http://www.johnnyrolfjanderooden.nl/firedmuho.htm
This weblink is all about a couple of architects and clayworkers in India who managed to experiment and complete a fired mud brick house. What a dream ! I love it, maybe one day I will be able to make one myself...
I dream of buying land in the Aussie Outback and designing a mad mud brick house. I would dig and dig and mix and mix the clays, the soil, the mystery quartz, all into the pieces of wall. I would do it gradually so that it would dry all the way through. I'll use only the materials on the land that I own. Kind of like early settlers houses, except then I want to glaze the walls and roof and everything and set it all on fire. Fire it for weeks, until I can see the glaze is shiny. It'd work better if I build the house like a HUGE Anagama kiln, up hill and with tunnels for heat to churn upward. With plenty of window holes for air. Who knows- maybe the experiment would leave a giant cocoon cave on the side of the hill - unusable and dangerous with glaze shards around, oozing out of the mass. Or maybe it'll be a real treasure trove hidden halfway in a hill, that only the few curious friends will know about.
Sure, I have dreamt about it plenty, but exact planning hasn't happened yet - because - lets be honest, I don't have enough money for a car or to move out of my parents house, let alone a chunk of aussie golden soil!
But one day, some day, I will, and it'll be a real landmark/museum/home/exhibition space/ safehouse/experiment/learning centre. Maybe I can try it enough times that it could become big enough to have people share it with me, like a residency program or a school!
