Session 86 summary
Hive Earth was started by Joelle and her husband, they both co-founded it. The couple has been researching into mud construction since 2012, her husband was the one who started the research and he wanted to have the first earth community in Ghana. His interest in earth construction started when they had acquired about 200 acres of land just outside the city of Accra, and at the same time Joelle was visiting Ghana and she noticed that there was so much land and material there so there must be another way they can build rather than the leading conventional way of concrete or brick and mortar that people are used to. At that time they were really looking at alternative ways in which they can build. They looked at using clay bricks but the amount of firing that goes into clay bricks won’t be as eco-friendly as they wanted, they were looking at adobe as well but then they thought that adobe is nice but the Ghanaians have a bit round edges for their homes. Then they stumbled upon rammed earth and they thought that it could be something that they can do. So, from 2012 they started researching into rammed and they spent years on research. They spent some time researching looking at some traditional mud homes in Ghana and it also gave them some idea of how they can adapt the rammed earth technique to make it look proper in Ghana. They are all self-taught, they have never been to any rammed earth classes and it took years for them to get where they are now and they didn’t take their first client until 2018. For six years they were doing pure research.
The basis of the company is Sankofa, in their language it means ‘going back to our roots’. The rammed earth architecture they are doing at the moment, they are really looking into their past, to see how they can reflect it into the future, to make it more modern, even though rammed earth has been used for a very long time but they have also realised that earth construction is big in Africa for many years. They took inspiration from traditional Ghanaian architecture e.g. symbols on the walls which is reflected in the company’s rammed earth walls- they have textures on it, there are layers, a lot of patterns etc. as they wanted to take that traditional aesthetic and adapt it into their rammed earth work that they do today. At some point they realised that in Africa i.e. each region and each African country, the earth construction was different. The earth construction in Mali is different than the ones in Cameroon (cone like shape with patterns on the walls) – the couple took inspiration from these for their rammed earth work today which adds to the African aesthetic. The Ndeble homes of South Africa- they took inspiration from these traditional mud homes and the colours used on the walls- they also experiment with colours and pigments and as much as possible they like to experiment with natural pigments so they look forward to natural pigments in rock formation. Joelle says that they are lucky that in Ghana they get different kinds of natural pigments like orange, earth, blue, etc. they have other options also but they prefer things that complement the landscape as well as it is natural. In present times, traditional mud houses are still used in Ghana especially in the rural areas but Joelle has seen that traditional mud houses now are not popular, is not something to be proud of because it is something that is associated with the village, even when there are mud homes in the villages they would plaster them with cement to hide the fact that they are mud homes. The rammed earth technique which Hive Earth uses, they really try to reinvent how people see traditional earth construction. They spend some time in villages in the rural areas as a part of their research into mud homes and realised that there are many advantages to building a mud home like; it is natural and non-toxic, low cost, fire resistance, decentralize the construction process as materials are readily available and technology is accessible and the mud homes provide temperature insulation. They want to change the perception of mud homes they want it to look something which is very stable and share the versatility of mud homes.
A project that they did in the North of Ghana, the pillars were stabilized with cement but the walls were un-stabilised. It was a volunteer project where they actually got the community involved and people were really experimenting with what can be done and also experimented with the cost. Joelle states that with rammed earth it can be quite expensive because it is labour intensive but there they wanted to see if they could teach people how they can learn to build their own buildings and see how quickly they can learn and adapt what they have learned on their own and so they taught them the rammed earth technique rather than tradition mud technique they are used to.
At the moment they are set on changing the narrative of earth construction. So, in their projects they play a lot with colours, layers and textures and size as well. Usually people don’t think that there can be multiple storeys with this technique but Hive Earth tries to experiment with that as well like; making two storey or even three storey structures. By doing this they want to take away the old narrative that earth buildings are not strong and that they only last for some time- the mud house in Ghana lasts upto 60 years but with rammed earth buildings they can last upto 100 years. One of the good thing about rammed earth is that it is a natural wall similar to speeding up of a sedimentary rock, so the longer the rammed earth building is there for, the stronger it becomes and more compacted, especially with weathering as well with rain and sunshine the wall gets stronger. Apart from doing rammed earth walls, they also like to experiment with wall tiles and they are also looking into doing some art pieces as well. They did a wall tile work for a beach club project, they used what they call earth tile, with these tiles they use a mixture of earth, and they also use palm-kernel fibre as a stabiliser and added about 2% cement in the wall tiles. In another project they did for a store they created tiles in the shape of Louis Vuitton symbol as the Louis Vuitton products were to be displayed in the shop. They did a prototype for a community called Fihankra Community, they built an affordable type home for them. They managed to build two bedroom homes but the price exceeded than initial calculations, so they haven’t completed it and so it is not yet brought into market. But they wanted to build something for people that are living in the cramped city who want to move out of the city to something more affordable, something greener and they realised that many people wanted to do that especially with the pandemic people were really looking at the living environment and as people were working from home they wanted to make something which was self-sufficient. They had planned the houses such that it is off-grid, it has solar panels, has space for farming as well. They designed it in such a way that there is a lot of airflow in the house without any need for ACs, with rammed earth the inside of the house is 4⁰-5⁰ lower.
Some of the advantages of rammed earth are; huge thermal mass (normally their rammed earth are 300mm thick on the outside and they can have more than 200mm thick on the inside as well but due to space they choose to make it 200mm thick), noise control (they have a lot of clients who choose rammed earth due to its sound control for video room/cinema rooms), load bearing (so there is no need for iron rods so it is cost saving), sustainable (they do use little cement but not as much cement as a conventional building), low carbon footprint, moisture control (it helps to regulate the moisture in internal rooms as well) and Pest control (in Ghana they have a big problem of termites on the walls but with rammed earth they don’t have that problem as the walls are highly compressed).
Since rammed earth is labour intensive and can be costly they are looking into pre-fab rammed earth but they are facing some challenges with the transportation of pre-fab so they are still researching on it. They also tried their hands on poured earth walls which has a different process than rammed earth, the materials are poured in a liquid form and they have to increase the cement content a bit more than rammed earth. A lot of people also look into this because there are people who first look at rammed earth in person and find many textures which they didn’t realise it would have through the pictures and they still want that cemented look and feel. So, the company wants to offer something that has that same concrete looking feel but is not as cement intensive than a cemented wall. They are also looking at doing more R&D Training, increasing their strength as well.
There are a lot of exciting things coming up with hive earth. They have got a lot of architects at the moment worldwide designing with rammed earth who are really excited and the architects are really pushing the boundary with what they can do with earth and they love the challenge because they are all about pushing boundaries and change perceptions with what can be done with rammed earth and earth construction. The buildings that they are making is something which Joelle believes is what they evolved from the mud houses which is more suitable for them and their environment than the conventional concrete building.
About the Speaker
Joelle Eyeson
Joelle Eyeson is the CEO and co-founder of Hive Earth, a construction company based in Accra, Ghana. Hive Earth specializes in using locally sourced materials such as laterite, clay, stone, granite and lime, using the Rammed earth construction method to make durable and affordable structures, bringing a new and innovative solution to Ghana, and one that is replicable across the continent.
