Lehm Ton Erde production hall

In the Austrian municipality of Schlins in Vorarlberg, there is a building that combines craftsmanship, innovation and ecological responsibility in an exemplary way: the Lehm Ton Erde Baukunst GmbH factory building. Developed and realized by Martin Rauch and his team, it is not only a production facility for prefabricated rammed earth elements, but also a symbol of the future of construction.

The hall was built between 2017-2020 as a further development of earlier production facilities. The aim was to make earth building suitable for industrial use without losing its design and material integrity. The pioneering project is a 67m long and up to 24m wide hall for the prefabrication of rammed earth walls with an adjoining three-storey office wing. The building, erected on a strip foundation, is a hybrid construction of load-bearing rammed earth walls and various timber construction techniques. The south wall, which is between 60 and 90cm thick, is made of locally sourced earth, which was placed in formwork and compacted on site. The surface of the wall, with its porous structure, gives it very good sound-insulating properties. This means that production is possible next to the directly adjacent residential buildings without disturbing them. Thanks to its considerable thermal mass, the earth wall also protects the hall from overheating in summer.

As part of the mechanical development of the prefabrication technology for this permanent production facility, aspects of the formwork technology, the raw material conveying technology and the cutting technology were improved. The starting point was machine equipment from previous, temporary production facilities in Laufen, Switzerland and Darmstadt, Germany. Concepts for the logistics of the prefabricated components are also being permanently optimized with regard to the recycling of sustainable materials.