Sustainable Low Cost CEB Dwellings
Morocco, 2019—

Continuing our research in extreme environments coupled with digital techniques, Gianni Botsford Architects are three years into a research project with Arup and ETH in Zurich looking at additive manufacturing in developing countries. This project develops a template design and an adaptive fabrication process for Sustainable Compressed Earth Block (CEB) dwellings for low-income countries in hot, dry climates. This project integrates digital technologies into the design and fabrication processes to reduce the requirements for high-tech equipment or skilled workers on-site and make the design compatible with conventional construction methods that are actively adopted in low-income countries using minimum infrastructure, skilled labour, and investment. The first prototype house utilises CEBs for walls and roof, negating the need for importing further materials, and is being constructed in a village north of Marrakech, Morocco.