Earth construction workshop
MST “Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra”
São Paulo, Brazil, 2025
This earth construction workshop led by Angèle Keserwany in collaboration with Alain Briatt (Laboraterra), is part of the Canteiro Escola Nacional, held at the MST settlement of Egidio Brunetto I, Lagoinha, Sao Paolo.
The Canteiro Escola Nacional was created through a partnership of social movements, rural and construction workers, universities, technical advisory teams, and international associations. Its goal is to offer hands-on training in popular agroecological construction:
“Training in Agroecological Construction: Canteiro Escola for a Participatory, Healthy and Innovative Rural-Housing Process”
The earth construction workshop was preceded by preparatory sessions , courses and workshops at FAUUSP, where engineering and architecture students received introductory training in earthen construction. This provided a foundation in earthen techniques and principles, preparing them to engage actively in the field workshop with the MSTcomunity.
The primary objective of the workshop was to identify and harness local resources and knowledge within the settlement territory, developing construction techniques that transform what is locally available into valuable building materials. Earth was collected from seven different locations within the settlement territories, chosen according to various criteria such as elevation, from the lowest plot near the river to the highest point.
Beyond simply sharing technical know-how, the workshop aimed to empower the community with the tools that allow them to freely imagine experiment, create, and adapt on their own.
Natural materials such as earth are inherently variable and cannot be standardized with fixed recipes, why it was crucial that participants learn how to characterize these resources and conduct experiments to identify the most effective mixture and construction techniques.
The workshop led participants through every stage, from identifying construction resources in the territory to setting up experimental labs for developing materials and techniques.
This process empowers the community to apply their knowledge and creativity to formulate materials and methods suited to their evolving context.
To maintain harmony between architecture, agriculture and the ecosystem, two main factors guided the formulation of earth-based materials and the choice of construction techniques: the needs and waste streams of agriculture, and the availability and seasonal cycles of local resources.
For example, we deliberately maximized the use of invasive plants, such as capim grass and taboa (Typha), while minimizing the use of sand, which is scarce in the region and whose uncontrolled extraction severely damages the environment. Sand was therefore reserved only for the final thin plaster layer to prevent cracking and combined with other ingredients, such as ash.
Another example is the use of horse and cow extracts: only small amounts were added to the finishing layer, as these extracts serve as valuable fertilizers for agriculture, particularly important in the Egidio Brunetto settlement, where animal husbandry remains limited.
Cupinzeiros (termite mounds) are vital for the ecosystem because they aerate the soil, recycle nutrients, and enhance fertility. Earth from cupinzeiros can be added to plaster mixtures as a natural stabilizer: the enzymes and organic matter produced by the termites improve soil cohesion, contribute to natural binding, and increase the durability of the material. Therefore, only earth from deserted cupinzeiros is collected and used in small quantities in the final thin plaster layer
Bamboo, a fast-growing and abundant onsite resource, was used to construct the wattle-and-daub (taipa de mão) structure, one of the country’s ancestral building techniques.
Banana pseudostems—the so-called trunks—are routinely cut back after fruiting to encourage new shoots and prevent pests or disease, producing an abundant agricultural by-product. Their strong, flexible fibers are ideal for tying bamboo elements in taipa de mão structures.
Finally, architecture built from natural materials can return harmlessly to the earth at the end of its life cycle. Once fully composted, fibers, wood, and bamboo enrich the soil with humus, slow-release nutrients, and improved structure, while earth itself can be endlessly reused to create new structures that meet the needs and comfort of future generations, completing a truly regenerative cycle of construction and renewal.
