Rauch House

The dwelling house and studio in Schlins, Vorarlberg erected by clay builder Martin Rauch together with architect Roger Boltshauser is a model of contemporary building with clay. The publication describes the development of a house built of earth, documents the construction details and shows the ecological nature of the material clay. The motivation lies in coming closer to the varied aspects – largely unknown in the current architecture discourse – of this special rammed clay building and awakening an understanding of the material’s qualities and potential. Through formal quality the theme is rescued from the alleged naivety of the ecological movement and is given a new presence. Calm sections of text contrast with exciting sequences of images. The reader is invited to explore the house visually and in terms of content. For the lamination of the cover, the front and back endpapers and in the core a highly voluminous substrate with a haptic velvety surface was used. The book itself is more like a textbook than an illustrated book. The reliefs on the half-linen cover tell about genesis and decay.