In this Dezeen Studio video, architecture reporter Amy Peacock answers everything you need to know about building with cob.
Following on from Dezeen’s latest editorial series Building with Cob, Peacock investigates the history, modern uses and latest innovations in cob building.
Cob is an ancient building material that’s made by combining clay-rich subsoil with straw and water.
Cob is an earth based construction material. Image courtesy of Global Generation
Due to the availability of these materials, buildings that make use of cob can be found across the world, stretching back to the prehistoric era.
The material became popular in the UK in the 13th century, with many traditional cob houses found in Devon and Cornwall in particular.
However, following the rise of industrialisation in the 1700s, cob soon fell out of favour, with builders instead moving to more easily mass-produced materials such as brick and cement.
But in the 21st century, cob has started making a comeback. In 2005, the Associated Architects-designed Cobtun house won the RIBA Sustainability Award, and cob began gaining attention again for its sustainability credentials.
Cob has several beneficial properties, such a being low-carbon, non-toxic, compostable and reusable.
It’s also been lauded for its moisture-regulating properties, as well as being completely fireproof.
In 2017, researcher Steve Goodhew at the University of Plymouth, together with Hudson Architects, developed a new building system called CobBauge, which aimed to bring the material up to modern building standards.
The CobBauge project aims to build 1,500 cob houses across France and the UK. Image courtesy of Hudson Architects, photography by Joakin Borén.
More recently, researcher Tavs Jorgensen created a method of extruding cob into brick shapes to make the material more accessible to work with.
So can cob become part of the mainstream again?
According to Peacock, cob shouldn’t be seen as a silver bullet; however, it can be a useful part of our toolkits in part of a wider return to earthen construction and an incentive to think about how we can build more sustainably for the future.
This video is the latest in a series of Dezeen Studio-produced videos exploring design and architecture history. Previous installations covered everything you need to know about art deco and the most iconic mid-century chair designs in history.
Thumbnail image courtesy of Tiny Farm Lab.
Illustration by Laura Coutinho
Building with Cob
This article is part of Dezeen’s Building with Cob series investigating modern uses of cob – an ancient building material made from clay-rich soil, straw and water – and exploring whether it can become a mainstream alternative to planet-damaging construction methods.
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