Between the geological earth and the rubble turned ground, architecture happens. It is in the cycles that happen between those two moments that the Flying Earth proposal is developed. Addressing the Trienalle challenges, it explores how the Earth’s most sourceable matter may provide the human being with an infinitely available and carbon-free material, contributing to an alignment with the current circular economy paradigm. Earthen materials, such as adobe bricks, fired clay or stone, are relevant to construction as they exhibit physical properties such as high levels of compressive resistance, thermal inertia and index of reusability. With the wit of men these materials have been tamed to fly using their own weight to shape arches and vaults overtime, with increasing complexity and efficiency, also supporting the creation of a variety of forms from amorphous to modular. The Flying Earth proposal aims at achieving circularity and reducing the carbon footprint of construction by proposing a novel building production system to encourage the use of earthen materials in architecture. In the age of climate change, it is decisive to give a new opportunity for employing traditional and sustainable earthen materials in architecture, and thus fight the disastrous emissions caused by the building construction industry and its insistence in concrete and steelbased systems.
Sousa, Jose Pedro, Pedro Azambuja Varela, Orkan Guzelci, Igor Lacroix, and Adrian Krezlik. 2022. “Flying Earth.” Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa.
Renderings by Mateus Pimenta.