This document discusses earth as a building material and techniques used at Auroville, India. It describes how Auroville has experimented with various earth building methods over the past few decades, including compressed earth blocks, rammed earth, and stabilizing soils. Earth buildings now make up 20-40% of Auroville's structures. Compressed earth blocks are the most widely used technique because they combine traditional methods with modern technology. Buildings at Auroville have been constructed entirely from earth, including foundations, walls, floors, and roofs. Research continues on improving strength and waterproofing of earth materials. Earth buildings have been shown to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than conventional materials like fired bricks.
This document discusses earth as a building material and techniques used at Auroville, India. It describes how Auroville has experimented with various earth building methods over the past few decades, including compressed earth blocks, rammed earth, and stabilizing soils. Earth buildings now make up 20-40% of Auroville's structures. Compressed earth blocks are the most widely used technique because they combine traditional methods with modern technology. Buildings at Auroville have been constructed entirely from earth, including foundations, walls, floors, and roofs. Research continues on improving strength and waterproofing of earth materials. Earth buildings have been shown to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than conventional materials like fired bricks.
This document discusses earth as a building material and techniques used at Auroville, India. It describes how Auroville has experimented with various earth building methods over the past few decades, including compressed earth blocks, rammed earth, and stabilizing soils. Earth buildings now make up 20-40% of Auroville's structures. Compressed earth blocks are the most widely used technique because they combine traditional methods with modern technology. Buildings at Auroville have been constructed entirely from earth, including foundations, walls, floors, and roofs. Research continues on improving strength and waterproofing of earth materials. Earth buildings have been shown to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than conventional materials like fired bricks.
This document discusses earth as a building material and techniques used at Auroville, India. It describes how Auroville has experimented with various earth building methods over the past few decades, including compressed earth blocks, rammed earth, and stabilizing soils. Earth buildings now make up 20-40% of Auroville's structures. Compressed earth blocks are the most widely used technique because they combine traditional methods with modern technology. Buildings at Auroville have been constructed entirely from earth, including foundations, walls, floors, and roofs. Research continues on improving strength and waterproofing of earth materials. Earth buildings have been shown to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than conventional materials like fired bricks.
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Building with earth
1. The Auroville experience
Different trials in earth building have been attempted in Auroville with varying success. In 1989, with the crea the Auroville Earth Institute and the construction of the Visitors' Centre, a new era in earthen architecture s This Visitors' Centre, of 1200 m, used Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) and demonstrated the possibilities o as a quality building material.
After that, many more projects blossomed: individual houses, clusters of houses, apartments, schools, and the Community Kitchen designed for 1,000 people. The earthen buildings presently amount to 20 to 40% of th number of buildings constructed in Auroville.
The diversity and quality of techniques and know-how has increased; and thus the demand for and g recognition of the value of this natural building material has risen. Its economic advantage, comfort quali flexibility is now well established. The Auroville red soil makes for aesthetically pleasing buildings. It gets its from iron oxides, the properties of which enhance the already rich composition of this remarkable building mat
Some may say, "Using soils for building will lead to the destruction of nature..." True, if it is done unconsc without knowledge; but wrong if one is alert to proper management of resources and the natural balance there
The Auroville Building Centre / Earth Unit lays emphasis on the management of resources, where the qu planned first, so as to be integrated in the processing of every development. First of all, one should scrape and put aside the topsoil, which can be re-used later for agriculture or gardens. Two types of quarries m developed: deep ones which can be used later on for water harvesting, pools, percolation systems, or shallow which can be used for landscape design, work or play areas, gardens and also percolation features, etc. 2. Compressed Earth Block (CEB)
Today, Compressed Earth Block technology is the widest one used worldwide, as well as in Auroville, beca represents a synthesis of traditional practice and modern technology. It is also benefitting from scientific input.
In Auroville, the average results obtained with CEB at 5% cement are () 50 kg/cm2 (5 Mpa) for the dry compr strength, and () 9% for the water absorption. Local fired country bricks are at () 35kg/cm and () 12% Auroville Building Centre has designed a press for CEBs, which is manufactured by Aureka, and sold in India, and even Europe. 3. Rammed earth (PISE)
This technology was used traditionally in countries like France, Morocco, northern India and Tibet, and is toda with stabilisers in USA and Australia. Pis is rammed in forms either manually or pneumatically. Until 1995, Au had only one house in raw rammed earth. AV-BC / Earth Unit designed slipping forms adapted to Indian con for building the 600m of Mirramukhi School with stabilised rammed earth. Since then, the demand has ris houses, workshops and other developments using this technique. 4. Roads
AV-BC / Earth Unit is conducting research on soil stabilisation adapted to tropical climate. The aim is to imp roads, where the sub-grade courses and the wearing course are done in a single course, so as to redu construction process and cost. The challenge for Auroville is how to implement a quality road with little mean without the usual, incredibly heavy machinery. 5. Buildings, from foundation to roof Vikas community
From the very beginning of the Vikas settlement in Auroville's residential zone, earth was used in all parts buildings, from foundations to roof. The proper management of earth resources has always been the first p The quarries where the soil was taken from were planned first. This procedure allowed a perfect integration
excavations with the buildings and landscape.
Alongside the construction of Vikas, the Auroville Building Centre/Earth Unit researched and developed appropriate building technologies which used stabilised earth. The first and second developments of the col kitchen and the ten apartments on two floors could integrate the quarries as garden reservoir and waste treatment sites. The soil needed for these developments was already exceeding the volume of excavation some soil had to be supplied from elsewhere.
The soil requirement for the third building, which had four floors, was tremendous, and it was not poss integrate the earth excavation required for the project. This building was planned with a basement floor, whic half underground (1.20m below the original ground level). The volume of this basement floor was equivalent volume of soil which was needed to produce the blocks and all the various works of the third bu Thus, the amount of soil generated by the basement was enough to build 819 m2 (carpet area) on 4 floors.
To protect the basement from the overflow of rainwater, a particular landscape was designed: the imm surrounding was shaped like a shallow crater to drain rainwater into a percolation pit.
This landscape design generated even more soil than needed. This was used for other projects, which cou implement the concept of a basement floor.
The third building used stabilised earth on four floors, from foundations to roof, and implemented v appropriate building technologies with earth and ferrocement. Some of these technologies were a implemented, on R&D level, for the first two buildings. They were all based on stabilised earth, with 5% of cem weight. The structure is entirely load-bearing and the walls are 24cm thick from the plinth level to the parape which is 13.40m higher. Floors and roof used ferrocement channels for the service rooms (bathroom kitchenettes) and very flat vaults and domes for the living rooms. These vaults and domes were built with the spanning" technique (without formwork). They were levelled flat with stone slabs that provided a cavity whic used for ventilation. Training centre of Auroville Building Centre
Since its inception in 1989, the Auroville Building Centre / Earth Unit has been focusing its research & develo entirely on building with stabilised raw earth for complete structures. Over the years, various technique equipment have been researched, developed and implemented: presses for CEB with 15 different m stabilised rammed earth foundations, composite beams (RCC with U shape CEB), composite pillars (RC round hollow CEB), alternative soil stabilisation with homeopathic milk of lime & alum and cement, etc.
The research conducted over the past few years has given interesting results with this alternative stabil (combination of lime, alum and cement). The last experiment in this field dealt with waterproofing roofs, an implemented for the new premises of the training centre.
This Training Centre has been built entirely with stabilised raw earth, from foundation to roof, and even waterproofing. It has stabilised rammed earth foundations and walls, plinths with CEB, flooring with CEB composite beams and pillars, paints and plasters with stabilised earth, vaults with CEB and waterproofin alternative stabilised earth. A recent and exceptional rainfall, in February 2000, showed the effectiveness stabilised earth waterproofing: 402mm rainfall in five days, and no leakage and no dampness inside the vaults
The moisture measured with an electronic hygrometer gave these results.
MOISTURE
After 402mm rainfall in 5 days
Outside
Vault
Window sill
Inside
2 weeks after rainfall, under sun
Outside
Inside
100 %
31. 6 %
19. 4%
22 %
59. 8 %
27. 8 %
20 %
21. 8%
6. Comparison of building materials in Auroville
It's sometimes said that building with earth is more expensive than building with conventional fired bricks. Pr people are confusing the cost of masonry with the final cost of building, which implies so many variations in d and finish, and which includes the quality of the site management as well as the skill of the builders. The following tables give interesting information on this issue.
Size of brick (cm) + Volume
Weight of brick
Stabilisation
Cost per unit on site
Wastage
Units per m (raw material)
Mortar used
Qty. of Mortar / m of Wall
Units per m of wall
Daily output per team
Pointing output (m / day)
Cost of 1 m of raw material
(Including the waste )
Cost of mortar per m
Cost of wall per m
Cost of wall per m
Pollution emission (CO)*
Energy consumption (wall)*
Dry Crushing Strength
Water absorption
Notes * Source: Development alternatives, New Delhi 1998
Country fired brick is also called village brick
The material cost includes the delivery on site.
Value October 2000: 1
Wire cut brick is also cal
The CEB price is the production cost on site. All costs ar
DATA
Sand lorry
= 700 Rs./ 4.5m3
Mason
= 120 Rs./ day
Team for bricklaying
= 1 mason
200 Rs./ m sieved
Male helper
65 Rs./ day
Team earth
for
rammed
= 5 labour
Soil = 50 m dug & sieved
Female helper
40 Rs./ day
Team for CEB making
= 9 block
Cement = 155 Rs./ bag
Labourer
67 Rs./ day
Team for pointing
= 1 male h
RE labourer
75 Rs./ day
Block maker
75 Rs./ day
(L & T 53 grades)
SUMMARY
MONETARY COST
STRENGTH
Per m3, a finished CEB wall is
CEB and rammed earth are:
28.5 % cheaper than country fired
bricks.
42 % stronger than country bricks.
20 % cheaper than wire cut bricks.
52 % weaker than wire cut bricks.
Per m3, a rammed earth wall is
33.3 % cheaper than a CEB wall. 52.3 % cheaper than country fired bricks. 46.7 % cheaper than wire cut bricks.
ENVIRONME
CEB and ramme
Pollution
2.4 times less tha
7.8 times less th
bric
Energy con
5 times less than
15 times less th bric
7. A material for the future
Building with earth is definitely an appropriate and cost & energy efficient technology that has a great However, one has to master the disadvantages of the material. These are usually caused by variations in th quality, and hence the block quality may suffer. Bad quality soil can give relatively poor characteristics compared to concrete) and shrinkage cracks may occur. Among the advantages of earth as a building material, one observes: Earth is a local material, contributing to sustainable development.
Production of the building components utilises a lot of semi-skilled manpower.
The technology is easily adaptable and transferable. The energy & monetary costs are much lower than with most other materials. The thermal comfort and 'vibratory' atmosphere are very positive. Obviously, one has to master the materials and techniques so as to obtain the optimum possibilities harmonious, durable, agreeable and efficient architecture! Nevertheless, the following drawbacks have to be considered: Mechanical qualities less regular. Sensible building details. Constraint to organise and manage the production of one's own building material on the site. Challenge
Building with earth has a great past, but also a promising future, especially in Auroville. It is a true challe realise an architecture full of light, suppleness, simplicity, imagination and beauty with a dark, heavy and fo mud. In Auroville we're working on it. For further details, please contact: the Auroville Earth Institute, eamil: mailto:earthinstitute@auroville.org.in Website: http://earth-auroville.com/
