ABSTRACT
The benefits of building with earth are many, and more pronounced as our awareness of the effect of construction on the environment increases. Globally, the built fabric accounts for as much as forty percent of all energy use (Perez-Lombard et al. 2008) of which perhaps 15-20% is due to the energy embodied in materials (Dixit et al. 2010). Earthen construction methods, which use natural mineral subsoils with or without additional binders
1 RAMMED EARTH ENTERS THE MAINSTREAM
During the summer of 2014, the cough drop giant Ricola quietly opened the Kräuterzentrum, a €16M herb processing facility sited in a picturesque meadow outside of Basel, Switzerland (Neue Zurcher Zeitung, 2014). The 3,330 m2 building is a simple monolithic mass whose powerful expression comes primarily from the walls of the building, which are constructed of prefabricated sections of rammed earth.
