sourdough architecture
notes, recipes, and lessons thinking about architecture in deep time.
sourdough architecture
contents 01 thinking about the deep time
architecture and ecology architecture and current patterns sourdough architecture
02 sourdough architecture pre-architecture: what to cook?
sourdough architecture: custom state screen enclosure bench window arch corner canopy microclimate
03 prototype act one: from pre-architecture to post-architecture year 2 year 5 year 10
01
+ ecology Today, architecture works on the basis of fragmentation: it can be perceived as a solo show, divorced from the larger preexisting ecological context that long precedes it. We primarily understand it as beginning from and within the site, without any awareness of the consequences of material conditions before or after the architecture occurs. Architecture dominates nature, rendering an idealized perfect state: ageless, seemingly unaffected by daily use or natural weathering—until it is deemed unusable. Simply said, architecture is ego-centric, where architectural time neglects the ecological deep time of geology, decay, erosion, and climate. /// Since the industrial revolution, modern architecture has had an estranged relationship with the environment. In a conversation with Etienne Turpin, John Palmesino, an architect and urbanist advocating for sustainable spatial transformations, characterizes this relationship as architects putting an object in front of a background. In his words, “construction of the window to build a new view – this act of framing, is the maximum engagement with the background.”1 This treatment of nature as given, as background, is evident in modern structures like Villa Savoye, Guggenheim, among many others. 1. John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rönnskog, “Matters of Observation: On Architecture in the Anthropocene,” in conversation with Etienne Turpin, Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy,. ed. Etienne Turpin (Ann Arbor, MI: Open Humanities Press, 2014), 22.
But the issues we face in architecture today—climate change, resource scarcity, preservation, energy efficiency—are all directly related to the geological layers that we inhabit, requiring us to see that we are part of the larger ecological timeline, a deeper relationship that goes far beyond the act of framing. In the words of Etienne Turpin, what we are witnessing in front of us, even climate, is a palimpsest of forms, resultant of the “vast co-production of forces, both human and non-human,”2 the experiences built up over the course of the earth’s 4.6 billion-year lifespan. By acknowledging that our interactions with different geological forces play a role in producing the issues we face today, we can engage in a design process that is more meaningful and relevant to the present and future condition of our earth system. /// We are complacent in maintaining the status quo. This complacency lulls us into a false belief that resources for building materials are scarce and that renewable resources are too slow. These statements are true, only if concrete, steel, and brick are the building systems we use, all of which require vast amount resources in their production and maintenance. Maintenance to ensure building safety is a necessary practice. However, the culturally and economically dominant approach to maintenance come with a ‘preservation’ mindset: to maintain a previous state, particularly in appearance. 2. Etienne Turpin, introduction to Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy,. ed. Etienne Turpin (Ann Arbor, MI: Open Humanities Press, 2014), 4.
The contradictions and drawbacks of this mindset are made clear in the intensive resources expended and specialized expertise summoned to maintain the look of a smooth impenetrable white surface in buildings like the Guggenheim. Such appearance defies, through excessive effort, the natural weathering effect of white concrete. As building structures no longer serve the shifting programmatic needs of the inhabitants or once it is determined that the effort to maintain a structure has become too big, buildings get demolished. Although we want to believe that building debris are recyclable and reusable, this is not fully true as any handling of materials, even their reuse, requires intensive resources. In short, building construction, maintenance, demolition, and recycling are extremely resource and technology intensive. But doesn’t that just mean we need to work differently now? /// In Indonesia, where I am from, the notion of buildings looking like work, instead of pure machinist objects, is not unheard of. Just like the state of the country after colonization, brutalism came to my country without a clear sense of direction, except for slightly adapting to the different vibes and climate of each region. In Indonesia and Singapore, where I grew up, we allow our buildings to be rough, cheap, made of local and accessible material: I can often make out the subtle grain of the cheap timber formwork from construction, rough surfaces taken over and softened by moss and money plants, concrete pores penetrated by the humidity and rain
showers. We want the building to be open and unprotected, so that we get cross-ventilation while being protected from the heat. /// During my time living in Rwanda, I visited one of the local resident houses in the southern province, where I remember clearly beams of light that penetrated through the holes in different parts of the earth block walls that had fallen off through their natural aging, slowly revealing bits of natural daylighting and drawing in fresh air for the kitchen. In rural Rwanda, the tradition of building with earth is alive today. Large chunks of rural Rwanda are among the 30% of the world’s population that are housed in earth dwellings. Earth as a construction material is sustainable because it is readily available on many construction sites, and doesn’t require sourcing, transportation, or a supply chain. It is also perpetually workable. The fact that earth architecture does not contain any chemical binder like cement allows earth as a material to exist in different states before it finally fails. Comprised of only local soil and organic materials, earth structures return to the most basic state of the material system through their decomposing and decay, being reintegrated with their ecological context. Because of the high impact that forces like wind or rain have on earth architecture, earth architecture is often seen as having poor resilience, especially compared to stone or concrete. However, these forces can also be considered as natural resources and collaborators that assist the making and unmaking of architecture. Their active roles in architecture will then
be in the act of sculpting, transforming, and decomposing earth as a material. In this way, the building façade becomes the marker of time and place. /// Architecture is not a solo show. It is the result of a variety of forces, sources, and energies. Our object-centric mindset, linear workflows, and the material systems we work with today are among some of our disciplinary customs that lead us to believe that architecture is a static result. The standard understanding that surrounds architecture asks, “what does the building want, what does the program want, what does the structure want, what does the client want?â€? This limit our attentions to architecture as an object of its own. In reality architecture is part of a larger ecological system, constantly and actively interacting with forces that shape the earth. Hence, how do we use resources that work in the way that earth forces already work?
- We want architecture that speaks of the time and place, of the larger ecology. - We want the wind, the rain, and moisture to protect our building, as a source for renewal instead of as a source of building issues. - We want architecture that is single-use, that is disposable. We don’t want second chances – we don’t believe in recycling. - We don’t have time and energy for heavy lifting to hide wrinkles and cracks. We don’t want to maintain the status quo: we want building that decays, architecture that is real and now.
+ now Before we go ahead and look at how we can shift our architectural processes, let’s review how we have been practicing architecture for the past 100 years.
sand, earth, and gravel are the most dominant raw materials in construction
As mentioned in the previous section, the developments of the industrial revolution gave rise to the materials that are most commonly used today. While the materials allowed for the rapid development of the building industry over the last 100 years, it also further distances our relationship to our ecology. Although the raw materials that make up our building blocks are not far from what we used in older building techniques such as earthen architecture, the use of cement as a chemical binder limits us to a linear workflow and leads us to believe that architecture is static. Understanding how our material systems work and define our workflow, will allow us to rethink the architectural processes that we want, the architecture that might come out of it, and how we can achieve it.
Stewart Brand’s shearing layers (6S) theory
lifespan of construction materials
embodied energy
life cycle stages
recycling materials/ energy
on-site concrete recycling after demolition
landfill Economic value
Environmental value
circular process to address scarcity of raw materials (MTHøjgaard)
+ sourdough The logic of welcoming natural input in a way that can be beneficial for human beings, similar to my experience in Rwanda, can be seen in sourdough starter. Michael Pollan, in his book “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation,”3 traces the history of food processing back to about 6000 years ago when the Egyptians accidentally left their dough for days and captured the wild yeast from the air, resulting in the first leavened bread. The idea of slow fermentation by capturing wild yeast from our local natural environment is the same logic as the sourdough starter we know today. This perhaps has helped various civilizations survive many seasons of drought and famine, as he said “one cannot survive on flour and water, but one can definitely survive on bread.” 3. Michael Pollan. Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. (New York, NY: The Penguin Press, 2013), 205 – 289.
sourdough starter is made of flour, water, and salt
sourdough starter expands with feeding (plantandplate.com)
Sourdough starter is a mixture made of three basic ingredients: flour, water, and salt. As the mixture captures the wild yeast from the air, it will undergo a slow fermentation process, resulting in an airy dough ready to be processed into nutritious baked goods. In order to maintain the starter, we have to feed and discard up to 80% of the starter every feeding to keep the flavor and the feeding manageable. This discarded starter can then be used as another starter, shared with friends, or can be processed right away into baked goods. This practice continues as long as the starter lives, which can even go for more than 200 years, making the starter almost like an eternal being.
sourdough starter by Chad Robertson of Tartine (food52.com)
To summarize, sourdough starter is really a small mix of basic ingredients that capture the unique input from the local context (wild yeast), which will then turn the mixture into something useful for human beings. It can be said that the key aspects of the starter are biology, in the form of a living colony; replication in the sense of the production of a new starter from the offshoot of another starter; time in the hundreds of years that a starter can persist; and the culture of passing down the starter for the next generations. The concept of a starter—its ability to incorporate different natural inputs and to thrive as it is being passed from one hand to another through hundreds of years along with the passing of the knowledge on how to raise a particular starter—has the potential to serve as a blueprint for other disciplines, in this case architecture.
How do we design an architecture starter that can take inputs from its environment to replicate and make more and more architecture? What is the process for sourdough architecture and what kind of architecture can emerge? Exploring architecture through the logic of sourdough will allow us to be receptive to the larger ecological context: Imagining the material states and the assembly of those materials into a building system can be seen as a ‘pre-architecture’ phase in a building’s lifespan. Its interaction with both human and non-human forces over the course of its lifetime can now be seen as the architectural (customization) phase instead of decay or ‘post-architecture’. Earth as material with no chemical binding becomes a perfect site for experimentation, mainly due to its on-site availability as well as its ability to take environmental input and adjust over time. The interaction between ecological forces and earth architecture will transform earth as a material into different states that can be used to produce more architecture to respond to dynamic site conditions.
Architecture
Ecology
Water
Material
Energy
PRE-
Material + Fabrication Assembly On-Site + energy + moisture + erosion + habitation
ARCH.
Operation Decay
POST-
+ energy + energy Recycle
Demolition
Reuse
Landfill
Sourdough architecture Water
Ecology
Material
Energy
PRE-
Material + Fabrication Assembly On-Site
+ moisture + erosion + habitation
Operation Custom State
ARCH.
02
pre-architecture: w
what to cook?
clay-based subsoil as the primary source of earth construction material (Bulletin 5: Earth-Wall constrution, by G.F. Middleton, L.M. Schneider)
CEB The compressed earth block is one of the most popular material methods of constructing with earth. The size of these building blocks allows for the compaction of each unit to be more manageable in comparison to that of rammed earth?, particularly with the help of today’s mechanical presses.
Auroville Earth Institute has produced various studies in building with earth.
Gando primary school extension by Kéré Architecture image by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk
e
Overhang metal roof structure as a light covering to protect CEB from the rain Light stucture to suspend metal roof structure to allow for air circulation and load distribution Earthen roof structure for cooler interior thermal condition Concrete ring beam for load distribution and stability
Opening, either make sure that it is within the parabolic thrust line or provide support
CEB wall, can also be covered with clay plaster that ensures breathability of the structure while providing extra protection from moisture Concrete support (~30% wider from the facade to raise the structure away from moisture)
Cap to prevent water from soaking into the rammed earth structure
Opening, either make sure that it is within the parabolic thrust line or provide support
Rammed earth, working in pure compression, needs to be sealed in order to protect it from moisture.
Concrete support (~30% wider from the facade to raise the structure away from moisture).
rammed earth Rammed earth is different from CEB in that it requires a larger formwork and is manually compacted. The benefits of this method include the possibility of reusing the formwork to produce larger panels (compared to CEB) as well as the possibility to modify the type of soil in each compacted layer.
Ajijic house by Tatiana Bilbao image by Iwan Baan
dry stack stone Dry stack stone structure is an ancient construction technique that similarly does not require any chemical binders like cement or mortar, allowing it to bend and flex with the movement of the earth. This construction technique is naturally more durable than earth structures and still exists in parts of the world today, mainly in rural agricultural regions like Puglia. One of the limitations with stone structure is that it cannot be built as high due to issues related to its weight and stability.
Cannibal’s Cookbook from Matter Design documents stoneworks methods. Trullo restoration project image by Amanda Roelle
The main complication with stone structures is instability. Stones are placed so that the larger stones are on the exterior face of the surface. Gravel or smaller stones are placed on the interior of the structure to jam and keep the whole assembly in place.
sourdough architec custom state
cture:
screen = ceb + rain
compressed earth block decay due to rainfall
compressed earth block screen with patterns
ceb screen with awning
enclosure = ceb + raising damp
p
compressed earth block decay due to raising damp
compressed earth block curved wall enclosure
curved ceb wall
bench = ceb + wind
compressed earth block decay due to erosion
compressed earth block + bench
bench for leaning, working, and capturing material
window = rammed earth + ra
ain
rammed earth wall decay due to rainfall
rammed earth wall with a window/ opening
window with a ramp
arch = rammed earth + ra
aising damp
rammed earth wall decay due to raising damp
rammed earth wall is sculpted to have arch opening
arch opening
corner = rammed earth + wi
ind
rammed earth wall decay due to erosion
rammed earth wall with unique corner condition
corner opening
canopy = stone + rain
stone wall collapse due to loose assembly
stabilized stone wall with root systems
stone wall and tree canopy
microclimate = stone + water press
sure
stone wall collapse due to hydrostatic pressure at the base
stabilized stone wall with microclimate
stone wall with micronursery
03
year 2: what can a starter b
become?
year 5: more architecture
year 10: more and more arc
chitecture
bibliography 01 thinking about the deep time Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built. New York, NY: The Penguin Press, 1994. Mostafavi, Mohsen and David Leatherbarrow. On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1993. Pollan, Michael. Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. New York, NY: The Penguin Press, 2013. Shaw, Christine and Etienne Turpin, ed. The Work of Wind: Land. Berlin: K-Verlag, 2018. Turpin, Etienne, ed. Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy. Ann Arbor, MI: Open Humanities Press, 2013.
02 sourdough architecture Bui, Q.B., et al.. “Durability of rammed earth walls exposed for 20 years to natural weathering” in Building and Environment 44 (2009) : 912 - 919. Clifford, Brandon. The Cannibal’s Cookbook: Mining Myths of Cyclopean Constructions. Cambridge, MA: Matter Design, 2017. Gramlich, Ashley Nicolle. “A Concise History of the Use of the Rammed Earth Building Technique including Information on Methods of Preservation, Repair, and Maintenance.” Master’s Thesis. University of Oregon, 2013.
Hall, Matthew R., et al. ed. Modern Earth Buildings: Materials, Engineering, Constructions and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Publishing, 2012. Rigassi, Vincent and CRATerre-EAG. Compressed Earth Blocks: Volume 1: Manual of Production. Leipzig: : Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, 1995. Spennemann, Dirk H.R.. “Diachronic Observations of the Decay of a Pisé Building at Jugiong (NSW)” in Institute for Land, Water and Society Re port no 85. Albury, NSW: Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University, 2015. Spennemann, Dirk H.R..“Patterns of environmental decay affecting historic and modern pisé walls.” Conference presentation at the Earth Building Association Australia Conference, Albury, NSW, November 2017. Warren, John. Conservation of Earth Structures. Oxford: : Butterworth Heinemann, 1999.