Earth has for thousands of years been a tried and trusted natural building material, and in combination with today’s techniques, can be used in the construction of modern ecological structures. The earth beneath our feet is also the most widely used building material on the planet. Civilizations throughout time have used it to create stable, warm, lowimpact structures. The world's first skyscrapers were built of mud bricks in Shibam, a town in Yemen that is also known as ‘Manhattan of the Desert’.
Shibam consists of unique 16th century high rise apartment buildings that are still being used. About 500 of them are tower houses that rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having one or two apartments. Shibam has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1982. It is estimated that one half of the world's population – approximately three billion people on six continents – lives or works in buildings made....
