In pursuit of eco-friendliness, France began building with rammed earth
Modern architecture often tries to impress us with glass and concrete, but sometimes the most unusual material can lie literally underfoot. In Lyon, France, elite offices have once again begun to be built from rammed earth. A century and a half ago, such houses were strictly forbidden after a devastating flood, and today the old technology is presented as an innovative eco-solution for combating climate change.
The Viaterra office building in Lyon, which will become the headquarters of the insurance company Filhet-Allard. Photo: Maud Caubet
In Lyon's Part-Dieu district, the seven-story Viaterra office building is currently under construction, which will become the headquarters of the insurance company Filhet-Allard. The main feature of the project, developed by the architectural bureaus Maud Caubet and Supermixx, lies in the facade materials. The frame is made of wood, and the spandrels are made of rammed raw earth, or "pisé" or "terre crue" as the French call it.
The tradition of building rammed earth structures was widespread in rural France in the 18th – early 20th centuries but almost completely disappeared in our time, giving way to more reliable and durable materials that became more accessible.
Rammed earth blocks for the facades of the Viaterra office building in Lyon. Photo: Maud Caubet
Rammed earth walls of the Viaterra office building in Lyon before installation. Photo: Maud Caubet
But the performance of rammed earth makes it a relevant material again in the context of combating climate change and overall environmental friendliness. The carbon footprint of an earth facade is only eight kilograms per square meter, compared to forty kilograms for classic concrete. Moreover, earth has phenomenal thermal capacity: such blocks freeze and heat up three times slower than concrete walls. This means that in summer heat, the office will retain night coolness without any air conditioners, and in winter, it will retain heat.
Installation of rammed earth walls on the facades of the Viaterra office building in Lyon. Photo: Maud Caubet
The creation of unusual facades was entrusted to a local startup Terrio, which the developer Icade nurtured in its own business incubator. The project is already aiming for a bunch of prestigious awards, although there is no innovation as such in the material — Lyonnais built with rammed earth for centuries until disaster struck them.
Rammed earth walls on the facades of the Viaterra building in Lyon. Photo: Maud Caubet
Forbidden material
Raw rammed earth is historically a traditional building material for the Rhône-Alpes region. By the mid-19th century, Lyon was densely built with such houses.
However, in 1856, a disaster occurred. The Rhône and Saône rivers overflowed their banks, and a large-scale flood literally washed away the lower districts of the city.
Earth, which is not afraid of wind and sun, turned out to be defenseless against prolonged exposure to standing water. The houses melted before their eyes.
The authorities then issued a decree categorically prohibiting construction with earth within the city limits. The tradition was preserved only on the highlands, like the Croix-Rousse district, and in the surrounding villages of Dauphiné, where old rammed earth houses with huge overhanging roofs still stand, protecting the walls from rain.
Since then, concrete reigned supreme in local construction, and rammed earth was forgotten as something marginal and rustic. And only now, when during increasingly frequent European summer anomalies, people have begun to literally "cook" inside concrete boxes, developers have remembered the technologies of their ancestors.
First breakthrough
A real breakthrough occurred five years ago in another Lyon district — Confluence. It was there in 2020 that the L'Orangerie office center appeared.
L'Orangerie was built by a team of true fanatics: the architectural bureau Clément Vergély together with the Swiss Diener & Diener and the master of earth construction Nicolas Meunier.
L'Orangerie office center in Lyon. Photo: Le Pisé
They dared the unheard of — to erect a three-story building where earth would not just be a decorative facade, but a load-bearing structure. Moreover, the facade consisted of huge arches eleven meters high.
They had to extract pure earth thirty kilometers from the city in the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier quarry, as urban soil was contaminated with waste. 286 giant blocks were formed directly on the construction site using the method of strong compaction without a single drop of cement or chemical additives.
Construction with rammed earth of the L'Orangerie office center in Lyon. Photo: Le Pisé
Construction with rammed earth of the L'Orangerie office center in Lyon. Photo: Le Pisé
But the main obstacle was not physics, but French bureaucracy. Since rammed earth is considered a "non-traditional" material in France today, the project had to undergo special experimental certification.
Engineers from the Batiserf bureau had to write 750 pages of calculations — work worthy of a doctoral dissertation — to prove to inspectors that the building would not collapse.
And even then, officials from the inspection set an absurdly high safety bar and forced the application of additional safety supports that carry no real load but simply soothe the nerves of the commission.
An interesting turn of history has occurred: rammed earth, once considered a sign of poverty and provincialism, is today becoming an elite material for commercial construction.
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што да вуглероднага следу, тут не узгаданы срок эксплатацыі тых аб'ектаў.