Clay architecture isn’t a relic from the past but rather “an evolving building practice that has the potential to have a sustainable impact on the built environment and the relationship between man and material,” explains the University of Liechtenstein.

Last week it opened its exhibition Terra Award – Earthen architecture today, featuring clay building projects from around the world. The exhibition, of which the UN is the patron, was previously shown at the climate change conference in Marrakech and in various European cities.  

Roger Boltshauser, a Zurich-based architect and professor at the Technical University of Munich, spoke at the vernissage about his experiences with the sustainable building material. His presentation, Roger Boltshauser: Rammed Clay – Tradition and Potential, is a part of the Terra Award exhibition. Developed at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the presentation documents forgotten clay building traditions from Switzerland and France.

The exhibition also includes exhibits from the professorship of Guillaume Habert at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, demonstrating experimental methods in clay building and prototypes of clay bricks.