Rammed Earth Building Workshop
February 27, 2009

I recently had the pleasure of attending a 10 day mud workshop with my friend Anna Heringer and her mentor Martin Rauch sponsored by the BASE Habitat, the Institute of Architects in Bangladesh (IAB) and the Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI). They taught us how to construct a rammed earth building and we got to test our education by constructing a small structure at HBRI in Dhaka. I think that mud construction could be the future of architecture in Bangladesh. It really is the best construction medium for this climate because the thick walls keep the interior temperature and humidity fairly constant. Plus, it is a durable, renewable, and readily available building material here. I am happy to share all that I learned in the workshop here on my blog.

Because it is a lot of information, I will be breaking the information down into several different blog entries indexed here:

Rammed Earth Construction Part I - Creating the Foundation
Rammed Earth Construction Part II - Mixing the Mud
Rammed Earth Construction Part III - Preventing Erosion
Rammed Earth Construction Part IV - Ramming the Earth
Rammed Earth Construction Part V - Ring Beams, Lintels, and Windows
Rammed Earth Construction Part VI - Rammed Earth Floor