Achieving carbon neutral structures through pure tension: using a fabric formwork to construct rammed earth columns and walls

The use of fabric to re-think conventional compressive containment for rammed
earth allows the making of compressive structures through tensile means, saving weight,
materials costs, and the importation of technology into ‘developing world’ situations. Fabric
formwork achieves a permanent architecture that is defined with the most portable of tools.
The need to develop a system that is tested and approved in the ‘developed West’ is
important as a way of challenging the current stranglehold that the use of cement has on
developing nations. To obtain mortgage loans in many situations cement use is a
prerequisite by local funders, from urban situations in Botswana to dam relocation
programmes in the Punjab, where for example displaced villages are required to build with
imported concrete where earthen structures could provide secure and simple architecture
that can be self built and affordable. If ‘Western’ methods are available for self-builders,
then the perception of earth as ‘poor’ material can be questioned, with a chance that the
cement dependent status quo can be challenged.
The research programme at the University of East London School of Architecture and
the Visual Arts led by Chandler and Keable has developed over 5 years a series of
refinements to lighter weight, robust systems for rammed earth construction. This work has
received a £10,000 grant to develop the research as a ‘Fabric earthform’ product, but also
as a non-profit programme for Southern African states to promote the development of local
variants of fabric formed rammed earth construction.

Citation:
Chandler, A and Keable, R. (2009) ‘Achieving carbon neutral structures through pure tension: using a fabric formwork to construct rammed earth columns and walls’ Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT2009) 6-9 September 2009, Bath, UK.