Rammed Earth House

Project Info

Built from Douglas fir, oak and rammed earth, this residential project demonstrates how natural materials and traditional craftsmanship can shape a contemporary family home. 

Standing on the site of a former brickworks in Wiltshire, Rammed Earth House is deeply connected to its landscape. Its walls are formed from clay excavated on site, demolition aggregate from former outbuildings and locally quarried limestone gravel, making it one of only a handful of UK homes built using unstabilised rammed earth – a circular construction method that contains no cement. 

Timber plays an equally important role throughout the project, bringing warmth, texture and finely crafted detail to the architecture. A UK-grown Douglas fir frame provides the building’s structure, while oak is used for windows, doors, flooring, hand-carved stairs and bespoke fittings. Elsewhere, reclaimed greenheart forms an external colonnade, cedar shingles wrap the roof, and thoughtful timber details continue throughout the interiors, creating a calm and tactile atmosphere. 

The project celebrates the potential of natural and reclaimed materials at every scale. The reclaimed greenheart, sourced from an old dockyard, was jointed using only pegs and wedges without glue, cement or screws. Together, the timber and earth construction offers a contemporary interpretation of the English country house, grounded in permanence, tactility and craft.