Earth construction has witnessed considerable advancements lately. There are many attempts to revive these ancient sustainable building techniques to upgrade their performance. Earthen materials are proven to surpass conventional building materials in terms of environmental impact, feasibility, and aesthetic value. This opens a great potential for architects to contribute to the technological and tectonic innovation of the earthen materials. In a parallel context, nature provided a large database of adaptation strategies which includes different solutions for various problems. Biomimicry-based design can be applied on three different levels. The simplest level is the form (organism) level which entails mimicking the form or the characteristic of a certain living organism. The second is the process (behavior) level which mimics a process, function, or behavior of a specific organism to adapt with nature. While the third is the ecosystem level which mimics different processes’ interaction and integration to achieve the balanced state of an ecosystem. Despite the remarkable improvements of both disciplines, the application of biomimicry-based designs barely considers sustainable materiality. On the other hand, earthen materials are commonly researched from a technical point of view giving more focus on durability, structural advancement, and feasibility. This paper is a pilot project to upgrade earthen materials using nature-based solutions to improve its performance to adapt with natural elements: sun, air, and water. This was achieved through maintaining the core sustainable principles of earthen construction as a bio-based material. The principles include considering the low-tech, participatory, modularity, and mass production of the construction process. Besides, the study focuses on biomimicry-based designs on the process (behavior) level. The study was applied as part of the ninth semester elective course ‘BioTerre: Tect-Tex-Tech!’ at the Architecture and Urban Design program at the German University in Cairo. The course explores new tectonics, textures, and techniques of earthen materials inspired from nature. The adopted methodology involves two phases: theoretical research and 1:1 hands-on installations. The applied methodology is an experimental study to develop installations inspired from selected pinnacles that adapt with sun, air, and water. Results are deduced from researchers’ observations of the different phases of the process: initial design concept, module and connection, the mold, and final design. The final installations show a great potential of the buildability and constructability of the integration between biomimicry-based design and earthen materials on a conceptual level. Moreover, the link of the two disciplines positively affects the environmental characteristics of the developed installations.

Upgrading Earthen Materials Using Low-Tech Nature-Based Solutions

会议论文
发表日期：

2025年

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Sara Samy Khalifa,
Joy Samuel Maher

摘要

Earth construction has witnessed considerable advancements lately. There are many attempts to revive these ancient sustainable building techniques to upgrade their performance. Earthen materials are proven to surpass conventional building materials in terms of environmental impact, feasibility, and aesthetic value. This opens a great potential for architects to contribute to the technological and tectonic innovation of the earthen materials. In a parallel context, nature provided a large database of adaptation strategies which includes different solutions for various problems. Biomimicry-based design can be applied on three different levels. The simplest level is the form (organism) level which entails mimicking the form or the characteristic of a certain living organism. The second is the process (behavior) level which mimics a process, function, or behavior of a specific organism to adapt with nature. While the third is the ecosystem level which mimics different processes’ interaction and integration to achieve the balanced state of an ecosystem. Despite the remarkable improvements of both disciplines, the application of biomimicry-based designs barely considers sustainable materiality. On the other hand, earthen materials are commonly researched from a technical point of view giving more focus on durability, structural advancement, and feasibility. This paper is a pilot project to upgrade earthen materials using nature-based solutions to improve its performance to adapt with natural elements: sun, air, and water. This was achieved through maintaining the core sustainable principles of earthen construction as a bio-based material. The principles include considering the low-tech, participatory, modularity, and mass production of the construction process. Besides, the study focuses on biomimicry-based designs on the process (behavior) level. The study was applied as part of the ninth semester elective course ‘BioTerre: Tect-Tex-Tech!’ at the Architecture and Urban Design program at the German University in Cairo. The course explores new tectonics, textures, and techniques of earthen materials inspired from nature. The adopted methodology involves two phases: theoretical research and 1:1 hands-on installations. The applied methodology is an experimental study to develop installations inspired from selected pinnacles that adapt with sun, air, and water. Results are deduced from researchers’ observations of the different phases of the process: initial design concept, module and connection, the mold, and final design. The final installations show a great potential of the buildability and constructability of the integration between biomimicry-based design and earthen materials on a conceptual level. Moreover, the link of the two disciplines positively affects the environmental characteristics of the developed installations.