Building with earth - Gernot MINKE (1)

15.42 Manufacturing
custom-tailored adobes
15.43 Preparing bamboo
arches
15.44 Test vault
15.45 Vault with posttensioned
membrane
cover
15.46 Design for an
orphanage in Bam, Iran
15.47 Dome, Kassel,
Germany, 1997
15.48 to 15.49 Prefabricated
wall elements
15.50 Prototype building,
Kassel, Germany, 1978
15.47
Textile walls with loam infill
15.48
15.49
15.50
A BRL research project begun in 1977
examined various approaches to forming
walls using textile components filled with
clayey soil, pumice or sand.
Illustration 15.47 shows the dome structure
built in 1977, from earth-filled polyester
hoses.
Two newly developed systems were tested
in a prototypical low-cost house intended
for earthquake-prone areas in developing
countries. The first, illustrated in 15.50, consisted
of walls formed by two layers of jute
fabric. Thin wooden posts are hammered
into the ground, and the fabric fixed to
these from the inside. The space between
is filled with soil.
The research also showed that wall elements
of this type without infill can be prefabricated
to lengths of up to 10 m and
then folded and rolled up into small bundles
(see 15.48 and 15.49).
The second system consists of hoses of
jute fabric filled with pumice or sandy soil
(15.51). The fabric is covered with several
147
Earthquake-resistant building