Earth Building

This project will give students the opportunity to see several adobe projects firsthand in Pioneertown, California – a location with several historical and contemporary examples – to learn about making buildings with earth, and to lay the groundwork at UC Davis to showcase earth building techniques for future generations of students through a temporary exhibition that will be documented and shared online through the UC Davis Design website. Over recent years the architecture industry has become too reliant on materials that are not only unhealthy because of an overreliance on plastics (even including recent “green” solutions like cross-laminated timber) but that also have a large carbon footprint. This research trip will allow students to learn about and practice historical and new ways of working with mud.