Why did Terra Firma switch to rammed earth?
We were initially drawn to rammed earth for environmental reasons. Five acres of land can only provide enough lumber for twenty houses, whereas a five-acre pit can provide enough earth for the walls of five thousand homes. We now believe that rammed earth can do just about everything better than wood-frame. The most obvious attribute of the rammed earth is the design flexibility and the opportunity for creative exterior and interior finishes. Next, we identified ten areas in which our SIREWALL™ is superior in quality to a typical wood-frame wall: indoor air quality, acoustics, energy efficiency, thermal mass, durability, low maintenance, earthquake safety, fire resistance, community-friendly, and environmentally- friendliness.
