This page lists news items of interest to people who build with Earth
March 2012:
29th March. London. Evening Lecture, The work of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH). Presented by John Hurd. http://blog.icomos-uk.org/
ISCEAH has some 90 members representing about 50 countries from Europe, Asia, the Pacific region and the Americas. An ongoing central project for ISCEAH is the compilation and management of an online international Atlas of earth traditions around the world. Perhaps the most central function of ISCEAH is the organisation, together with other partners, of the triennial TERRA Conference. In 2012 the 11th conference will be held in Lima, Peru, with a particular focus on risk mitigation. This second talk will include illustrations of examples of the extraordinary types of earth construction around the world.
February 2012:
Interesting news from the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products unveiling a report on biomass in buildings … watch their space for more news!
http://www.asbp.org.uk/news/detail/?nId=11
And further afield news of a design build worshop looking at Earth in Colombia.
http://buildinglocal.wordpress.com/
January 2012:
Earth Building UK AGM
10.00 - 10.30 AM. 13th January 2012, The Ron Cooke Hub at the University of York, Heslington, York. YO10 5GE
Meeting Agenda
1. Welcome
2. Chair’s report 2010-11 (LC)
3. Financial report 2010-11 (ML)
4. EBUK 2012-2017 development plan (LC)
5. AOB
AGM documents:
This is a link to a PDF file of the AGM reports (chair’s and financial report):
Earth Building UK_AGM Agenda_Reports_2012
This is a link to a PDF file of the EBUK 2012-2017 development plan:
Earth Building UK_developmentplan_2012
December 2011:
New Books:
Paul Jaquin and Charles Augarde. Earth Building – History, Science and Conservation
This book covers various types of earth construction including adobe, cob and rammed earth. It presents a wide-ranging review of the history of earth building, tracing the development of earthen construction techniques from antiquity to the present day, and showing the development of the techniques with both time and geography. The behavior of earth building materials is explained using, for the first time, principles from soil mechanics. There is a detailed discussion of strategies for the analysis and conservation of earth buildings to enable engineers, conservation professionals and architects to understand and preserve earth buildings better in the future.
More information and to order online: http://www.brebookshop.com/
Terra Europae – Earthen Architecture in the European Union.
This book is the result of the Terra [In]cognita research project developed between 2009 and 2011 by Ecole d’Avignon (France), Escola Superior Gallaecia (Portugal), Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy) and CAUE-Conseil d’Architecture, d’Urbanisme et de l’Environnement of Vaucluse (France). European partners in the Culture 2007-2013 programme.
The volume is a celebration of earth building in Europe – looking at heritage buildings and contemporary earth buildings – it is inspirational and quite overwhelming to see a building material expressed throughout Europe and with some really interesting, new examples to look through.
Earth Building UK provided a very concise summary of earth building in the UK – such a short summary can hardly so justice for such a complex and varied building material – but we hope that it at least covers the basics.
Further information is on the publishers website:
http://www.edizioniets.com/Scheda.asp?N=9788846729576
Ulrich Röhlen and Christof Ziegert “Earth Building Practice“.
This book provides an overview of the current state of the art for the planning and building of earth constructions in Germany. It is a valuable reference work for architects, engineers, building contractors and tradesmen. “Earth Building Practice” is an English translation of the original German title which has already become a standard work in this area.
The book is the product of many years’ practical experience of earth building, where a traditionally hand-made material has had to prove itself in the context of a highly industrialized building sector. As a consequence, earth building applications and products in Germany are of a particularly high standard.
Material properties ▪ Earth plasters and renders ▪ Dry earth construction ▪ Internal insulation techniques ▪ Masonry construction ▪ Rammed earth construction ▪ Renovation of existing earth structures ▪ Building practice and legislation
To get more Information and to order the book:
www.beuth.de/sce/earth-building-practice
November 2011:
Launch of Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP):
The ASBP is a cross sector, not for profit organisation, comprising, building product manufacturers and distributors, specifiers, designers, contractors, public interest and sustainability organisations, academics and other building practitioners.
We are committed to accelerating the transition to a high performance, healthy and low carbon built environment by championing the increased understanding and use of building products that meet demonstrably high standards of sustainability.
More information here: http://www.asbp.org.uk/
European links: The European Leonardo de Vinci programme project – Learning to Build with Earth – is a European system to identify, evaluate and validate knowledge and competencies in Earth Building. More information here: http://www.earthbuilding.eu/
We will be learning more about the ABSP and the Leanardo project at the EBUK conference.
If you are coming up to the conference: you might be interested in staying in the UK’s first holiday home made from straw bales!
The buildings have superinsulated walls of locally grown wheat straw rendered externally with lime and internally with clay. They will keep the building warm in winter and cool in summer, reducing the amount of energy needed for heating. Both the Straw Bale Cabin and Cottage have their roofs insulated with sheep’s wool. They have wooden double glazed windows, wooden floors, natural paints and finishes and a variety of other environmentally friendly features
Howden is just 20 miles outside York – this is a great opportunity, to live, breath and sleep in earth for the conference.
For more information: http://www.strawcottage.co.uk/
October 2011:
ResTapia 2012
ResTapia 2012, the 1st International Congress on Rammed Earth Conservation that will take place at Valencia on June 21st, 22nd and 23th of 2012, that will gather all the international experts on earthen construction coming from several continents.
The official languages of the congress will be English and Spanish. We would like you to present a paper and participate in the congress. For more information, please, visit http://www.restapia2012.es/
Great news from the GCI -
Terra 2008. 10th International Conference on the Study and Conservation of Earthen Architecture February 1st-5th 2008.Bamako,Mali. (eds) Ranier, L, Bass Rivera, A and Gandreau, D. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute.
- is now available as a free downloadable PDF.
This is a brilliant collection of conference papers from the last Terra conference in Mali and includes loads of interesting papers – a number have an UK angle, and include papers from EBUK directors and many others.
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/terra_2008.pdf
Earth heritage reflected in the World Monument Watch 2012 List.
Bronze Age sites in Central Asia, such as Ulug Depe (Turkmenistan) reflect the rich and diverse heritage of building with earth. In the UK listing Brutalist Architecture (including Preston bus station and Birmingham’s Central Library) has already raised some eyebrows.
You can view the watch list for yourselves here: http://www.wmf.org/watch
Older News:
This is the link to the 2010 ASTM E2392 / E2392M – 10e1 Standard Guide for Design of Earthen Wall Building Systems
http://www.astm.org/Standards/E2392.htm
The Standards Association of Zimbabwe now have a watermarked PDF version of SAZ 724:Code of practice for rammed earth structures and can supply copies of this when required. The electronic version price is US$ 42.00. Enquiries for this should go to info@saz.org.zw
Rammed earth is now a BREEAM A+ rated material. The link is HERE
LEHM 2012
The Dachverband Lehm e.V., the German association for building with earth, is pleased to announce that LEHM 2012, the 6th International Conference on Building with Earth will take place from 5 – 7 October 2012 in Weimar, the birthplace of the Bauhaus and an UNESCO World Heritage site (www.dachverband-lehm.de).
The LEHM 2012 will encompass the conference with presentations and poster session on 5 – 6 October 2012 and an excursion on 7 October 2012. The conference programme will cover the following topics:
- Earth building norms and regulations
- Current research in earth building
- Training and education in earth building
- Sustainability in earth building
- Contemporary earth building
- Earth building in renovation.
The presentations, paper and poster session will be held bilingual (German/English) and published also bilingual in conference proceedings to accompany the conference. The “Call for Papers” begins in April 2011. Some volumes of the LEHM 2004 and 2008 bilingual conference proceedings are still available at the Dachverband Lehm e.V. www.dachverband-lehm.de/shop.
EBUK 2011 Annual Conference
EBUK’s annual conference held on 18th January 2011 at the offices of Arup, 8 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BQ was a great success. A report on the event can be downloaded HERE
A summary of Paul Mallion’s presentation on Barriers to the Specification and Adoption of Earth Building in the UK can be downloaded HERE
Daniel Doran’s presentation on the Green Guide ratings for Rammed Earth Walls can be downloaded HERE
“Building with Earth” book
Horst Schroeder’s new book “Building with Earth” is published by Vieweg+Teubner Publ. (www.viewegteubner.de/lehmbau) in 2010. The book is only availabe in German language at the moment. He is looking to publish it in English language by an English / US publisher
Older items
Minutes of the 2007 Inaugural meeting 24/10/2007. Building Centre, London. (PDF) InaugralMeetingMinutes
