Rammed Earth House | Tuckey Design Studio

On the site of a former brickworks in rural Wiltshire, architects Tuckey Design Studio have completed the construction of a bold and boundary-pushing new residential project, crafted from one of the oldest and most sustainable building materials: rammed earth.

Since as far back as the Neolithic era, rammed earth has been used as a building technique, and rammed earth buildings are found all over the world. At its simplest, a compacted mixture of materials such as clay, sand and gravel is used to form solid walls, resulting in highly durable, energy-efficient structures. Despite its obvious benefits, however, rammed earth – along with other labour-intensive traditional construction methods – fell out of favour in the 20th century, with the rise of rapid, large-scale, aesthetically homogenous housing developments.

Today, as the call for a more sustainable, less extractive approach to architecture intensifies, Tuckey Design Studio is championing the reassessment of rammed earth as a commercially viable, high-performance, visually and texturally beautiful eco building material – and the studio’s recently completed Rammed Earth House makes a compelling case for its revival.

Breaking and moulding

The concept for Rammed Earth House emerged from the confluence of the clients’ aspirations, the context of the setting, the geology of the site, and the expertise and ambition of a multi-disciplinary design team, appointed at the outset, beginning with Todhunter Earle Interiors. Having acquired a 63-acre property in rural Wiltshire, the owners set out to transform the scattering of unremarkable Victorian buildings and unwelcome 1990s additions into an unconventional, daring and contextually rooted country homestead grounded in an environmental sensibility.

“While designing their house in London, before they even bought the land, we began conversations with our clients about creating a house that redefined all traditional concepts of ‘the English Country House’ – how to embrace nature, maximise views, and immerse the house in its landscape but with interiors that are as interesting as they are comfortable.” – Emily Todhunter, co-founder, Todhunter Earle Interiors

The site is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now termed National Landscape), so there was an obligation to impact the setting as little as possible, as well as protecting local biodiversity.

As a former brickworks, the site had a documented history of material being drawn from the ground, and further research into the site – notably, with reference to William Smith’s 1815 geological map of England – revealed that the grounds were set within an area of clay-rich soil. Tuckey Design Studio realised that the site therefore presented an exciting opportunity to depart from its typical work in renovation and retrofit, and to instead explore the possibilities of rammed earth in new-build architecture – making use of the on-site resources to realise the owner’s unique vision for their home.

Apart from a few subsidiary Victorian brick cottages, which were retained and retrofitted, the existing buildings were demolished, and the resulting demolition aggregate was combined with clay excavated from the site to create the raw material for the home’s monolithic walls, significantly reducing the need for material deliveries by truck. Rammed Earth House emerged, quite literally, from the rubble.

“We didn’t need to bring many materials to site. Instead, we turned the site into a quarry; digging, drying and sifting the clay. It has been deeply satisfying to watch the building emerge from this ensemble of elements sourced directly around us.” – Jonathan Tuckey, Tuckey Design Studio

Learning on the job

With rammed earth being an uncommon technique, and largely uncharted territory at this scale in the United Kingdom, the project drew on the expertise of a varied team of experts and consultants, including the renowned Austrian specialist Martin Rauch of Lehm ton Erde, who had previously worked on the Ricola Herb Centre industrial facility in Switzerland – a case study in rammed earth construction at scale.

For the first six months, the site became a laboratory, allowing the team to explore and test material blends and trial different approaches and applications. The team was determined to avoid the cement and lime stabilisers that are often added to rammed earth materials to improve strength and durability – ensuring the project is a rare and notable example of more circular, unstabilised rammed-earth construction, relying only on soil and aggregates so the house would, both visually and materially, ‘belong’ to the setting.

Once the optimal composition had been determined (a 25/25/25/25 ratio of clay, demolition aggregate formed of crushed brick and concrete, locally sourced limestone gravel, all mixed with water), construction began on the house’s walls, which were built up in layers within formwork and compressed manually by builders walking up and down on top using a rammer.

The castle on the hill

Designed well, unstabilised rammed earth can extend for over a hundred metres without any joints for movement, and can create dramatically sweeping, multi-storey façades. Up to one-metre thick, the rammed-earth walls cradle bedrooms, snugs and nooks throughout the house, but also give way to carved forms such as benches and niches for objects – like the poches of a medieval castle. Inside, the walls are finished with a casein coating, which minimises dust and protects the aggregate, and creates beautifully reflective flooring and benches, with a surface texture akin to terrazzo. Inside the design sensibility is informed by the client and architect’s shared appreciation of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s seminal essay on aesthetics ‘In Praise of Shadows’. There is a purity to the assembly of materials which are complemented with natural material accents, including limestone, oak, clay plaster and copper.

“There is an elemental beauty to rammed earth construction. It's all encompassing; its thick walls and monolithic character presenting architectural opportunities at every turn. The rammed earth layers expose the labour of ‘making’ like geological human time. There’s a rich detail in its simplicity.” – Emaad Damda, Associate Architect, Tuckey Design Studio

This backdrop creates a monastic, meditative atmosphere, enhanced by features such as vaulted bathroom ceilings, built-in window seats and a turret spiral staircase. Interior details are consistent with the reflective mood and rustic design language created by the apparently rudimentary building process, emphasising the beauty of simple functionality with tactile crafted touch points including door locks, handles, hinges and a bespoke bell pull.

“The challenge was to balance the architectural sensibility of the project with the clients’ very textured lives and possessions, while also reversing the traditional country-house concept of shutting out the elements by closing the curtains and lighting the fire.” – Emily Todhunter, Director, Todhunter Earle Interiors

At one with the land

The sweeping Wiltshire pasture outside has been sensitively framed through thoughtfully positioned windows that punch through the thick walls, cultivating an evolving sense of discovery as you pass through the house, and preventing a singular view from giving away the full beauty and intrigue of the place too quickly. The two main rammed earth volumes are linked via a kitchen/dining pavilion, offering sight lines to the walled gardens on both sides and the sweeping south- facing vista. The monumental walls contrast with the delicate timber-and-glass link protruding behind, which allows the residents to appreciate the serene courtyards and gardens that have been woven around and through the building’s layout by garden designer Pip Morrison.

Like its constituent materials, the orientation of the house and grounds is led by the landscape, with the main wall following the axis of the adjacent treeline and wildflowers, fields and garden hugging the building’s perimeter. Tuckey Design Studio’s fragmented plan orientates each room to optimise solar gain and create extensive framed vistas overlooking the countryside. Other notable features of the surroundings – the dense woodland around the house, the Iron Age fort on the other side of the vale that serves as the only other sign of human settlement – are reflected in the ‘camp-like’ feel that has been established on the site, as though a civilisation-in-miniature has sprung up among the trees.

Inherently in tune with its setting

Now complete, Rammed Earth House sits quietly but majestically in the landscape from which it has grown. Simple and sedate, formed by function, it is a fresh and modern take on the English country house, shaped by natural building techniques that date back thousands of years – and could well define thousands more.

“The project has been a labour of love from all involved, with every material and detailing crafted by a skilled team that have become enamoured by working with rammed earth. What started as a venture into the unknown has breathed confidence in the ability to work with rammed earth in an efficient and nuanced manner. What emerges is a building distinctly hand-made, something which is becoming more alien in our industry and would be wonderful to rediscover.” – Jonathan Tuckey, Tuckey Design Studio

2026 RIBA National Award's Jury citation

This project began quietly, with no intention of spectacle, yet it has emerged as something profound and exceptional. It is a house in the country that refuses the clichés of a “country house”, instead revealing a careful, layered understanding of place, landscape, and material warmth. It evolved through a deep collaboration and mutual commitment between the architects and clients to achieve something very special. The clients approached the brief with rare generosity and courage, providing the team with freedom, resources, and belief rather than prescriptive direction. Their trust allowed an exceptional group of architects, craftsmen, contractors, and consultants to explore, test, and push the boundaries of material and space, producing a home that is as much a construction of ideas as it is a lived environment. Rammed earth drawn from the site itself anchors the house, connecting it to its geology and history, while spaces unfold with remarkable subtlety around light, views, and gardens. The reuse of demolition materials as aggregate within the dense earth walls is a clever continuation of the past buildings into the present use and lends a deep texture and patina to the spaces. The architecture anticipates time: it welcomes weathering, seasonal change, and the natural processes of ageing, embracing them as part of the house’s richness rather than as limitations. Formal and informal landscapes sit in deliberate tension, and every spatial experience – from intimate interiors to expansive views – is meticulously composed. This is a house that reconciles innovation with tradition, craft with creativity, and generosity with ambition. It demonstrates how architecture can inhabit a place with warmth, intelligence, and grace, offering a phenomenological experience of exceptional depth. The project is a testament to what can be achieved when clients, designers, and makers come together with vision, courage, and trust – creating not just a home, but a richly layered work of architecture that resonates simultaneously with past, present, and future.

Rammed Earth House

Location Wiltshire

Project size 810 square metres

Environmental measures natural materials, reclaimed materials, high thermal mass and insulation, triple glazing, ground source heat pump, photovoltaics, rainwater collection

Construction commencement March 2021

Completion June 2024

Project leader Emaad Damda, James Moore

Design team Emma Carroll, Emaad Damda, Ross Langtree, James Moore, Karolina Szlauer, Jonathan Tuckey, Molly Wheeler

Architectural design Tuckey Design Studio

Interior design Todhunter Earle Interiors

Structural engineer Webb Yates Engineers

Quantity surveyor Dadson & Butler

Contractor Stonewood Builders

Services engineer SGA Consulting

Landscape architect Pip Morrison

Lighting consultant John Cullen Lighting

Sustainability consultant The Healthy Home

Rammed Earth consultant Lehm Ton Erde

Ecological consultant Peach Ecology

Timber framers Timber Frame Company

Stair joinery Robert Lynch

Joinery Somer, Willow & White, Oakwrights Monk, Edward Collinson, Penchard, William Garvey, Orwells Furniture

AV specialists Edison Projects

Planning consultant Brimble, Lea & Partners

Kitchen joinery Orwells Furniture

Photography Fran Mart, James Brittain, Jim Stephenson, Nick Ingram