Rammed Earth House
"Unconventional" project showcases traditional building method as a step forward in sustainable architecture.
On the site of a former brickworks in rural Wiltshire, architects Tuckey Design Studio have completed the construction of a bold and boundary-pushing new residential project, crafted from one of the oldest and most sustainable building materials: rammed earth.
Since as far back as the Neolithic era, rammed earth has been used as a building technique, and rammed earth buildings are found all over the world. At its simplest, a compacted mixture of materials such as clay, sand and gravel is used to form solid walls, resulting in highly durable, energy-efficient structures. Despite its obvious benefits, however, rammed earth, along with other labour-intensive traditional construction methods, fell out of favour in the 20th century with the rise of rapid, large-scale, aesthetically homogenous housing developments.
Today, as the call for a more sustainable, less extractive approach to architecture intensifies, Tuckey Design Studio is championing the reassessment of rammed earth as a commercially viable, high-performance, visually and texturally beautiful eco building material, and the studio’s recently completed Rammed Earth House makes a compelling case for its revival.
Breaking and moulding
The concept for Rammed Earth House emerged from the confluence of the clients’ aspirations, the context of the setting, the geology of the site, and the expertise and ambition of a multidisciplinary design team, appointed at the outset, beginning with Todhunter Earle Interiors. Having acquired a 63-acre property in rural Wiltshire, the owners set out to transform the scattering of unremarkable Victorian buildings and unwelcome 1990s additions into an unconventional, daring, and contextually rooted country homestead grounded in an environmental sensibility.
The site is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, now termed National Landscape, so there was an obligation to impact the setting as little as possible, while also protecting local biodiversity.
As a former brickworks, the site had a documented history of material being drawn from the ground, and further research into the site, notably with reference to William Smith’s 1815 geological map of England, revealed that the grounds were set within an area of clay-rich soil. Tuckey Design Studio realised that the site therefore presented an exciting opportunity to depart from its typical work in renovation and retrofit, and instead explore the possibilities of rammed earth in new-build architecture, making use of on-site resources to realise the owners’ unique vision for their home.
Apart from a few subsidiary Victorian brick cottages, which were retained and retrofitted, the existing buildings were demolished, and the resulting demolition aggregate was combined with clay excavated from the site to create the raw material for the home’s monolithic walls, significantly reducing the need for material deliveries by truck. Rammed Earth House emerged, quite literally, from the rubble.
Learning on the job
With rammed earth being an uncommon technique, and largely uncharted territory at this scale in the United Kingdom, the project drew on the expertise of a varied team of experts and consultants, including the renowned Austrian specialist Martin Rauch of Lehm Ton Erde, who had previously worked on the Ricola Herb Centre industrial facility in Switzerland, a case study in rammed earth construction at scale.
For the first six months, the site became a laboratory, allowing the team to explore and test material blends and trial different approaches and applications. The team was determined to avoid the cement and lime stabilisers that are often added to rammed earth materials to improve strength and durability, ensuring the project is a rare and notable example of more circular, unstabilised rammed-earth construction, relying only on soil and aggregates so the house would, both visually and materially, belong to the setting.
Once the optimal composition had been determined, a 25/25/25/25 ratio of clay, demolition aggregate formed of crushed brick and concrete, locally sourced limestone gravel, all mixed with water, construction began on the house’s walls, which were built up in layers within formwork and compressed manually by builders walking up and down on top using a rammer.
The castle on the hill
Designed well, unstabilised rammed earth can extend for over a hundred metres without any joints for movement, and can create dramatically sweeping, multi-storey façades. Up to one metre thick, the rammed-earth walls cradle bedrooms, snugs, and nooks throughout the house, but also give way to carved forms such as benches and niches for objects, like the poches of a medieval castle. Inside, the walls are finished with a casein coating, which minimises dust and protects the aggregate, and creates beautifully reflective flooring and benches, with a surface texture akin to terrazzo. The interior design sensibility is informed by the client and architect’s shared appreciation of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s seminal essay on aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows. There is a purity to the assembly of materials, complemented by natural accents including limestone, oak, clay plaster, and copper.
This backdrop creates a monastic, meditative atmosphere, enhanced by features such as vaulted bathroom ceilings, built-in window seats, and a turret spiral staircase. Interior details are consistent with the reflective mood and rustic design language created by the apparently rudimentary building process, emphasizing the beauty of simple functionality through tactile, crafted touchpoints including door locks, handles, hinges, and a bespoke bell pull.
At one with the land
The sweeping Wiltshire pasture outside has been sensitively framed through thoughtfully positioned windows that punch through the thick walls, cultivating an evolving sense of discovery as one moves through the house and preventing a singular view from giving away the full beauty and intrigue of the place too quickly.
The two main rammed-earth volumes are linked by a kitchen/dining pavilion, offering sight lines to the walled gardens on both sides and the sweeping south-facing vista. The monumental walls contrast with the delicate timber-and-glass link behind, which allows the residents to appreciate the serene courtyards and gardens woven around and through the building’s layout by garden designer Pip Morrison.
Like its constituent materials, the orientation of the house and grounds is led by the landscape, with the main wall following the axis of the adjacent treeline and wildflowers, fields, and garden hugging the building’s perimeter. Tuckey Design Studio’s fragmented plan orientates each room to optimize solar gain and create extensive framed vistas overlooking the countryside.
Other notable features of the surroundings, including the dense woodland around the house and the Iron Age fort on the other side of the vale that serves as the only other sign of human settlement, are reflected in the “camp-like” atmosphere established on the site, as though a civilization-in-miniature has sprung up among the trees.
Inherently in tune with its setting
Now complete, Rammed Earth House sits quietly but majestically in the landscape from which it has grown. Simple and sedate, formed by function, it is a fresh and modern take on the English country house, shaped by natural building techniques that date back thousands of years and could well define thousands more.
CREDITS
Project leader: Emaad Damda, James Moore
Design team: Emma Carroll, Emaad Damda, Ross Langtree, James Moore, Karolina Szlauer, Jonathan Tuckey, Molly Wheeler
Architectural design: Tuckey Design Studio
Interior design: Todhunter Earle Interiors
Structural engineer: Webb Yates Engineers
Quantity surveyor: Dadson & Butler
Contractor. Stonewood Builders
Services engineer: SGA Consulting
Landscape architect: Pip Morrison
Lighting consultant: John Cullen Lighting
Sustainability consultant: The Healthy Home
Rammed Earth consultant: Lehm Ton Erde
