Product Description: Now in a second edition: This handbook offers a practical systematic overview of the many uses of rammed earth and techniques for processing it. Its properties and physical characteristics are described in informed and knowledgeable detail.

Dirt—as in clay gravel sand silt soil loam mud—is everywhere and it's free. The ground we walk on and grow crops in also just happens to be the most widely used building material on the planet. Civilizations throughout time have used it to create stable warm low-impact structures. The world's first skyscrapers were built of mud brick. Paul Revere Chairman Mao and Ronald Reagan all lived in earth houses at various points in their lives and several of the buildings housing Donald Judd's priceless collection at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa Texas are made of mud brick.Currently it is estimated that one half of the world's population—approximately three billion people on six continents—lives or works in buildings constructed of earth. And while the vast legacy of traditional and vernacular earthen construction has been widely discussed little attention has been paid to the contemporary tradition of earth architecture. Author Ronald Rael founder of Eartharchitecture.org provides a history of building with earth in the modern era focusing particularly on projects constructed in the last few decades that use rammed earth mud brick compressed earth cob and several other interesting techniques. Earth Architecture presents a selection of more than 40 projects that exemplify new creative uses of the oldest building material on the planet.Rael's engaging narrative addresses the misconceptions associated with earth architecture. Many assume that it's only used for housing in poor rural areas—but there are examples of airports embassies hospitals museums and factories that are made of earth. It's also assumed that earth is a fragile ephemeral material while in reality some of the oldest extant buildings on the planet are made of earth. Rael also touches on many topics that pervade both architecture and popular media today such as the ecological benefits and the politics of building with earth particularly in developing nations where earth buildings are often thought of as pre-modern or backward. With engaging discussion and more than 300 images Earth Architecture showcases the beauty and simplicity of one of humankind's most evolved and sophisticated building technologies.

Product Description: Invented about 13,000 years ago, mud architecture has since been one of the most common, economical, useful, and widespread forms of building. It has been--and is still being--used for grand palaces and temples as well as simple shops and homes...read more

Product Description: Turn the earth under your feet into natural, cheap, beautiful art: African-inspired murals, fanciful playground sculptures, labyrinths, sundials, sculpted benches, bird houses, & more Complete illustrated how-to guide to mud, art, & community Inspiring stories & color photos from earth-artists here & abroad For teachers, parents, activists, builders, artists, & other kids...read more

Offers an approach to construction techniques for building with bags filled with earth, and discusses the many merits of earthbag construction.

Product Description: A guide to the re-emergence of earthen architecture in North America, where adventurous builders are creating timeless forms such as arches, vaults and domes using inexpensive, easily available materials. Even inexperienced builders can construct a tree-free building from foundation to curved roof...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This companion volume to 'Conservation of Brick' provides a fundamental understanding of the processes of repair and reconstruction of earth structures. The technical aspects of the study are treated from the non-scientist point of view to develop a working understanding of this relatively new field...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Moving across space and time, from prehistory to the present and around the world, this fascinating volume explores the many ways in which the earth has been transformed by human effort. In discerning text, more than 150 fabulous photographs - many of them taken by some of the world's premier aerial photographers - and 21 arresting drawings, paintings, and other artworks, Designing the Earth examines such diverse works as clay dwellings in Chad and Mali, adobe pueblos in the American Southwest, mud-brick ziggurats in Babylon, ancient Egyptian funerary monuments, subterranean aqueducts in Iran, Native American effigy mounds, the Nazca lines of Peru, artificial islands in Japan, the Great Wall of China, Mount Rushmore, and earth-sheltered housing by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as earthworks by contemporary artists such as Michael Heizer and Andy Goldsworthy...read more