Architecture | The Great Wall that Clay Built in Australia

A firm in Australia used rammed earth, one of our favorite architectural styles, to create a 230-meter long row of homes in Northwest Australia. The so-called “Great Wall of WA” comes to us from Luigi Rosselli Architects, a firm that qualifies its work by attempting to find “the spirit” of a building’s location and imbuing the work with that. The project is an answer to the sub-tropical climate of the region; its iron-rich clay both blends in with the land and keeps the buildings cool.

From the architect:

The longest rammed earth wall in Australia and – probably – the southern hemisphere, has been selected as a finalist in the (Australian Institute of Architects) Western Australia architecture awards.

At 230 metres long, the rammed earth wall meanders along the edge of a sand dune and encloses twelve earth covered residences, created to provide short-term accommodation for a cattle station during mustering season.   With their 450mm thick rammed earth facade and the sand dune to their rear and forming their roofs, the residences have the best thermal mass available, making them naturally cool in the subtropical climate.

The rammed earth wall (construction) is composed of the iron rich, sandy clay that is a dominant feature of the site, gravel obtained from the adjacent river and (bonded with) water from the local bore (hole).

The design of the accommodation represents a new approach to remote North Western Australia architecture, moving away from the sun baked, thin corrugated metal shelters to naturally cooled architectural earth formations.

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