PISÉ_Rammed Earth Sculpture by Michael Cohen and Cody Campanie_USA

Michael Robinson Cohen and Cody Campanie present the first stages of their newest project, Pisé, a rammed earth sculpture built at Pontchartrain Vineyard in Covington, LA.

Artist's Statement

Earth building is the oldest form of construction in the world. Civilizations around the world have relied on earth as a readily available and durable building material. Today over half the world's population lives in earth structures. Of the various earth building techniques, pisé or rammed earth construction stands as the most efficient, precise and long lasting. The method involves pouring moist soil into a wooden board form and continuously compressing the earth with a tampering device. Upon reaching a desired wall height, the board form is removed and a solid earth wall is exposed. When done properly, a rammed earth wall is structurally as strong as hollow core concrete and timber frame walls.

By eliminating the traditional space-making function of earth walls, a pisé sculpture isolates the material elegance of a rammed earth form.It exists as a pure volumetric expression of material beauty that is not tempered by chemical reaction or technological phenomena. The low-fi serial nature of continuously ramming earth is directly evident in the physical attributes of the pisé sculpture. The rigid exterior surface, defined by the specific dimensions of the wooden board form, contrasts the striated patterning of the interior soil. Aesthetic value is derived from the tension between the specificity of the wall's exterior boundary and it's free form soil composition.

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