The formwork

This project in being rammed manually. The tamper head has been made to fit the corners of the forms.

Hopefully these walls inspire more people to build with rammed earth in Thailand.

Beautiful layers, changing the tones of the rammed earth by each layer can have a wonderful effect.

The big chamfer on the wall is a nice window detail.

The wall in the foreground has just been completed, it is still wet and that is why it is darker than the other walls. 3 walls are up…looking forward to more.

This is a little over half of our crew from the 1st rammed earth workshop on the Plum Walls. Starting from left to right: Mahatama, Mona, Chris, Clifton, Yamuna, Peter.

Neal

David, Paul and Gabo are placing the fabric for the footing.

Paul is tying steel, there was so much tying to do he became quite expert at it.

Diego “el maestro” jajaja.. Diego is an experienced rammed earth builder from Columbia, he came to learn of the different techniques we use so he can apply them to his new projects.

Lot’s of shovelling, enough for everyone!

Zoltan tamping.

Andreas is an architect from Columbia who now lives in Canada. He wants to bring this technique back home to do some meaningful projects.

Gabo trowels the cap. Gabo, who is also an architect. Is planning to apply his new skills in Mexico.

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Paul shovels.

A sunflower impression for the forms.

A 6′ tall sunflower raised off a rammed earth wall is a beautiful thing!

We start at the footing in between 2 existing stone walls.

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Neal is using a spacer to place a board that will backstop the plywood for our formwork.

The forms are starting to take shape.

Placing sheets of plywood.

Setting up the tarps to provide shade.

The hoses are hooked into our tampers and we are ready to go.

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Mixing is under way.

Neal Shoveling.

Tamping inside the forms.

More shoveling by Peter.

More tamping, it’s a tight fit for sure! That’s Mona working inside there.

Even more shovelling!

Even more tamping! So I think you get the general idea…there was a lot of shovelling and tamping, it’s a big wall.

Zoltan tamping.

Chris tamping away.

Pouring the cap. We use a liquid rammed earth cement mixture for the cap.

Removing the forms

The slightly different shades of rammed earth wall layers are fantastic on this wall.

Using stone to cap the rammed earth wall turned out to be a great choice. A nice contrast to the wall and it ties the stone pillars together.

One side of the forms are up.

The strong-backs are getting set into place. They are the vertical pieces of wood that reinforce the horizontal formwork for those who are wondering.

Ramming is under way.

Andreas, an architect who is from Columbia came to train with us on this wall.

Removing the form work.

Presenting wall 2.

This picture shows more the true color of the rammed earth.

The wall layers look quite beautiful from the road.

A view of both walls from the north west.

The stone along the cap, the color and length of the walls make for a nice treat for people as they are driving by.

Ramming is underway on the second wall.

The inside section of the curved wall form is done.

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We are now making the curved rammed earth wall on the north east of the house.

A stairway will curve up this rammed earth wall to the second story. A utility room will be underneath the stairs.

Top view of the curved wall.

Window in the downstairs washroom.

A signature wall with musical impressions for a special touch.

Lovely rammed earth pillars and the office walls in the background.

The stunning effect of the pillars in the the hallway.

An electrical outlet for a wall sconce in the washroom.

A top view of the walls.

The pictures don’t do these rammed earth walls justice, they are quite magnificent and even better in real life. I

Hauling reabar with the excavator is so much nicer that moving it by hand.

We used a fabric membrane with our footing to prevent water from wicking up into the footing in the future. It also has the benefit of keeping our forming wood clean so it can be reused and have less waste.

A closeup of the membrane.

The rebar is in the footing and it’s all ready for the concrete pour.

Pouring concrete using the boom pump.

Rudy is using a screed to level the concrete.

Our day of pouring concrete is finished.

The forms are cleaned and everything is tidy.

The footings are done and ready for layout of the walls.

These curved rammed earth walls are quite immense, although they look small when we pull way back to fit both walls in the picture.

A nice shot showing the curvature of the walls with the fountain in front of the second wall.

A better view of the fountain with the amphitheater seating to the right.

Amphitheater seating looking toward the east entrance.

A view looking at the north wall from the entrance to the amphitheater.

A theater performance on opening day.

More details in the right hand column under workshops/training

Sakura means cherry blossom in Japanese and is our inspiration for this design. We wanted to take rammed earth walls and blend them harmoniously  with both traditional and modern Japanese design.

View of the from the south west highlighting the sakura window.

Arial view from the north. The north patio has a deck and pool with a grassy area.

The swimming pool and hot tub are combined in a fun way.

South east view.

The living room door.

Walking around the side of the house looking at the teahouse.

The Sakura tea house interior.

The living room

The kitchen and dining room.

Master bathroom.

The master bedroom.

The meditation room.