Earth has been used as a building material by humanity throughout history. It is only since the recent introduction of industrialised, standardised building practices that earth has lost its credibility as a building material. A resurgence of earth architecture can be seen over the last two decades, although innovation in rammed earth is relatively untapped. Current innovations in pre-fabrication, mechanisation and geometric variation are still confined by undynamic and conventional formwork limitations.

Selective Earth Forming (SEF) aims to address these limitations and achieve geometric freedom without the need for one-off formwork. Capitalising on the adaptable properties of earth, it can be harnessed in its non-binding state to dictate form through the selective deposition of intentional ‘fault lines’ throughout the fabrication of the rammed earth block, enabling a fully circular and uncontaminated material cycle. In this way, 3D printing principles can be applied to enable a flexible sub-practice within rammed earth construction that helps free it from its geometric constraints and provide a strategy that suitably augments the functional capabilities of rammed earth.