A geotechnical perspective of raw earth building

Much research has been devoted over the past 30 years to the development of construction materials that can lower the environmental and economic costs of buildings over their entire life by reducing embodied energy, minimizing air conditioning needs and cutting down demolition waste. In this respect, raw earth is an attractive material because it is natural and largely available. In its simplest form, this material consists of a compacted mixture of soil and water which is put in place with the least possible transformation. Raw earth construction has been practised in ancient times but has only recently been rediscovered thanks to modern technology, which has improved fabrication efficiency. If properly manufactured, raw earth exhibits comparable mechanical characteristics and better hygro-thermal properties than concrete or fired bricks. After a brief historical overview, we discuss the advantages of raw earth construction in terms of environmental impact, energy consumption and indoor air quality together with the main obstacles to its wider dissemination. We also review the hydro-thermo-mechanical behaviour of raw earth in the context of the recent geotechnical literature, by examining the dependency of key parameters such as strength, stiffness and moisture retention on: (a) material variables (e.g. particle size and mineralogy), (b) manufacturing variables (e.g. density and stabilization) and (c) environmental variables (e.g. pore suction, ambient humidity and temperature).