Gravitas Blog

Five or six years ago we had the chance to design a beautiful rammed earth home for the foothills of Boise north of 24^th Street. We went through an extensive design process with the client and developed a final design that you can see here (Rammed Earth Example). Early in the design development phase we had a weekend design charette with Todd Jersey. Todd came to Boise and presented the client and our design team some examples of his work and passed on some of his experience with rammed earth.

Gravitas Rammed Earth Designs

If you are unfamiliar with rammed earth, it is one of the world’s most common building materials.  Calling rammed earth alternative is somewhat relative then, it is alternative to the norm in our area, lets say that. The method of construction works by compacting earth within a temporary form to create a solid earth wall. Sands and soils from the site and surrounding areas are laid in a form work similar to concrete forms and mixed with a small amount of Portland cement and compacted. Each layer is applied 4”-6” at a time so you end up with beautiful striations as you work your way up to a full height wall. The embodied energy of rammed earth is quite minimal compared to many types of construction in that the majority of the materials for the home are from the site, or from very close by the site. For this foothills home we explored other sources in the valley for soils with unique colors to add to the striated effect of the finished wall.

Example from Ace Waterproofing

Example from Tangle Foot Master Builders

Unfortunately the project is on hold for the time being but in the mean time the owner, Paul Lamon has been educating himself and working on some rammed earth projects in Arizona. Paul is now the local expert on rammed earth and you can learn more about what he is doing and more about rammed earth on his site. http://www.idahoearthbuilders.com

We are still hopeful that this or a similar rammed earth project with Paul will continue someday and we can work together on one of Boise’s first rammed earth homes. We know of a rammed earth garden wall that was built in another part of the foothills that might be featured in a later edition of the Contemporary Homes blog, but If you know of any other rammed earth homes in Idaho or the Treasure Valley area let us know and we can add some images.