This experimental Wiltshire dwelling is a new home for a couple and is literally born from the landscape. It’s made with materials from the site using rammed-earth.
For the owners, living inside its monolithic walls is a uniquely grounding experience. ‘I feel completely cocooned and safe,’ says the wife. ‘It’s so quiet, peaceful and warm,’ adds the husband, explaining how rammed earth – made from materials such as clay, sand and gravel, and compacted in timber formwork – absorbs sound and regulates temperature and humidity.
Most of the existing brick buildings at the site were demolished and their materials were crushed to form an aggregate that was mixed with clay, local limestone gravel and water.
Where the earth is polished internally, such as on the floors, the brick fragments have a beautiful, terrazzo-like effect that speaks of the site’s past.
This rammed-earth recipe that didn’t require the addition cement or lime, which are often used as stabilizers in wet climates. The builders compressed the earth manually in layers inside the formwork, using a ramming tool.
A delicate glass-and-timber kitchen and dining pavilion links the two main rammed-earth volumes, dissecting a walled garden planted to be entirely productive using permaculture principles.
There are almost no painted walls in the house. Instead, the rammed earth is either exposed or covered in breathable clay plasters. These are stained in the colors of the landscape, such as the rich terracotta used in the sitting room.
The house took four years to build, which would have exhausted the patience of many, but the owners enjoyed every minute. ‘It’s the most satisfying, fun and inspiring thing I’ve ever done,’ says the wife.
The rammed earth will gradually weather, but slivers of stone at intervals on the façade will manage that erosion, deflecting water from its surface. ‘We wanted a house that would evolve over time,’ she adds. ‘We love to watch it change.’
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