006 — 17.0732° N, 96.7266° W
Residential · Under construction
Earth / Form
A rammed-earth house whose layered walls record the soil of its own site.
01Concept
The walls are the site, stood on end. Each layer is a different excavation depth, so the house is a vertical map of the ground below it.
Brief
A low-carbon prototype for affordable housing using only local soil, lime and timber.
02Design challenges / Design solutions
Design challenges
Seismic zone requiring thick, ductile walls.
Design solutions
Bamboo-reinforced bond beams and a stabilised-soil mix tested to full scale.
Design challenges
Heavy seasonal rain that erodes unprotected earth.
Design solutions
Deep eaves and a raised stone plinth keep rain off the walls.
03Image sequence
04Conceptual plans
Interactive plan
Drag to pan. Use the buttons to zoom. Rooms can be selected with touch, mouse or keyboard.
Conceptual visualization — not an approved construction document.
Select a room to see its notes.
Legend
- Living
- Private
- Service
- Outdoor
Rooms
05Material palette
Recycled stone
Ground, honed
Smoked oak
Oiled, matt
Limestone
Honed
06Project in numbers
- 390 m²
- Area
- 18 months
- Duration
- 74 % ↓
- Embodied carbon vs concrete
- 28
- Earth layers
- 96 %
- Materials sourced within 30 km
07Design team
Fictional studio. All content is illustrative demo material.
Mateo Ruiz
Head of Material Research
Noor Haddad
Design Director
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