Rammed Earth in Modern Buildings

Earth House by BCHO Architects

BCHO have created this underground house in Seoul, Korea. Rammed earth is what makes the exterior walls which are imbedded into the ground. All rooms are adjacent to each other and open directly to the earth filled courtyard. 

The earth used in the rammed earth walls is all from the site excavation. 


A pine tree was cut down from the site and sliced into thick discs which were cast into the concrete walls of the courtyard. This is to help during the decaying process and will encourage new plants and new life.

The rammed earth walls give the walls a natural and rustic feel whilst making the house sustainable.






Rammed Earth Homes by Paul Weiner
Paul Weiner is an architect from DBC projects. He has had many projects which he uses rammed earth as a material.


Here are some images of a house in Tuscon Mountains: 

Rammed earth in the walls is very sensitive to its surroundings because the building blends in with the use of colour and texture.

Modern Napa Valley House

This rammed earth napa valley house is property of Tatwina and Richard Lee. It blends in with the natural surroundings.

Westlake Hills, Texas House

This home is in Texas was designed by the architect Lou Kimball. The rammed walls are 2ft thick which make the house energy efficient. This building is an example of how versatile rammed earth really is.

Rammed Earth

Rammed earth is an ancient building method which has seen a recent revival as people are more encouraged to use natural building methods in a search for the perfect eco friendly ome. Rammed earth buildings are found on every continent except Antarctica due to the soil being common across the world. Methods of creating a rammed earth wall are simple and there are many benefits of them, for example:

• simple to construct
• incombustible
• thermal
• sustainable
• strong
• durable

Although there are some disadvantages to rammed earth because it is so labour-intensive to construct without machinery. If a part of a wall isn't constructed properly or maintained, water damage is common. In recent years machinery is used called power rammers.

Rammed earth gives a gorgeous smooth finish which is usually a mixture of different earthy tones. This mixture of colours usually come in horizontal stripes due to the different types of soil being rammed.

Modern Cob Houses

This is the Lyon house on a riverside which has replaced a seventies concrete bungalow. It has won the 'best vernacular building' in the LABC 2008 awards in the south west region.

The walls have a newel lime finish and the doors are bespoke oak.

Caday Cob House

This is a newly built cob house in Devon. The house has been designed to provide an excellent use of space and has considered environmental considerations. This is just one of the newly built cob houses which are incoporating many different traditional crafts to ensure that they are environmentally friendly.

All rooms are finished to a high standard, including underfloor heating and porcelain and oak flooring. Oak doors, oak windows and hand made iron mongery finished with a thatched roof.

I especially like the staircase which has been shaped from the cob itself, which runs seamlessly from the wall. These stairs are covered in porcelain tiles to ensure that they stay flat and safe.

Farnham Castle Restoration

UCA has been commissioned to create an interactive artistic portrayal of the history of Farnham Castle as part of a major restoration project.

University staff and students will renovate a space and help to re-design the interior of an unused storage area in the castle grounds to create a "Heritage in Action" room complete with a public gallery space and animation walk-through to show the 900 year history of the castle. The room will also make use of paintings, hands-on exhibits, interactive displays, models and photographs.

I was lucky enough to get up close and personal with some of the locally made elements going into Farnham Castle. I went down to our university workshop where i saw the making of the handle for the very large doors. I was able to get an insight in to how he developed his designs and ideas to the final product being made at this time. 

 These prototypes were to test the twisting of the steel for the large door handles that would take the many people walking through the castle everyday. They Needed to be long lasting and robust. 

Tight twisted steel pieces using different sizes. Creating different eye catching and interesting effects.

 Different finishes were also played around with, including, buffing, painting and glossing the steel.

The door handle is to sit on a thin piece of steel with steel bolts welded on, heated and hammered flat. Giving it an interesting and textured finish.

The technique of the bolts being hammered flat was also used on the ends of the door handle, giving it extra detail.