Mudarchitecture,

Mud Construction…..
Submitted by
Radhika verma

Introduction
• Mud has been the most essential building materials since the dawn of the man.
• Approximately 58%of all buildings in India are of mud brick.
• Mud is a building material which has already being tested and tried for
thousands of years.
• It is used in modern day construction and the method of using it is very different.
• Mud has its own limitations which can be overcome by certain techniques.
• The main advantage of mud is we do not need lot of energy to manufacture it
unlike other materials.
 Mud construction is mainly found in places which are relatively dry and have
mud in abundance.
 The mud – house uses minimal energy, is comfortable year round.

• The mud – house construction uses only
simple natural materials, which are any
digging soil from the earth mixed with water
and added up with paddy or hay or any
dried fiber or even recycling garbage.
• Mud house construction is durable and can
be easily rebuilt .
• Mud construction also provide natural air
conditioning which provide cool air from the
massive walls. Lab, Auroville Earth Institute
Auroville Earth Institute

Various construction methods are:
 Stacked earth (COB)
 Pise or rammed earth
 Adobe
 Wattle & daub method
 Formed earth (Straw Clay)
 Earth filled in
 Compressed earth blocks
 Extruded earth
 Cut earth

STACKED EARTH (COB)
• A very stiff mud is prepared by mixing
mud and water in the proportion of 1:3
and it is moulded into huge elongated egg
shape.
• The elongated egg shape mud is 12 to 18-
inches, (30 to 40-cm) long and about 6-
inches (15-cm) in diameter.
• For making a wall ,a row of cob is placed
in proper line and is pressed to avoid gaps
and crack.
Tamil Nadu, – Village house, India
Ref-http://www.earth-auroville.com

•In this way two to three layers of
cobs are placed one above the other
and the sides are smoothed to
avoid cracks and gap.
•Door wooden frame or kerosene
tins are used to make the openings.
•COB is good for anything except
height. It is particularly good for
curved or round walls.
Austin

RAMMED EARTH:
• This is a method in which the strength of the
wall can be increased by increasing the
thickness of the wall..
• Two parallel planks are held firmly apart by
metal rods and clips or bolts, or by small
crosspieces of wood.
• Stiff mud is thrown in between these two
planks and rammed down with either a
wooden or metal ramrod.
 When one section is completed and hard, the
two planks are then raised up and a second
course of rammed earth is repeated over the
first.
Morocco
India, Ladakh

India, Ladakh
India, Ladakh
Construction of rammed earth
Construction technique

ADOBE:
 Adobe as a building material has been used since
ages all over the world and especially in
Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Blocks are kept covered with air tight polythene
sheets for first 48 hrs with relative humidity up to
100.
• Polythene sheets shall be removed after 48 hrs and
the blocks shall be kept in shaded area like having
enough air circulation.
• Sprinkle water over blocks daily, as many times
needed, during 28 days.
• Write date of production on block corner.
• Cover stacks top with coconut leaves or any other
cover to avoid direct sunlight.
• Principle is that blocks shall not dry for 4weeks.
Tamil nadu, India
Tamil nadu, India

CUT EARTH:
• In areas where the soils was cohesive
and contained concretions of carbonates
the soil was cut in the shape of blocks and
used like bricks or stones.
• Such examples are found typically in
tropical areas where lateritic soils give a
wonderful building material.
• Lateritic soils can be found in two
natural states:
India, Orissa India, Orissa
Burkina Faso, Quarry of Kari

•Soft soils- which will harden when exposed to
air due to chemical reaction of the soil
constituent with the air (carbonation reaction).
This natural reaction is called induration
•Such soils can be found on the west coast of
India, from Kerala to Goa.
•Hard crust- which was long ago a soil and has
already hardened (indured) through the ages.
•Orissa in India show wonderful examples of
such soils and blocks.
•In areas where the soil is not cohesive enough,
people have used topsoil and grass to create
blocks.
India, Orissa
Burkina Faso, Quarry of Kari

India, OrissaIndia, Old Goa
India, GoaKerala, India

EARTH FILLED-IN :
•Humid soil was traditionally poured into
wooden lattice works. Thus, it gave some
thermal mass to light structures as well as some
acoustic insulation.
•In recent times, dry soil has been poured into
synthetic textiles which are hold outside by
wooden poles driven into the ground.
•Dry soil is also being poured into long
synthetic tubes, which are staked upon each
other.
School of Architecture, Germany
School of Architecture, Germany

•Cal-Earth (The California Institute of Earth Art and
Architecture) does an extensive use of filled in
technique.
•They call it Super adobe construction and they are
building what is called Eco-domes. Super adobe
structures are an excellent example of green
building techniques.
•They use Tubular roll of sandbag-type material
which are filled with earth. A barbed wire is use to
bind the earth tube together. Later on the earth
tubes are plastered with stabilised earth plaster.
USA, California, Cal-Earth

EXTRUDED EARTH :
•The earth extrusion technique has been
used since a long while in the fired brick
industry.
•Stabilised earth, at a plastic state, is as well
extruded through a machine which gives
the desired shape.
•The blocks are often hollow and are cut to
the desired length.
•This technique of stabilised extruded earth
was developed in the 20th century.
France
Burkina Faso

•Compared to the brick extrusion in the
fired brick industry, stabilised extruded
earth bricks show a major inconvenient.
• The soil required for stabilised earth is
much sandier than the one for fired
earth.
•Thus the soil is more abrasive and the
machines get damaged at a much faster
rate.
Burkina Faso

FORMED EARTH (Straw Clay) :
•Very clayey soil, in a liquid state, is poured on
straw, which has been chopped to the desired
length.
•The mix is generally tampered afterwards into
forms.
•These walls are not load-bearing.
•they are light, have a very high thermal
insulation value and must be built in a wooden
structure.
Belgium
Germany

•It was traditionally used in Germany and
was re-used for reconstruction after the 2nd
world war.
•It is mostly known with the name Straw
clay.
•Straw clay can be used as a filler wall,
formed between a wooden structure or as
prefabricated blocks.
Germany
Germany

Wattle and daub:
•Wattle and daub method is an old and
common method of building mud
structures.
•Bamboo and cane frame structure that
supports the roof.
•Mud is plastered over this mesh of bamboo
cane and straws.
•Due to excessive rainfall the Wattle and
Daub structures gets washed off.
•However, the mesh of cane or split bamboo
remains intact and after the heavy rain is
over the mud is plastered on again.
France
Somalia, Genale - Village huts

France - House
Nigeria - Reinforced earth

Taos Pueblo (New Mexico) Arg-e bam (southeastern Iran,)
Examples of mud construction-

Djinguereber Mosque (West Africa.) West Africa (Uzbekistan)
Shibam (Yemen) Siwa oasis (western egypt)

Advantages of Mud:
• Environmental impact:
• To save natural resources.
• Using neither cement nor rock (Save our mountains).
• To save building materials:
• Main materials are soil and water, mixed to be mud, if the mud is too sticky, we
can add up with paddy husky or rice straw or local fiber weed or bamboo.
• Energy use :
• To save energy.
• Cool in summer (Inside building temperature is about 24°c to 26°c.
• Warm in Winter (Automatic control temperature by passive cooling system)
• Capital Expenditure:
• To save money .
• No air – conditioning, no electricity bills.

DISADVANTAGEs-
 Humidity is the crucial factor, mud-house will easily catch fungus.
 The brand- new mud-house may have foul odour of crushed green leaves.
 Erodes easily by water.
 Low tensile and shear strength , hence , roofs difficult.
 Susceptible to mechanical damage, rodents and burgles.
 Grip between earth and wood is very weak , hence, framed doors and
windows are not possible.
 Requires regular maintenance.
 Not fire proof and not termite proof.

Bibliography-
•http://www.earth-auroville.com
•https://www. building-design-and-construction-systems-brick.co.in
•Pritchett, Ian. The Building Conservation Directory, 2001: "Wattle and
Daub". Accessed 2 February 2007
• Hoping that Mud – house will help open our eyes to an architectural
alternative design for preserving the natural world not solely for its own
sake but to provide an environment hospitable to man which should be
environmental friendly design.
• Today, common man is lost in the glory of newly introduced materials.
These materials have specific qualities but , still they are not best as
compared to the locally developed materials .
Conclusion-

Mudarchitecture,

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