling and an integrated septic tank system. Inside, each living area is appropriately situated to benefit from the passive heating and insulation methods. The house’s north facade, for example, features fewer windows than the west facade to decrease potential heat loss during colder months.

Designers: Merve nur Başer, Aslı Erdem, and Fatma Zeyneb Önsiper

Using rammed earth, mud, clay and other natural materials for construction is a practice that has been around for at least 10,000 years. Casa Covida is a unique home that blends these age-old construction practices with the marvels of modern technology like 3D printing to elevate sustainable architecture to a new level!

Even today, earth-based houses are used by almost 30 percent of the world’s population because they are low-tech, affordable, and simple. These are not just tiny huts, they cover everything from hand-made earthen buildings to traditionally modern homes – the binding factor is the use of rammed earth techniques as well as sustainable materials like bamboo or wood. These materials are local and easy to source – what could be easier than to use the earth beneath one’s own feet? While some people might think these techniques are outdated, many designers and architects are experimenting with them by mixing them up with 3D printing technology. Emerging Objects is one of these visionary studios that want to explore more novel ways to use 3D printing. Casa Covida has been 3D printed using soil mixed with straw, sand, and other organic materials – a successful experiment by the California-based studio.

The name Casa Covida refers to both the global pandemic and the Spanish word for cohabitation because it was born during a special time where we dealt with both those things. The organic structure is currently a prototype that can host two people and has been 3D-printed in the desert of San Luis Valley, Colorado, using a three-axis SCARA (Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm) that extruded out an adobe mix of sand, silt, clay, and water. The house has three parts – a central space, a sleeping space, and a bathing space. The central space can be accessed via a wooden door which can be left open/closed thanks to an inflatable pink roof that can be deployed during rain or snow, or if the occupants want to keep the heat of the fire from escaping. The roof is one of the most interesting features and has been inspired by a blooming cactus as a nod to the dwelling’s desert location.

The central space includes the main hearth and two earthen benches called tarima. It also comes equipped with custom-designed earthen cookware which was also 3D-printed using locally sourced micaceous clay. The sleeping space includes a platform made from beetle kill pine (basically wood reclaimed from trees that have been killed off by mountain pine beetles – a big problem in Colorado) and is softened up for comfort with textiles made by local artist Joshua Tafoya. The bathing space has a metal soaking tub embedded into the ground and surrounded by river stones – straight up making you feel like you are bathing in a river bed. When you look up from the tub, there’s an open view of the sky above from a circular window.

The smartphone-controlled SCARA robotic printer used in this project is lightweight enough that only two people are needed to operate it. Casa Covida may be an experimental prototype for now, but Rael points out that the goal here is to ask vital questions about the limits of advanced technology and materials, and the possibilities of reviving ancient techniques and materials in a modern context, “In some ways, for me at least, this is a return to a particular origin and we’re taking the most primitive materials and combining them with the most sophisticated technology. But I actually see that in reverse: I see that mankind has been developing the use of mud for 10,000 years — it’s actually our most sophisticated material. And the way it works thermally, and the way it performs, and the way that it works environmentally is extremely sophisticated. The robotic arm is a crotchety, weird thing that’s always breaking down — that’s only existed for two years. It’s the least sophisticated technology we have for making a building. So the way I look at it is that we’re returning to a higher level of construction system by simplifying.” Reverse engineering the use of sustainable materials!

Designer: Emerging Objects