Rhone Alps Pisé / Rammed Earth Houses
Rhone Alpes is one of the French regions where Pisé houses are the most numerous. Pisé is known as rammed earth or cobwork in English.
Cobwork /
Pisé is a building material which uses rammed earth shaped between two parallel frames called forms. This gives a really nice aspect to Rhone Alps houses.
Pisé is a “living” material that lets the air go trough the walls. It is a most natural and green material, and its colour can change slightly according to the hour and exposure to the sun of the house.
Rammed earth construction reflects, without interpretation, the natural colours of the Rhone Alps locality and can make you save on energy since the embodied energy needed to build it is so low compared to modern techniques.
Pisé houses in the Rhone Alpes region can foremost be found in the Isère depatment, where many traditional houses were built with this material since 1940.
This technique can give different aspects to the wall, depending on the amount of water used during the preparation, pisé basically being earth melt with water.
Rhone Alpes is a French region where many different house types are to be found. Wood and stones are often melt, particularly in the houses located in mountainous areas. Go to the next page of our dossier to learn more.