Casa Ballena

Mexican architecture firm RIMA Design Group has completed a design-build project for an arts center consisting of several connected structures made from rammed earth. The earthen walls step in relation to the site’s sloping topography, and were made using soil extracted from the ground on which they stand. There are few materials as contextual as rammed earth. The use of local soils can yield structures that carry the colors and textures of a place and appear as natural extensions of their sites. Yet, as raw as constructing with earth may seem, it is a technically complex and labor-intensive process, often restricted to certain climates, soil conditions, and buildings of limited heights and uses. The desert-like southern Baja Peni... もっと見る