Made in Earth Blog

Clay Clan and Cuckoo

Together with Cuckoo Movement for children and Varun Thautam

“The Cuckoo Movement for Children” is an informal group of friends and volunteers who has been working with rural children of Tamil Nadu since 2004. They have established libraries and nurseries in villages across the state, organizing plenty of creative activities. They also partner with local schools to introduce the kids to traditional folk arts, […]

Tadelakt and more, a natural plasters workshop, July 2015

A plaster that breathes, regulates temperature and humidity inside the building, absorbs both noise and odors and that ages beautifully with time. Add to that the infinite possibilities in aesthetics; Coloured or Natural, smooth or grainy, regular or patterned, contemporary or rustic; earth plaster is irresistible! Additionally, unlike paints and other chemical coatings they do […]

Castle Kiosk, Portugal

9 weeks 15 people 3000 Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks 1 goal: Building the 11th century Castle Kiosk in Earth! The Journey In the summer months of 2014, the team at Made In Earth had an incredible opportunity to explore earth architecture in the wonderful context of Montemoro in Portugal. One and a half hours East […]

2014 Ecological Bus-stop

We developed a prototype of a bus-stop for the village of Leubringhen, to be used by students and travelers in the region. “An opportunity to demonstrate ecological materials in a public space” was the brief given to us. We built it with poplar wood and Compressed stabilized earth blocks (CSEB) with a green roof. The […]

Baraka – The common goods factory

Photos : Shruthi Ramakrishna and Pierre Wolf The Baraka Co-operative could be considered as the ideal recipe for sustainable architecture and development : Take a big dose of social entrepreneurship Gather a handful of people willing to put their money together in a meaningful project Add a jar of social involvement with unemployed people of […]

Making an earthen floor

Most people often remember earth as a crude material; it’s plain looks that are so contrasting from the aesthetics of finished industrial products. But the irony is that the principle virtue of this material lies in its aesthetics, one that is natural, subtle and simple, adapting itself to the diversity of techniques, cultural aspirations and […]

First step First press

Here is the old grandma we received last week. No disrespect in calling her that… she has already a few years of hard-work behind her and after pressing Earth blocks for a few houses she really required a makeover! This Mardini Press might not be the next candidate for some high-tech award but it is […]

Raw Earth Building Workshop in France – III The Rise of the Rabbit

After this first week of design and selection of a project, the entire team started working together. 3 weeks is a really short period of time to build and do the finishing of a 20square mt building! Things had to go fast and steady. The entire structure of the building was in wood, most of […]

Raw Earth Building Workshop in France – II Design Process and Jury

“There was an incredible will from the group of architects, and the entire process was very democratic.” Late nights of design and discussion, lots of cutting, sticking, crunching, debating and starting over again. The entire design process lasted a week begining with a competition between the architects to present a proposal for the cabin. The […]

Category: Blog