University of Bath

I’m currently on a Sabattical at the Univeristy of Bath, as the Sir Edmund Happold Senior Visting Research Fellow.
I am looking at a number of aspects of earth building, mainly related to how the material can be used by the mainstream construction industry.

Hill Holt Wood

Hill Holt Wood.
Karen and Nigel Lowthrop bought the Hill Holt Wood in 1995 and over the next 10 years they managed the wood turning it from a woodland in decline to one in recovery and set up an award winning social enterprise to provide education and training to disadvantage young people. In 2002 they secured [...]

Earth Dwell Ltd.

Earth Dwell Ltd..
Earth Dwell Ltd. specializes in the design and construction of stabilized-insulated rammed earth.
Run by Bly Windstorm from Washington State, who has 15 years’ building experience and is a founder member of NAREBA.

NAREBA : North American Rammed Earth Builders Association

NAREBA’s mission is to promote the use of Rammed Earth as a building material and method. We strive for the free flow of information among members, to be a center for reliable information for interested professionals and the general public, establish a comprehensive research and development program, define and enforce high building standards, and teach [...]

Forum on Hakka Tulous

Forum on Hakka Tulous: Lessons to Be Learned, Past, Present and Future
+Launch of the International Hakka Tulou Alliance (IHTA)
Time: June 24, 2009, 2:30 -6:00 PM Place: Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Organized by
Constructed Facilities Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
ASH-Autonomous & Sustainable Housing Inc, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
This forum will serve to demonstrate how the sustainability [...]

Rammed earth and Sandcastles

There has been lots of press coverage about a paper we’ve just released.
We showed that there is the same science can be used to explain sandcastles as rammed earth, and indeed all the mud bricks in the world.
Just a few of the sites which picked up the story
BBC news website
New Civil Engineer
Daily Telegraph
Building
Green Building

Earth Building Conference Portugal

http://www.esg.pt/6atp/
http://www.uc.pt/uid/cea/6atp

Historic city of Kasgar to be destroyed

The historic city of Kashgar is going to be pulled down and replaced by concrete.
The Chinese government is to demolish 85% of the historic Old city, with the remaining 15% left as a cultural musuem.  Kashgar is the best preserved Islamic city to be found anywhere in central Asia  (George Michell – Kashgar: Oasis City [...]

Repair work at Holy Cross, South Carolina

The Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg,  South Carolina is an important landmark in US rammed earth history.
Dr William Anderson built a small rammed earth dairy in 1821, and quarters for his servants in 1823. Pleased with the results, Anderson built the Chuch in 1850.
The Church was investigated by Thomas Miller in 1926 because [...]

Rebuilding with Mud in Gaza

Jihad el-Shaar has decided to rebuild his home in adobe, rather than cement, because of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Since January, only two trucks carrying construction material have been allowed into the Gaza Strip.
I think this is a fine way to build a house, and there are many advantages of earth houses over cement. [...]