1
00:00:01,096 --> 00:00:04,453
It was the end of October
in the mountains in Austria.

2
00:00:05,442 --> 00:00:08,878
I was there on a field trip
with my architecture students from Zurich.

3
00:00:09,660 --> 00:00:13,026
And when we reached a high valley,

4
00:00:13,799 --> 00:00:16,268
I surprised them with the news
that there was no hut

5
00:00:16,292 --> 00:00:17,910
or hotel booked for the night.

6
00:00:19,552 --> 00:00:21,219
It was not a mistake.

7
00:00:21,243 --> 00:00:23,131
It was totally on purpose.

8
00:00:25,093 --> 00:00:28,910
The challenge was to build our own shelter
with whatever we could find.

9
00:00:30,662 --> 00:00:32,054
And we all survived.

10
00:00:32,078 --> 00:00:34,371
It was cold, it was really tough ...

11
00:00:35,022 --> 00:00:37,705
and it was a great learning experience

12
00:00:37,729 --> 00:00:41,539
to discover that there are a lot
of resources given by nature for free,

13
00:00:41,563 --> 00:00:45,380
and all that we need
is our sensitivity to see them ...

14
00:00:46,210 --> 00:00:48,210
and our creativity to use them.

15
00:00:50,330 --> 00:00:53,417
I found myself in a similar situation.

16
00:00:54,425 --> 00:00:58,926
When I was an architecture student
about 13 years ago,

17
00:00:58,950 --> 00:01:02,239
I went to Bangladesh
to a remote village called Rudrapur

18
00:01:02,263 --> 00:01:05,628
with the aim to design and build
a school as my thesis project.

19
00:01:06,188 --> 00:01:09,383
I had lived in that village before
when I was 19 and a volunteer

20
00:01:09,407 --> 00:01:12,344
at Dipshikha, a Bangladeshi NGO
for rural development.

21
00:01:12,368 --> 00:01:14,050
And what I had learned from them

22
00:01:14,074 --> 00:01:18,852
was that the most sustainable strategy
for sustainable development

23
00:01:18,876 --> 00:01:24,035
is to cherish and to use
your very own resources and potential,

24
00:01:24,059 --> 00:01:27,488
and not get dependent on external factors.

25
00:01:27,512 --> 00:01:30,368
And this is what I tried to do
with my architecture as well.

26
00:01:31,359 --> 00:01:34,740
In terms of suitable building
materials for my school,

27
00:01:34,764 --> 00:01:36,192
I didn't have to look far.

28
00:01:36,718 --> 00:01:38,573
They were right under my feet:

29
00:01:39,732 --> 00:01:43,587
mud, earth, dirt, clay,
however you call it ...

30
00:01:44,788 --> 00:01:47,121
and bamboo that was growing all around.

31
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,535
Electricity in remote Bangladesh is rare,

32
00:01:53,559 --> 00:01:54,765
but we didn't need it.

33
00:01:54,789 --> 00:01:56,388
We had human energy

34
00:01:56,412 --> 00:01:58,610
and the people were happy
to have the work.

35
00:02:00,188 --> 00:02:02,127
Tools were an issue too,

36
00:02:02,151 --> 00:02:03,714
but we had these guys,

37
00:02:03,738 --> 00:02:05,166
water buffalos.

38
00:02:06,730 --> 00:02:08,866
We had also tried a bit cows,

39
00:02:08,890 --> 00:02:11,469
but interestingly,
they were too intelligent.

40
00:02:12,010 --> 00:02:14,906
They were always stepping
in the holes of the previous round.

41
00:02:14,930 --> 00:02:16,788
They wouldn't mix the mud, the straw --

42
00:02:16,812 --> 00:02:17,862
(Laughter)

43
00:02:17,886 --> 00:02:20,521
the sand, which are
the ingredients in the walls.

44
00:02:22,171 --> 00:02:24,545
And except a small team of consultants

45
00:02:24,569 --> 00:02:26,672
like my partner
for realization, Eike Roswag,

46
00:02:26,696 --> 00:02:29,314
and my basket-weaver cousin Emmanuel,

47
00:02:29,338 --> 00:02:33,696
it was all built by craftsmen
from the village.

48
00:02:35,613 --> 00:02:38,897
And this is the METI school
after six months of construction.

49
00:02:38,921 --> 00:02:41,264
(Applause)

50
00:02:41,288 --> 00:02:42,447
Thank you.

51
00:02:42,471 --> 00:02:44,073
(Applause)

52
00:02:44,097 --> 00:02:48,202
Load-bearing earth walls
that really ground the school,

53
00:02:48,226 --> 00:02:51,820
and large bamboo structures
that bring the lightness in.

54
00:02:53,635 --> 00:02:56,056
That's the classroom on the ground floor.

55
00:02:57,072 --> 00:02:58,842
Attached to it are the caves.

56
00:02:59,763 --> 00:03:02,177
They're for reading,
for snuggling, for solo work,

57
00:03:02,201 --> 00:03:03,843
for meditation, for playing ...

58
00:03:04,891 --> 00:03:06,644
and the classroom on the top.

59
00:03:09,831 --> 00:03:13,614
The children all signed
with their names in Bengali the doors,

60
00:03:13,638 --> 00:03:16,979
and they did not only sign,
they also helped building the school.

61
00:03:18,207 --> 00:03:21,109
And I'm sure you all had your hands
in mud or clay before.

62
00:03:21,133 --> 00:03:22,946
It's wonderful to touch. I love it.

63
00:03:22,970 --> 00:03:24,310
The children loved it.

64
00:03:24,894 --> 00:03:29,749
And can you imagine the feeling
of a small boy or a girl

65
00:03:29,773 --> 00:03:33,702
or an illiterate day laborer standing
in front of that school building

66
00:03:33,726 --> 00:03:35,267
and knowing that you built this

67
00:03:35,291 --> 00:03:38,885
out of the ordinary bamboo
and just the dirt underneath your feet,

68
00:03:38,909 --> 00:03:41,555
using nothing but your hands?

69
00:03:43,561 --> 00:03:49,238
That gives such an enormous boost
of trust and confidence

70
00:03:49,262 --> 00:03:51,278
in yourself and the community.

71
00:03:52,810 --> 00:03:54,294
And in the material.

72
00:03:55,348 --> 00:03:58,217
Especially mud has a very poor image.

73
00:03:58,241 --> 00:04:01,345
When we think of mud, we think of dirt --

74
00:04:01,369 --> 00:04:03,583
it's ugly, it's nondurable --

75
00:04:03,607 --> 00:04:06,138
and this is the image I want to change.

76
00:04:07,159 --> 00:04:10,906
In fact, it's the 11th rainy season
for this school now,

77
00:04:10,930 --> 00:04:14,184
really harsh, horizontal monsoon rains,

78
00:04:14,208 --> 00:04:16,755
and the walls are standing strong.

79
00:04:17,131 --> 00:04:21,640
(Applause)

80
00:04:21,664 --> 00:04:23,006
So how does it work?

81
00:04:23,030 --> 00:04:27,186
First rule, a good foundation
that keeps the wall dry from the ground,

82
00:04:27,210 --> 00:04:30,906
and second rule, a good roof
that protects from the top,

83
00:04:30,930 --> 00:04:33,440
and third rule, erosion control.

84
00:04:34,193 --> 00:04:36,479
Mud walls need speed breakers

85
00:04:36,503 --> 00:04:40,711
so that the rainwater
cannot run down the wall fast,

86
00:04:40,735 --> 00:04:44,017
and these speed breakers
could be lines of bamboo

87
00:04:44,041 --> 00:04:47,622
or stones or straw mixed into the mud,

88
00:04:47,646 --> 00:04:52,907
just like a hill needs trees or rocks
in order to prevent erosion.

89
00:04:52,931 --> 00:04:54,304
It works just the same way.

90
00:04:55,340 --> 00:04:59,373
And people always ask me
if I have to add cement to the mud,

91
00:04:59,397 --> 00:05:00,872
and the answer is no.

92
00:05:01,311 --> 00:05:05,050
There is no stabilizer,
no coating on these walls,

93
00:05:05,074 --> 00:05:06,398
only in the foundation.

94
00:05:08,294 --> 00:05:10,112
So this is the close-up of the wall

95
00:05:10,136 --> 00:05:13,596
after 10 rainy seasons,

96
00:05:13,620 --> 00:05:16,060
and as much as I grew a bit older,

97
00:05:16,084 --> 00:05:17,806
the wall got some wrinkles as well.

98
00:05:17,830 --> 00:05:19,997
The edges my not be as sharp as before,

99
00:05:20,021 --> 00:05:22,173
but it still looks pretty good,

100
00:05:22,197 --> 00:05:23,927
and if it needs repairing,

101
00:05:23,951 --> 00:05:25,942
it is really easy to do.

102
00:05:25,966 --> 00:05:27,709
You just take the broken part,

103
00:05:27,733 --> 00:05:30,471
make it wet, and put it back on the wall,

104
00:05:30,495 --> 00:05:32,518
and it will look the same as before.

105
00:05:32,542 --> 00:05:34,035
Wish that would work on me too.

106
00:05:34,059 --> 00:05:37,360
(Laughter)

107
00:05:38,685 --> 00:05:40,841
Yeah, and the great thing is,

108
00:05:40,865 --> 00:05:43,286
if an earth wall is not needed anymore,

109
00:05:43,310 --> 00:05:46,551
it can go back to the ground it came from,

110
00:05:46,575 --> 00:05:48,483
turn into a garden,

111
00:05:48,507 --> 00:05:52,030
or get fully recycled
without any loss of quality.

112
00:05:52,607 --> 00:05:54,698
There's no other material
that can do this,

113
00:05:54,722 --> 00:05:59,047
and this is why mud is so excellent
in terms of environmental performance.

114
00:06:00,421 --> 00:06:02,556
What about the economic sustainability?

115
00:06:03,252 --> 00:06:04,518
When we built the school,

116
00:06:04,542 --> 00:06:06,919
I practically lived
on the construction site,

117
00:06:06,943 --> 00:06:09,967
and in the evening, I used to go
with the workers to the market,

118
00:06:09,991 --> 00:06:12,067
and I could see how they spent the money.

119
00:06:12,984 --> 00:06:16,284
And they would buy
the vegetables from their neighbors,

120
00:06:16,308 --> 00:06:19,593
they would get a new haircut
or a new blouse from the tailor.

121
00:06:20,858 --> 00:06:24,716
And because the main part
of the building budget

122
00:06:24,740 --> 00:06:26,885
was spent on craftsmanship,

123
00:06:26,909 --> 00:06:29,341
the school wasn't just a building,

124
00:06:29,365 --> 00:06:33,529
it became a real catalyst
for local development,

125
00:06:33,553 --> 00:06:35,053
and that made me happy.

126
00:06:36,989 --> 00:06:39,387
If I had designed the school
in cement and steel,

127
00:06:39,411 --> 00:06:43,014
this money would have been exported
and lost for those families.

128
00:06:44,514 --> 00:06:48,688
(Applause)

129
00:06:49,935 --> 00:06:53,506
The building budget at that time
was 35,000 euros --

130
00:06:53,530 --> 00:06:55,491
it's probably doubled by now --

131
00:06:55,515 --> 00:06:58,603
and this is a lot of money
for that region,

132
00:06:58,627 --> 00:07:02,632
and especially because this money
is working within the community

133
00:07:02,656 --> 00:07:03,934
and rotating fast,

134
00:07:03,958 --> 00:07:05,640
and not on the stock market.

135
00:07:06,402 --> 00:07:11,259
So when it comes to the economic
sustainability of my project,

136
00:07:11,283 --> 00:07:14,529
my main question is, who gets the profit?

137
00:07:16,949 --> 00:07:18,966
How many of you in here

138
00:07:18,990 --> 00:07:21,172
have some experience
living in a mud house?

139
00:07:21,514 --> 00:07:23,551
Chris Anderson, where is your hand?

140
00:07:23,575 --> 00:07:24,632
(Laughter)

141
00:07:24,656 --> 00:07:25,830
You? OK.

142
00:07:27,139 --> 00:07:28,290
Yeah.

143
00:07:28,314 --> 00:07:31,479
It seems totally out of our focus,

144
00:07:31,503 --> 00:07:36,137
but approximately three billion people
all around the planet

145
00:07:36,161 --> 00:07:38,644
are living in earth houses,

146
00:07:38,668 --> 00:07:40,954
and it is a traditional building material

147
00:07:40,978 --> 00:07:43,691
in Europe just as much as in Africa.

148
00:07:46,076 --> 00:07:47,617
Strangely enough,

149
00:07:47,641 --> 00:07:51,306
mud is not considered worthy
of being studied at universities ...

150
00:07:52,281 --> 00:07:55,479
so I brought the dirt to Harvard,

151
00:07:55,503 --> 00:07:57,710
(Laughter)

152
00:07:57,734 --> 00:08:01,710
precisely 60 tons of dirt
right in front of the main facade

153
00:08:01,734 --> 00:08:03,336
of the Graduate School of Design.

154
00:08:05,478 --> 00:08:07,622
Students and faculty
rolled up their sleeves,

155
00:08:07,646 --> 00:08:08,801
got their hands dirty,

156
00:08:08,825 --> 00:08:12,224
and transformed the front
into a warm place for people to gather.

157
00:08:13,248 --> 00:08:14,964
Children would climb the structures,

158
00:08:14,988 --> 00:08:16,505
skaters would ride the ramp,

159
00:08:16,529 --> 00:08:18,275
students having lunch breaks,

160
00:08:18,299 --> 00:08:22,371
and it was particularly fascinating to see
how many people were touching the wall,

161
00:08:22,395 --> 00:08:26,248
and we usually don't go around cities
caressing our facades, right?

162
00:08:26,272 --> 00:08:28,133
(Laughter)

163
00:08:32,366 --> 00:08:35,013
(Laughter)

164
00:08:36,603 --> 00:08:38,610
Of course, this was a small-scale project,

165
00:08:38,634 --> 00:08:41,730
but in terms of awareness-building
and in terms of education,

166
00:08:41,754 --> 00:08:44,284
it was like an acupuncture trigger point.

167
00:08:45,701 --> 00:08:49,281
And in fact, in more and more countries,

168
00:08:49,305 --> 00:08:54,290
load-bearing earthen structures
are not allowed to be built anymore

169
00:08:54,314 --> 00:08:57,816
although they're traditional
and have lasted for hundreds of years,

170
00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:59,856
and not because the material is weak,

171
00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:03,032
but because there are
no architects and engineers

172
00:09:03,056 --> 00:09:05,492
who know how to deal with that material.

173
00:09:05,516 --> 00:09:07,190
So education on all levels,

174
00:09:07,214 --> 00:09:09,890
for craftsmen, engineers, and architects,

175
00:09:09,914 --> 00:09:11,681
is really strongly needed.

176
00:09:12,085 --> 00:09:15,429
Equally important
is technological development,

177
00:09:15,453 --> 00:09:18,546
like prefabrication developed
by my colleague Martin Rauch,

178
00:09:18,570 --> 00:09:22,556
who is an Austrian artist
and expert in earthen structures.

179
00:09:22,580 --> 00:09:26,190
And he has created technologies
for rammed earth elements,

180
00:09:26,214 --> 00:09:28,647
for prefabrication
of rammed earth elements

181
00:09:28,671 --> 00:09:32,432
that include insulation,
wall heatings and coolings

182
00:09:32,456 --> 00:09:34,257
and all sorts of electrical fittings

183
00:09:34,281 --> 00:09:36,574
that can be layered
to multistoried buildings,

184
00:09:36,598 --> 00:09:39,275
and this is important in order to scale up

185
00:09:39,299 --> 00:09:41,267
and in order to fasten up the processes,

186
00:09:41,291 --> 00:09:44,591
like in the Ricola Herb Center
in Switzerland.

187
00:09:46,555 --> 00:09:49,683
And finally, we need good built projects

188
00:09:49,707 --> 00:09:52,802
that prove you can build
with an ancient material

189
00:09:52,826 --> 00:09:54,694
in a very modern way.

190
00:09:55,434 --> 00:09:59,128
It is not a matter
of how old a material is,

191
00:09:59,152 --> 00:10:02,633
it's a matter of our creative
ability to use it today.

192
00:10:04,936 --> 00:10:07,191
These, for example, are three hostels

193
00:10:07,215 --> 00:10:09,562
that I did in China in the village Baoxi,

194
00:10:09,586 --> 00:10:12,372
about six hours by bus from Shanghai.

195
00:10:13,859 --> 00:10:16,550
The outside shape is woven bamboo,

196
00:10:16,574 --> 00:10:20,137
and the inside core
is stones and rammed earth.

197
00:10:21,058 --> 00:10:23,514
And it is a traditional building material.

198
00:10:23,538 --> 00:10:25,731
Even large parts
of the Great Wall of China

199
00:10:25,755 --> 00:10:27,400
have been built with rammed earth,

200
00:10:27,424 --> 00:10:29,717
but it's getting replaced by concrete.

201
00:10:30,411 --> 00:10:33,885
And this trend is happening very fast.

202
00:10:33,909 --> 00:10:36,885
Within only a couple of years,

203
00:10:36,909 --> 00:10:39,902
China has consumed more cement
than the United States

204
00:10:39,926 --> 00:10:42,162
in the entire 20th century.

205
00:10:42,618 --> 00:10:46,127
And this trend of replacing
natural building materials

206
00:10:46,151 --> 00:10:48,404
with materials that require
a lot of energy,

207
00:10:48,428 --> 00:10:50,214
that are energy-intensive,

208
00:10:50,238 --> 00:10:52,279
and that emit CO2,

209
00:10:52,303 --> 00:10:55,643
is really clearly contributing
to climate change.

210
00:10:55,667 --> 00:10:57,080
And we have alternatives,

211
00:10:57,104 --> 00:11:01,355
such as mud, stones, timber,
bamboo, earth,

212
00:11:01,379 --> 00:11:05,267
that are totally effective options
for all sorts of purposes.

213
00:11:05,926 --> 00:11:08,473
This, for example,
is an office building that we did

214
00:11:08,497 --> 00:11:10,878
for Omicron Electronics in Austria.

215
00:11:10,902 --> 00:11:13,799
Mud is healthy for the planet,
but also for the human bodies,

216
00:11:13,823 --> 00:11:16,465
and the material is low-tech,

217
00:11:16,489 --> 00:11:18,712
but the performance is high-tech.

218
00:11:18,736 --> 00:11:22,815
The earth walls keep the highly
sophisticated tools in the building safe

219
00:11:22,839 --> 00:11:24,750
by naturally regulating moisture.

220
00:11:25,590 --> 00:11:29,102
And this wall in my own home

221
00:11:29,126 --> 00:11:30,554
is our humidfier.

222
00:11:32,372 --> 00:11:35,302
We love our six tons of dirt at home

223
00:11:35,326 --> 00:11:37,816
not only because
it's healthy and sustainable.

224
00:11:38,397 --> 00:11:41,453
Its archaic warmth
is touching deep within.

225
00:11:42,708 --> 00:11:47,430
My personal dream is to build
a mud skyscraper right in Manhattan.

226
00:11:47,820 --> 00:11:49,859
(Laughter)

227
00:11:49,883 --> 00:11:51,034
Yeah.

228
00:11:51,058 --> 00:11:53,257
(Applause)

229
00:11:53,281 --> 00:11:54,830
And this dream isn't so crazy

230
00:11:54,854 --> 00:11:57,046
if you think of the mud city
of Shibam in Yemen

231
00:11:57,070 --> 00:11:58,935
that was built in the 16th century

232
00:11:58,959 --> 00:12:02,227
and has lasted now for 500 years.

233
00:12:03,267 --> 00:12:07,374
What was possible that long ago
is possible today as well,

234
00:12:07,398 --> 00:12:11,002
and we can apply
all our technical know-how

235
00:12:11,026 --> 00:12:13,036
to these ancient materials

236
00:12:13,060 --> 00:12:16,662
so that it meets our needs and our dreams.

237
00:12:18,403 --> 00:12:20,277
All around us,

238
00:12:20,301 --> 00:12:22,053
and just below our feet ...

239
00:12:23,060 --> 00:12:25,827
are wonderful natural building materials.

240
00:12:25,851 --> 00:12:27,226
Let's use them.

241
00:12:28,221 --> 00:12:30,137
And I deeply believe

242
00:12:30,161 --> 00:12:32,914
our homes, our work spaces, our cities

243
00:12:33,716 --> 00:12:36,295
would become more healthy and sustainable

244
00:12:37,540 --> 00:12:38,762
and more humane

245
00:12:40,087 --> 00:12:41,293
and beautiful.

246
00:12:41,932 --> 00:12:43,083
Thank you.

247
00:12:43,107 --> 00:12:48,150
(Applause)