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ABSTRACT
Over the last few decades, the construction industry has come under fire for its massive contribution to climate change and environmental degradation. As an alternate, earth based building technologies present a viable solution by taking a locally sourced material to create a low cost, low-carbon and climate appropriate building and a continuing livelihood for local unskilled labourers and masons. India already has a long tradition of earthen architecture, evident from its built heritage in rammed earth, adobe, laterite and wattle and daub found throughout the country. The 20th century has brought about the advent of 'modern' building materials like reinforced concrete, steel and fired bricks. Even rural areas have seen a large influx of these materials. Yet, there is continued relevance of earth as a building material, since earth based techniques can be made competitive in strength and structural versatility by the addition of stabilisation and reinforcement.
INTRODUCTION
India's landscape is changing at a dizzying rate as more sections of society are able to access and afford the costs of building construction. This is only the beginning of a trend. The rate of construction expenditure is estimated to grow at an annual rate of nine percent until 2018, according to Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operations and Management's1 (AECOM) annual 'Asia's Construction Outlook' report, making it the fastest growing national construction sector in the world (2013, p. 18). With the current bias towards heavily polluting, non-locally sourced materials such as steel, concrete and fired brick, it looks like the Indian construction sector will increasingly contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions that are triggering climate change. These building materials continue to maintain a near monopoly on public imagination, despite their irreversible resource depletion, polluting production procedures and requirements for long-distance transportation.
The alternatives for a more sustainable construction process vary from re-appropriation and reuse of recycled waste to adoption of renewable and locally sourced materials. One option slowly gaining attention in India is the use of earth based building technologies. These unite attributes such as cost-effectiveness, low carbon production, varied application and labour creation, making them appropriate at multiple levels. Additionally, building with earth reaffirms the long history of India's earthen construction.
EARTH AS A BUILDING MATERIAL
Earth, in great geological diversity, is available throughout...