Lehm-Tone-Erden – this combination could set the pace in housing construction, as the Rio Reiser band Ton-Steine-Scherben of the alternative culture of the early 1980s exemplified. In Schlins (Vorarlberg/Austria), the “Erden” workshop, some of which is still under construction, is already in operation. The company is the first company in the world to industrially manufacture rammed earth building elements from 100 percent earth, or to be more precise, from white clay from the German Westerwald.

What seems new and experimental here is, when you look at it, the production line for module parts. A pilot project / pioneering project consisting of a 67m long and up to 24m wide hall for the prefabrication of rammed earth elements and an adjoining, two-storey office wing. For the first time, according to the operator, an architecture of this magnitude was implemented with the project, which is supported purely by the hybrid of a wooden construction and the 67m long rammed earth wall

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More than a third of the world’s population already lives in houses that are built entirely or partially with earth, says earth building pioneer Martin Rauch. Clay is the oldest building material in the world. As a common, inexpensive and energy-saving material, clay has enormous potential for building in the future and is increasingly being rediscovered as a building solution that will retain its value.

The advantages of this building material: Indoor rammed earth walls have a positive effect on the indoor climate. Their enormous mass mitigates temperature extremes. And clay has the ability to quickly absorb and release moisture from the air. However, this poses problems for the operators of the new workshop, as the participants of a Tagesspiegel readers’ trip (together with the architecture tour operator Ticket B) found out: The drying time for the modules is six weeks. Especially in winter, when the hall is closed, the material dries much more slowly: the air does not circulate. It’s like the clothes dryer in the living room. The people from Schlins have hung an air circulation system under the wooden hall ceiling in order to smuggle several hundred liters of water out of the hall every day.

“We should bring 2000 square meters of space to the plant every year,” the shift manager explains the plan during a guided tour: “Every three days I put 50 square meters in the formwork. We work in two shifts.” Components for a five-story residential building in Switzerland are currently being stamped – in up to 18 production steps.

The disadvantage if you look at this production from an economic point of view alone: ​​the costs are 30 to 40 percent higher than conventional construction in a solid shell. “Of course we could automate even more – but it’s also a question of attitude: Do you want to replace something or do you want to show an alternative?” says the shift manager. The fight against the establishment continues.