Dominik Abbrederis was born in Feldkirch/Austria. After a three-year apprenticeship in a sports shop, he traveled and worked as a skiing and surfing instructor. He attended an outdoor guide training in Switzerland and dedicated some years to social work with children in Austria and Portugal. By coincidence, he met Martin Rauch and worked four years in his company Lehm Ton Erde. Taking part in numerous construction projects, he got to know various rammed earth techniques and their particularities. To gain a deeper understanding of earth as a building material, he attended the advanced training Fachkraft Lehm in Germany. Since 2016, he is part of the team of BASEhabitat as a construction manager. In 2021, he started his own company DADO Claywork. da-do.at
Max Weidacher is a craftsman and designer based in Vienna, Austria. He graduated as an architect at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2012. During his studies, he spent one year in Ahmedabad, India, studying at CEPT University and traveling. From 2015-2017, he studied at BASEhabitat, working on a housing project in Bihar, India. He completed his architecture studies at the Vienna University of Technology in 2024 with a collaborative applied research project in rural Uganda. Parallel to his academic projects, he has worked as a craftsman on various construction sites around the world and conducted workshops on earthen building techniques. Focusing on circular economy in art, design, and architecture, he co-founded the studio zirkacirca.com.
Visiting Expert Martin Rauch
Martin Rauch founded the company Lehm Ton Erde Baukunst GmbH in 1999, in Schlins, Austria. In cooperation with BASEhabitat, he led several international workshops also in Bangladesh, South Africa, and Austria. Since 2010, he is an honorary professor from the UNESCO chair for Earthen Architecture. www.lehmtonerde.at
Photo: Stefanie Hueber
Photo: Stefanie Hueber
Selection of Projects
Dominik Abbrederis
-
Production- and Building Manager with Lehm Ton Erde
Ricola Herb center,
Basel, Switzerland 2012-2013
Swiss Ornithological Centre
Switzerland 2013-2014
ETH Earth Dome
Zurich, Switzerland 2014
King Abdulaziz Center
Saudi Arabia 2014-2015 -
Personal Projects
La Bodega, Mexico 2013-2014
Housing Project, Benin 2015-2016
Interior Design, Paraguay 2014
Rammed-earth oven, Austria 2015
-
Construction Management
at different sites all over the world with BASEhabitat since 2016.
-
DADO Claywork
various projects with rammed-earth, clay plaster, light loam, rammed, and clay casein in Vorarlberg, Austria since 2021.
Max Weidacher
-
Project Cooperation for Lehm Ton Erde
Reconstruction St. Martha Church
Nürnberg, Germany 2018
Mochi Restaurant
Vienna, Austria 2021 -
Project Site Management for Lehm Ton Erde
Columbarium St. Elisabeth
Bremen, Germany 2019
Hotel Adler Extension
St. Ulrich, Italy 2022 rami ceramic studio, furniture for a co-making space,
Vienna, Austria 2020
rami tea, conversion of a tea house,
Vienna, Austria 2022 Carried Maps, with Daniel Stuhlpfarrer, exhibition,
Vienna, Austria 2023
For Example Bowa Hill, with Benedikt Maas, applied research,
Vienna, Austria 2024
Workshop Content
The new location for the Summer School gives us the opportunity to build something that can stay: a rammed earth wall on the premises of Wissenscampus Kuchl. That’s why this year’s workshop will be organized as a two-week ongoing construction site!
Through the building process, we will cover the topics of material composition and preparation, layout and formwork construction, formwork filling, compacting and protocolling, as well as retouching and finishing. To ensure that all participants can engage in the entire process, the construction will be divided into two phases – week one and week two - which will come together as a whole in the end.
In addition to the practical aspects of construction and the use of various tools, we will also learn how to organise ourselves as a group and coordinate work processes on the construction site.
Photo: Stefanie Hueber
Photo: Stefanie Hueber
Workshop Motivation
We are looking forward to continuing our series of workshops at this year’s Summer School. Sharing skills, knowledge and experiences, we are happy to learn with and from each other.
Not only is it another occasion to meet people with all kinds of backgrounds, but it also gives us a chance to pass on a bit of our passion for rammed earth and its potential.
To us, working as a team and with our hands is a truly satisfying experience. We will have a great time ramming some earth together.
