Earth building techniques such as earth bricks, cobb, rammed earth, and wattle & daub are among the oldest building methods known to mankind and are still of great importance in today’s highly technologised building industry. Due to its potential for life-cycle construction and its positive effect on interior room climate, earthen materials offer considerable advantages to architects and clients. In the seminar we will learn the theoretical and practical basics for the application of earth building materials using different techniques. As part of a cooperation with Gropius Bau and artist Kerstin Brätsch, we will explore potential applications for these construction techniques in the context of a planned intervention in Gropius Bau in Spring 2025 in the form of large-scale prototypes and mock-up finishes 

Lehmbautechniken wie Lehmziegel, Wellerlehm und Stampflehm gehören zu den ältesten der Menschheit bekannten Bauweisen und sind auch in der heutigen hoch technisierten Bauwirtschaft von großer Bedeutung. Insbesondere im Kontext von Klimawandel und Ressourcenknappheit muss der Lehmbau einen höheren Stellenwert in der Architekturausbildung und -praxis erhalten. In dem Blockseminar werden die theoretischen und praktischen Grundlagen für die Anwendung von Lehmbautechniken anhand einer Reihe von 1:1-Projekten vermittelt.

Based on a scaled up version of the open-source NBL Hub, the Mega Hub was conceived by the ›space:team‹ collective and realised in collaboration with the Natural Building Lab and Dr.-Ing. Michael Staffa as the gateway to the Appletree Garden Festival 2018.