Casa Cantalagua, Michoacan, Mexico

Blog and site under construction!

Rammed Earth

A finished rammed earth wall being protected from rains, because we are building during the rains. Mud, excavated during the rains due to wrong project planning. Has to be dried out every day before compacting.

mixing soils, treated sand, lime and complicating mixes. Supervision cost and specialization cost is very high here. Now we have to mix all of this.. tons of mud manually. if not mechanically

Its all about how it looks.. not about how it feels, smells or loves. A test wall, done without any additive. Marco Mijares— with Marco Mijares. Here we take off its coat, between rains to that these walls can breathe.. and dry a bit.

but, we still have fun doing all of this. It has taken so much of our energies that a simple mud wall is a huge achievement. — with Luis Enrique Menchaca.

Here I am trying new, simpler methods of mixing mud. What if the mixing were not even necessary. We created a problem.. and now we are trying to find solutions for it.

Mixing.. with the perfection of control to the litre. One person dedicated to the counting of buckets of mix al day.

here lifting mud bucket by bucket, spreading it out artistically. Was it necessary?

Looking at textures, colours, mixes, complicating life to the most possible extent.

The formwork built to strong, to receive even stronger ramming.

Thanks to the modern design, we now need to separate walls, add chamfers, protect edges.. What have we done to her?

The team chingon! — with Marco Mijares andPaulino Rico in Tepetongo, Michoacan De Ocampo, Mexico.

Cut Earth – Sillar and tepetate

How to design balanced structures with Buttresses and Vaults – Designing for stability on Expansive Soils and seismic forces

Steel and Guastavino domes

Thermal mass vs insulation

Rainwater harvesting and draining of foundations

Lime plasters and breathability, regulation of indoor environment