Earthen architecture in the Iberian Peninsula: a portrait of vulnerability, sustainability and conservation

For more than a decade, a wide range of Spanish case studies, relating especially to rural inner or abandoned sites and areas, have been analysed by the authors as part of different research projects linked with traditional and monumental architecture, conservation strategies and earthen buildings. On one hand the studies have been undertaken in the framework of a project concerning the conservation of rammed earth in the Iberian Peninsula, including criteria, techniques, results and perspectives and, on the other, by a project about the conservation and rehabilitation of traditional earthen architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, providing guidelines and tools for its sustainable intervention. In all cases the researchers’ efforts focused on enhancing new perspectives and opportunities for rural earthen buildings, analysing landscapes, contexts, constructive features, decay and problems. The final common aim of this research is to stress these crucial topics to improve tangible or intangible opportunities for conservation strategies.