15 Facts About Rammed earth

Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel.

Edifices formed of rammed earth are on every continent except Antarctica, in a range of environments including temperate, wet, semiarid desert, montane, and tropical regions.

Rammed earth walls are reinforced with rebars in areas of high seismic activity.

Rammed earth works require at least one skilled person for quality control.

One significant benefit of rammed earth is its high thermal mass: like brick or concrete, it absorbs heat during the day and releases heat at night.

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The material mass and clay content of rammed earth allows an edifice to breathe more than concrete edifices, which avoids problems of condensation but prevents significant loss of heat.

Edifices of rammed earth are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than other building techniques that use more cement and other chemicals.

Rammed earth is probably the least environmentally detrimental construction material and technique that is readily and commercially available today to construct solid edifices.

Rammed earth has potentially low manufacturing impact, contingent on the amount of cement and the amount that is locally sourced; it is often quarried aggregates rather than "earth".

Rammed earth can contribute to the overall energy efficiency of edifices: the density, thickness, and thermal conductivity of rammed earth render it an especially suitable material for passive solar heating.

The most basic kind of traditional rammed earth has very low greenhouse gas emissions but the more engineered and processed variant of rammed earth has the potential for significant emissions.

Evidence of ancient use of rammed earth has been found in Neolithic archaeological sites such as those of the Fertile Crescent, dating to the 9th–7th millennium BC, and of the Yangshao and Longshan cultures in China, dating to 5000 BCE.

Interest in rammed earth declined after World War II when the cost of modern construction materials decreased.

Rammed earth is considered substandard, and is opposed by many contractors, engineers, and tradesmen.

Notable example of 21st-century use of rammed earth is the facade of the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre in southern British Columbia, Canada.