Sponsor: Brett Snyder, M.A. Department Of Design The demand for a vast quantity of new buildings to address the need for increased housing and living standards grows simultaneously with the need to alleviate global warming and mass production of carbon emissions. To investigate solutions to these environmental challenges in design, this project explores how earthen materials naturally provide innovative properties for sustainable construction. The process involves using a combination of alternative low-carbon construction materials and methods to explore the material culture of natural building materials in an effort to move toward a more circular economy within architecture, and away from the industry's continual reliance on energy-intensive materials like steel and concrete. The final Earthen Materials Library presents an interactive display of bio-material samples, including cob, hempcrete, and straw bale, among others, in addition to a bench constructed with different natural building materials and techniques. The process was informed by a variety of technologies and practices researched in the field of vernacular architecture, which can be defined by a long history of empirical practices that have led to regionally-specific construction techniques that implement raw natural materials. Experimentation includes a variety of processes including 3D modeling, joinery techniques, woodworking, lamination, and plastering. Public Places, Parochial Praxis: Pilgrimage and Marketplace as Sites of Social Cohesion in the Peruvian Altiplano

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