Structural potential of excavated earth

Load bearing earth buildings can last longer than 700 years and reach more than 25 meters high. At an age where sand and gravel resource depletion puts even greater pressure on dwindling supply chains, we need to reimagine excavation soils as building material rather than waste. Earth’s thermal mass and hygroscopic properties offer superior internal building fabric which can significantly lower energy demands, improve humidity levels, and enhance thermal comfort. The combination of locally obtained earth with natural fibers such as straw and hemp shive presents one of the most sustainable solutions we have got.  

DSDHA teamed up with Webb Yates and Atelier Ten to test the design of a five-storey terraced building using mostly earth and natural fibers. The prototype which will be presented for the first time during the talk, challenges our current structural and environmental understandings of what is possible with earth, demonstrating the potential for significant operational energy and embodied carbon reduction when constructing medium-rise buildings. 

This lecture demonstrates the untapped potential of site excavated earth for load bearing and non-load bearing purposes. It will help you understand how earth plays a pivotal role in the process of decarbonization of the construction industry and the key principles of regenerative design, including: 

• regenerative design principles 

• structural use of earth 

• overcoming the low flexural strength of earth blocks and mortar 

• pushing the building envelope closer to no heating/no cooling design 

Speakers

Ivan Jovanovic

Ivan Jovanovic

Director, Atelier Ten

Ivan is Director at Atelier Ten with 28+ years’ experience delivering high‑performance, low‑carbon projects through advanced environmental analysis, regenerative design strategies, and circular construction methodologies. He leads Atelier Ten’s 30‑member sustainability and environmental engineering group in London, specialising in building physics, computational modelling, whole‑life carbon assessment, and performance benchmarking. Ivan lectures regularly in the UK and internationally, is engaged with UK and European industry initiatives, and serves as a RIBA Awards juror.

Alex Lynes

Alex Lynes

Associate Director, Webb Yates

Alex Lynes is an Associate Director at Webb Yates, where he has developed their specialist knowledge of structural stone design and other low‑carbon, unusual materials. Winner of the IStructE Young Structural Engineer award in 2015 and the IABSE Nethercot Prize in 2022, he is a chapter author of the RIBA Materials: An Environmental Primer and is developing structural stone design guidance. He leads the internal sustainability group, the Planeteers, and works on award‑winning projects from stone staircases and straw bale schools to major retrofits and mass timber offices.

Nikolay Shahpazov

Nikolay Shahpazov

Senior Architect, DSDHA

Nikolay is a sustainability advocate focusing on the implementation of regenerative building materials and systems. He pioneered the use of earth blocks made from site-excavated subsoil on large-scale projects. Nikolay is part of DSDHA’s sustainability and material innovation groups. He studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London, graduating in 2007, winning the Alex Stanhope Forbes Prize.

Chair: Rossella Nicolin

Chair: Rossella Nicolin

Head of Sustainability (EU), Laing O’Rourke

Rossella Nicolin is Head of Sustainability for Europe in Laing O’Rourke. She is an experienced engineering professional and passionate driver for sustainability in the construction industry, having held senior leadership positions across engineering and sustainability. An award‑winning engineer with almost 20 years of international experience, she is a Chartered Structural and Civil Engineer in the UK, a licensed Professional Engineer in the USA, and a Fellow of both ICE and IStructE.