A Low-Cost Sustainable Design and Fabrication Process for Mortarless Compressed Earth Block Dwellings

This project aims to fully utilize the local labor force, local materials and use minimum resources to construct sustainable dwellings for low-income countries. To do this, we create a template design consisting of a small number of brick types that can be customized and interlocked when building such that mortar is not required. In the design process, we integrate digital technologies, including computational design, additive manufacturing and structural analysis. The proposed construction process is based on Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB), which is currently one of the most widely used construction techniques with earth. A 3D-printed mold is developed such that no complex modification is needed for the press, which drastically expands the application to almost any CEB press. The 3D-printed molds are lightweight, portable, and economical. All digital processes and 3D printing can be conducted offsite, which significantly reduces the requirements on the construction site, e.g. no need for highly skilled personnel, high-tech and high-cost machines, and electricity.

The project is partially sponsored by an Arup Global Research Challenge and the NCCR Digital Fabrication. It is conducted in collaboration with Gianni Botsford Architects and Arup London.

EDAC is granted a ETH4D Research Challenge project on Low-Cost Sustainable CEB Dwellings. Please find more information on the website of ETH for Development.