2024 - Rammed Earth for Daylight

The project investigates the dual use of daylight for social well-being and urban food production. The manipulation of daylight in the building is framed by a methodology of self-built rammed earth construction. The building’s program consists of a community kitchen and social housing, addressing local food and housing insecurities that particularly impact the local Bangladeshi community.

Rammed earth is employed as a central material in the building’s daylighting strategy. Sloping rammed earth walls and clerestory openings provide ample lighting for interior service and living spaces, while block construction allows for greater exploitation of daylight for food growing through verticality. The profiled rammed earth gives the fluted, high street-facing south facade a strong character and earthen identity, amplified by its relationship with daylight. The inherent relationship between rammed earth and excavation influences the building to work with daylight at multiple levels, including the lower ground floor, where openings within the earth construction allow light to penetrate into kitchen spaces.

The local Bangladeshi community on Commercial Road high street is part of a wider diaspora residing in East London and the UK. This group faces intersectional issues of food and housing insecurity that impact their social mobility. The proposed building aims to address these issues while exploiting daylight as a key tool in perpetuating community care through its food and housing-based program, whether by maximizing thermal comfort or using light for urban food growing strategies.