Rammed Earth
Rammed Earth is an unlimited series of square monolith sculptures (5 x 5 x 5 meters), constructed with the ancient technique of rammed earth (sand, silt, soil and clay), by mixing different kinds of regional soil. Added to the unique strata of soil exposed on each sculpture, other organic matter will be deposited in the mix: local plant seeds (weed, trees, fruit, etc.), and organic detritus (nutrients). The works are intended to be built in different locations along the Americas as it may be possible, and remain indefinitely, exposed to natural conditions, all free of base or shelter, in order to be transformed gradually, susceptible of being taken by nature and deformed over years or ages.
Rammed earth is an indigenous and pre-colonial earth construction technique that is being revisited by contemporary architecture. While its durability, thermal and acoustic parameters are outstanding, it is approached differently according to climate, geography, resources and culture, also allowing sustainability and visual pattern design by layers.
This sculpture stands for the abstraction of a devastating event, regarding its layers and accumulation of information (data, infections, deaths, vaccines, etc.). Along with a natural process of erosion and transformation, collective memory is its primary matter. There is an important message when an ancestral technique returns to the architectural realm, catching attention on the environmental agenda, while turning it to a decolonial turn. The proposal is a memorial to embrace change, the world would never be the same, and demands a radical deviation of human habits in the face of the environmental threats, linked to upcoming unwanted diseases. Finally, the difference of each work determined by each place refers to the diversity of ways of living a biological affectation such as Covid-19.