While all eyes are on Paris this week during the Olympics, Régis Roudil has accomplished an amazing feat as well – a new children’s daycare center in the middle of Paris using rammed earth as a construction element.
Rammed earth construction is a fascinating building technique because of its connection to nature. It is built from local soil so inherently sustainable – and this sustainability is expressive in the cool, concrete-like finish it imparts when exposed.
Atelier Régis Roudil Architectes
Roudil states:
Concerning the material of earth, this project makes it possible to envisage this resource, no longer as a simple excavation but rather as a construction material. Earth is a qualitative and virtuous material that of course makes it possible to build, but that especially offers the possibility of embodying a genuinely sustainable relationship with the world and savings that are resolutely anchored in its plot of land.
The Roudil project is inspiring as an effort of high design as well as sustainability in combination.
Notes: Rammed earth construction is highly dependent on local climate
Rammed earth construction is highly dependent on the climate and location of the structure.
In general rammed earth requires moderate temperatures, at least in its unaltered form. Insulation may be added (but this will diminish the ability of a wall to transfer its heating or cooling mass), but the rammed earth construction itself acclimates a building due to the thermal mass of the soil material. The volumetric heat capacity of rammed earth is approximately 1600 kJ/m3.K, roughly comparable to a stone wall.
To be effective in most climates, thermal mass should be able to absorb and then re-radiate its full thermal storage capacity in a single day. Thermal mass is desirable for climates with a large diurnal temperature range (difference between low night temperatures and high day temperatures). For this reason Rammed earth is less effective in hot, humid climates.
Rammed earth is most effective in climates with a significant diurnal temperature range (large difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures). The thermal mass can absorb heat during the day and release it during the cooler nights, maintaining a comfortable indoor environment. In hot and humid climates, the small diurnal temperature range makes rammed earth less effective. The material may not be able to release its stored heat effectively, leading to overheating.
