The project consortium, consisting of four European architecture schools, met at the University of Liechtenstein for the kick-off meeting of the three-year Erasmus+ project “Crafting Clay - Exploring Circularity with Local Earth”, which is funded by the AIBA with 400,000 Euros.

The project deals with the investigation of clay as a building material, the traditional use of which has been forgotten in the past. With modern mechanical processes, it is now possible to produce clay techniques in combination with other materials that were previously produced exclusively by hand. In this context, existing technical and craft traditions and aspects of earth building are considered and analyzed in order to learn from existing buildings and draw lessons for the future.
Against the backdrop of climate change and the need for resource-conserving construction, this subject area enables the establishment and redefinition of alternatives in the construction industry and thus enriches the European discourse on the intelligent, sustainable and resource-conserving use of materials in the long term. Through these different approaches in combination with practical expertise from the construction industry, the project creates a unique and enriching basis for new knowledge in the European context, both in the academic world and for construction practice.

The four universities involved in the partnership, University of Liechtenstein, KU Leuven (BE), Academie van Bouwkunst (NL) and NTNU Trondheim (NO), are addressing this topic and discussing and evaluating it in fundamentally different technical and cultural ways. The three-year project is being coordinated by Dr. Carmen Rist-Stadelmann and Prof. Urs Meister from the Department of Craft & Structure at the School of Architecture at the University of Liechtenstein. Upon completion, the results will be presented to the public at a symposium, on the websites of the respective partner universities and in a publication by Park Books Verlag, Zurich.