First earth building workshop in the Green Building Lab

First earth building workshop in the Green Building Lab

29.10.24

In October 2024, two earth building workshops took place for the first time in the Green Building Lab as part of the new lecture “Earth Building”. Students in the first semester of the Master’s degree in Architecture – Green Building had the opportunity to experiment with this fully recyclable material and try out various earth building techniques: Cob, rammed earth, earth bricks, wuzel masonry, earth wraps and earthen plasters. First, the students collected earth samples from almost every province in Austria. These were then tested comparatively with simple hand samples for their clay content and binding strength. The earth used for the sample components came directly from the site, namely from the excavation of the new HOHS building. The excavated earthen material was mixed with various aggregates (straw, sand, gravel, fibers, etc.) and various processing techniques were tried out. In a second workshop, the students developed various sample work pieces. To do this, they made frames from recycled wood (dismantling mock-up wet room) and filled them with various earth construction techniques. In addition to the beautiful result, which will be on display in a small exhibition in the Green Building Lab, working with earth is above all fun and demonstrates what is possible with a fully recyclable material.

Images: Andrea Rieger-Jandl