Rammed Earth house restoration
Alentejo, Portugal, 2022
Organizer: Miguel Ferreira, architect
Team: Sérgio Bentes, Angèle Keserwany, Vincente Blanco, Jessica Teixeira Vieira and
Miguel Castilho.
Objectives: To restore a rammed earth house using traditional ramming techniques and utilizing existing earth from collapsed walls.
Rammed earth is one of the vernacular construction techniques used in Portugal, mostly in the southern region with an arid climate. These remnants of earthen walls belong to a century-old building in Alentejo. The roof is completely destroyed, and the structure has remained untouched for many generations. The new owner intends to rehabilitate the building for residency. The concept revolves around organizing a participatory workshop, inviting individuals to join and assist in this challenging endeavor.
In this collaborative work, we embraced traditional methods alongside simple machinery. Mixing water with earth remnants gathered from the base of the walls using basic agricultural tools, we then rammed the mixture into wooden formwork using traditional wooden rammers.
