An "extraordinary" rammed earth house built to withstand
earthquakes has won a Chinese University team the World Building of the Year
prize at this year's World Architecture Festival.
The prize is commonly known as the "Oscars of
Architecture."
Rammed earth is a mix of sand, loam, clay, chalk, lime or
gravel compressed so hard it can be turned into building materials.
Because of its durability and non-combustibility, it is
typically used in foundations, floors and walls. Partly also because a rammed
earth house has 40 percent less brick and concrete, it is affordable: the
per-square-meter cost is just 600 yuan (HK$708).
The prototype was completed in 2015 in Yunnan after the
Ludian earthquake a year earlier left 617 people dead and thousands homeless.
It was designed and built for an elderly homeless couple by
the team, which called itself "One University One Village."
Team members were Edward Ng Yan-yung, Wan Li, and student Chi
Xinan at the School of Architecture. They worked in collaboration with Emily So
of the University of Cambridge and Bai Wenfeng of the Kunming University of
Science and Technology.
So impressed by the design's practicality, the judges said
the house addressed profound problems faced by ordinary people.
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