From Brittany to Europe,
in the footsteps of cob and clay
Starting from the observation that while raw earth construction is well documented in France, few works or projects reflect European raw earth heritage, and even fewer the construction techniques of cob and wattle and daub which can be made invisible by the more systematic media coverage of rammed earth.
Thus the Terres d'Argiles association is organized around a main project: a tour of Europe to meet professionals in the cob and clay industry and more specific actions to disseminate, promote and transmit know-how.
To learn more about the European tour, visit the “the route” page of our website!
The association
The Terres d'Argiles association has its roots in Brittany, at the intersection of preserving old buildings and reinterpreting these skills for eco-construction. Its goal is to promote and document the expertise of raw earth construction in Brittany and throughout the rest of Europe. We are particularly interested in cob and wattle and daub, the two traditional construction techniques found in our region.
raw earth in a few words
A monolithic construction technique composed of a mixture of clayey earth and fibers. It is historically characterized by direct implementation by stacking successive layers of earth-fiber mixture. More recently, we find cob formwork, the implementation of which is similar to that of rammed earth.
In France, these cob constructions are found mainly in the northwest, particularly in the Brittany region where the climatic conditions and the nature of the earth are particularly favorable to this construction technique.
The traditional cob
In Brittany, raw earth construction is characterized by cob and wattle and daub, two types of construction from a local historical heritage that are nevertheless found throughout Europe.
The Terres d'Argiles association offers the opportunity to discover, share and compare construction techniques and know-how from European territories with those of Brittany.
To this end, we would like to meet European artisans and economic players in this raw earth, cob and clay sector.
