The purpose of this workshop is to learn an ancestral technique called rammed-earth (“pisé” in French) within a contemporary context. The best way to learn is to do it yourself, so we'll be working on site all together to build with our own hands the walls of this tea house. We will be experiencing all the steps: from mixing the earth material to setting up the formwork, pouring and ramming the earth layer by layer, dismantling the formwork, and making the finishings.
In addition to this real building site experience, amàco will organise some activities around the material earth. Those exercises will allow you to understand earth material's physical qualities and building properties and develop your creativity. You will be able to realise the diversity of what can be produced with earth and to grasp by handling and observation the impact of the key processing parameters for various soils: consistency, water absorption, compatibility, and gesture. Through several presentations, we will discuss and discover together other contemporary projects using this technique and see how this craftsmanship evolved since some decades.
This will be an intensive workshop with lots of effort, lots of dirt on your clothes, lots of fun and most important, great food! Don’t forget to bring dirty clothes (everyday is a building site day).
