Earth Architecture between Utopy and Reality

For the past year, I’ve been following the evolution of friends’ projects built with raw earth, and I feel compelled to share a reality that is rarely discussed by so-called "eco-conscious" individuals. I wish to avoid extremes and exclusion in the name of what I call dogmatic and rigid environmentalism.

The reality on the ground is that earth architecture is a practice that requires a certain "militancy." It is a form of architecture driven by community, supported by passionate individuals who dare to break away from conventional approaches.

When someone wants a modern house built from earth, very little expertise or guarantees are offered to clients. Skilled builders often discourage or even refuse to work with materials they cannot provide guarantees for, even artisanal compressed earth blocks (BTC). One might opt for a symbolic wall or a small-scale experiment to show good faith, but it rarely goes further.

In fact, I don’t know of any architects, even those who label themselves as eco-conscious, who have completed an entire project from A to Z using earth. Yet, many promote the utopia, which, in my view, borders on irresponsibility at times.

As for myself, I’ve proposed raw earth solutions when the context was appropriate, and the client was willing to take the risk. However, we must acknowledge that such initiatives remain marginal in a field where guarantees and reliability are essential criteria. It’s time to reassess these idealistic discourses and confront the utopias with the concrete realities of construction.