Living in Rammed Earth Houses

By The Mother Earth News Editors
Published on January 1, 1980
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PHOTO 2: Large windows on the southern side of the house capture as much solar heat and light as possible. PHOTO 3: The living room of the Miller house.
PHOTO 2: Large windows on the southern side of the house capture as much solar heat and light as possible. PHOTO 3: The living room of the Miller house.
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PHOTO 1: The north view of the Miller's rammed earth house looks similar to other ranch-style homes except for a lack of glass.
PHOTO 1: The north view of the Miller's rammed earth house looks similar to other ranch-style homes except for a lack of glass.
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LEFT: Diagram depicts container forms used in rammed earth construction.  RIGHT: A section of rammed earth wall.
LEFT: Diagram depicts container forms used in rammed earth construction.  RIGHT: A section of rammed earth wall.
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PHOTO 4: The sill in this bedroom window reveals the 14
PHOTO 4: The sill in this bedroom window reveals the 14" thickness of the rammed earth wall. PHOTO 5: David Miller was a practicing lawyer in Greeley, CO at the time of this picture. PHOTO 6: Lydia Miller was a retired foreign language instructor. PHOTO 7: The Miller's extensive pantry of home grown and home-canned foods.

In an era which tends to celebrate the new
and shun the old, rammed earth construction stands out as a
paradox: After all, the millennium-old building method
may well also be the technology of the future …
which we are just now returning to. 

No one knows exactly when

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