| The soil, raw or stabilized, is slightly moistened, poured into a steel press (with or without stabilizer) and then compressed either with a manual or motorized press. It is a development from traditional rammed earth. It seems that the first attempts at Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) were tried in France, in the first years of the 19th century: The architect Mr. Francois Cointeraux tried around 1803 to pre-cast small blocks of rammed earth. He used hand rammers to compress humid soil into small wooden moulds which were held with the feet. |
One had to wait till 1950 in Colombia for a housing research programme to improve the hand-moulded adobe. The result of this R&D was the Cinvaram, the ancestor of the steel manual presses, which could make very regular blocks in shape and size, denser, stronger and more water resistant than the common adobe. CEB technology has been a great mean for the worldwide renaissance and promotion of earth construction in the 20th century.
The input of soil stabilization allowed building higher with thinner walls, which have a much better compressive strength and water resistance. With cement stabilization, the blocks must be cured for four weeks after manufacturing. After this, they can dry freely and be used like common bricks with a soil cement stabilized mortar. Compressed earth blocks are most of the times stabilised, as showed in the examples hereafter. Hence we prefer to name them now Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB).
USA, Pagosa Springs - Buddhist retreat (Photo Jim Hallock)
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Cinvaram - The first press for compressed earth blocks
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Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou - Pan African Institute (Photo Th. Joffroy)
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Zaire, Kinshasa - School sponsored by UNIDO
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Ivory coast - Restaurant
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Ivory coast, Afotobo - Cost effective house built in 10 days by trainees
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Mali, Bamako - National Research Centre (Photo J.L. Pivin)
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Mali, Bamako - French Cultural Centre (Photo J.L. Pivin)
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Marocco, Marrakech - Apartments (Photo H. Guillaud)
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Egypt, Fayoum - House (Architect & photo Adel Fahmy)
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Egypt, Gizah - House (Architect & photo Adel Fahmy)
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Turkey, Istanbul - Minimum Emergency House
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France, Mayotte - Social housing (Photo Th. Joffroy)
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France, Mayotte - Prefecture (Photo Th. Joffroy)
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France, Mayotte - Airport (Architect Pascal Rollet)
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France, Mayotte - Office of tourism (Architect Pascal Rollet)
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Madagascar, Antananarivo - House (Photo Th. Joffroy)
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Somalia, Genale - School sponsored by UNESCO
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France, Grenoble - House built in 30 hours
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Salvador - Earthquake resistant house
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India, New Delhi - Ex Headquarters of Development Alternatives
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India, Bangalore - Eco resort Hessarghatta (Arch Chitra Vishwanath)
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India, Gujarat Khavda - 23 m2 house built in 62 h. by an 18 man team
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India, Gujarat - Earthquake resistant house
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Auram press 3000, multi mould manual press with 17 moulds
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India, Tamil Nadu, Auroville - Visitors Centre
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India, Tamil Nadu, Auroville - Solar community kitchen
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India, Tamil Nadu - Sri Karneshwara Nataraja temple
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Saudi Arabia, Janadriyah - Exhibition Centre
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Saudi Arabia, Riyadh - Al Medy Mosque built in 7 weeks
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Colombia, Near Bogota - Apartments (Arch. Mauricio Sanchez)
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Colombia, Near Bogota - Architect Mauricio Sanchez
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Colombia, Near Bogota - Convention centre (Arch. Dario Angulo)
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Colombia, Near Bogota - Apartments (Arch. Dario Angulo)
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Bangladesh, Dacca - Training Institute (Architect Kirtee Shah)
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Bangladesh, Dacca - Training Institute (Architect Kirtee Shah)
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Gambia, Sandele - Resort
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Gambia, Sandele - Resort
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Mexico - House by Ital Mexicana
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Mexico, Loreto Bay - Houses by Tierra y Cal
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Nigeria, Kaduna mosque
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Iran, Bam - Earthquake resistant house
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