Clay Dome ETH Zurich

The collaboration with Gian Salis and earth building expert Martin Rauch led to the development of new possibilities in rammed earth construction: a structurally optimized design combined with the prefabrication of elements allows for the construction of load-bearing vaults made of unreinforced rammed earth, which was previously not possible.
This required not only the development of construction processes and tools but also the performance of tests to verify that the load-bearing capacity of the elements is not significantly reduced when the rammed layers deviate strongly from the perpendicular to the line of force, or are even parallel to it.
A sheet metal skin protects the roof from wet weather. Rammed-in layers of trass lime protect the directly exposed earth surfaces from progressive erosion. In the coming years, the pavilion will provide further insights into the durability of earth structures. These results and experiences will show whether the advantages of rammed earth can also be utilized in the long term, such as the reduction of embodied energy, as clay is a local resource and does not require firing.