Summer School Building with Earth

To this day, raw earth appears in only a fraction of the projects built in Europe. As such, it is rarely included in the education of students in architecture. Yet, this material is integral to our vernacular architecture – even if this has been forgotten in (too) many regions. And more importantly, it presents a deeply ecological character: locally available, unfired, recyclable and reusable – not to mention its applicability in structures and its contribution to good physical properties for the building. As such, earth represents a crucial asset in construction and architecture, as we are looking to make them sustainable.

Hence this summer school’s objective: to give the opportunity to learn to build with earth the only way it works – with your own hands. More precisely, this 1-week program offers a good opportunity to dive deeper into the world of earth construction, and experience for yourself various earth techniques that are commonplace in the present-day practice.

What is earth, as a material? What are its properties? How is it rooted into our vernacular architecture? What does contemporary architecture in raw earth look like? How do you assess the potential of a local earth? How do you use earth to build in rammed earth, blocks, and to make plasters?

We answered these questions through a combination of lectures, visits and hands-on workshops, led by experienced tutors and practitioners.

In the 2024 edition, we managed to gather 35 participants, representing 22 different nationalities. They had different backgrounds and experiences, but with a common interest in earth building. This allowed for a setting of high quality interaction, exchanges and new connections.
 

PROGRAM

Introduction - General introduction to earth as a building material, through lectures, workshops (extended Carazas test) and a presentation of BC Materials’ premises. Field tests of a natural earth mix to recognize its type and assess its possible uses in construction, through lecture and hands-on exercises.

Parallel training workshops - In addition to the technical training itself, each workshop day starts with a 1-hour lecture, including a Q&A session, covering the use of raw earth construction and architecture.

The rest of the day is dedicated to learning one specific earth technique:

• rammed earth
• blocks: adobes + compressed earth blocks + vibro-compacted earth blocks + masonry
• earth plasters
   

Project visits - Visits of relevant recent projects in Brussels that include geo-based (earthen) and bio-based materials. 
 
 

This Summer School was organised by
-BC studies & BC materials 
-ULB, Faculty of architecture La Cambre Horta ULB
-Living lab Earth blocks
 

In collaboration with 
- ACRUMA (Arianna Fabrizi de’Biani)
-Atelier Kara (Timur Ersen)
-Hasselt University (Nijs de Vries)
 
 

With the support of 
Brussels City
Ambassade de France en Belgique
Bruxelles Environnement