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Thursday, 12 March 2009 11:51

Rammed earth house boasts modern design

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While it is one of the most ecological building materials around, rammed earth - a mixture of earth, sand, gravel and clay - is usually associated with buildings with an earthy, less-than-modern aesthetic. A new house in Vorarlberg, Austria, could change that.

 

Designed by architects Roger Bolthauser and Martin Rauch , the 'House Rauch' was constructed using earth excavated from the building site - walls, floors and plaster are made from earth too. 

 

Anarchitecture writes: 

Earth buildings are costly in terms of labor. The silt and earthen mixture is compressed periodically in horizontal layers and compressed with air compression beaters and vibration rolls. In case of “House Rauch” 41% of the house's volume is under earth, which results in some subterranean cave-like spaces. The building's foundation is made of 60cm trass cement - the traditional roman cement, the ceilings are "Dippelbaumdecken" (beam ceilings) and the interior thermal insulation is made from rush mats, which is also a perfect underground for the finishing coat.

More info is available here on Martin Rauch's website. 

Last modified on Thursday, 12 March 2009 12:16
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Lenny Antonelli

Lenny Antonelli is deputy editor of Passive House Plus. He also writes regularly for the Irish Times, and has contributed to a variety of other publications including the Sunday Times, the CS Monitor, Village, the Sunday Tribune amd the Dubliner. He is currently working on a radio documentary on Ireland's oceans. 

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