In recent years, architects from the "One Village" program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have been busy in the villages in the southwestern seismic belt. They designed a new type of earthquake-resistant rammed earth house, hoping to bring safer and more beautiful accommodation to people there.
The project was initiated in response to the catastrophic Ludian earthquake in 2014, which destroyed most of the traditional rammed-earth buildings in the village of Guangming. When replacement materials such as brick and concrete proved to be too costly for most of the village’s residents, the architect team developed a new technique of constructing rammed-earth homes that will be more resistant to future seismic activity.
The concept of "rich people building brick houses and poor people living in soil buildings" is still deeply rooted. The concept of new rammed earth houses was once unacceptable.
A prototype house built for an elderly couple was completed last year, proving the method could provide a safe, economical, comfortable, and sustainable reconstruction strategy for the village and the wider region of Southwest China.
From the WAF.-
The judges believed this to be an extraordinary project in terms of the scope of ambition, exemplified in the addressing of profound problems facing ordinary people. They applauded the re-use of traditional material and construction methods but with the addition of new technology - combining ancient wisdom with modern know-how.
The judges were also impressed by the iterative research process which could be re-applied to anywhere in the world affected by seismic problems and low levels of wealth. “The architects succeeded in translating ‘four walls and a roof’ into something which, through architectural commitment, becomes a project that is much more profound,” WAF Programme Director Paul Finch commented. “This building is a demonstration that architecture is just as relevant in the poorest of communities as it is in the richest.”
