Abstract

Analyses of research in sustainable natural architecture in Europe show a significant gap between experts involved in practice and academia. The differences of paradigms between practitioners and academics are broad and widespread. This has its roots in the way in which science is funded but also in the mechanisms of free market which paradoxically are reluctant to support the development of technologies which are cheap and available. These differences translate into insufficient research dedicated to cheap, sustainable, unprocessed materials and low-tech technologies such as rammed earth, straw bale, or light clay construction. As a result building methods employing unprocessed material are largely underdeveloped and often lay outside of researchers’ interest.