Characterization of rammed‐earth materials from the XVIth century Badii Palace in Marrakech, Morocco to ensure authentic and reliable restoration

Abstract

Thirty rammed‐earth and coating materials collected from the Badii Palace wall in Marrakech were investigated for their particle size, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. This was done in order to assess the original methods employed—and the provenance of the earth products used—during the Saadian period (XVIth century) construction of the palace. Differences in composition between the rammed‐earth and coating materials (and comparison with the local raw materials) suggest a different origin for these two materials. A high compositional similarity between the coating material and the corresponding rammed‐ earth is observed for the samples collected from well‐preserved walls. However, incompatibility between rammed earth and coatings was observed in many parts of the wall where the original coated materials have deteriorated by natural weathering and by the corrosive action of atmospheric pollution. The composition of coating material currently used for restoration shows the same incompatibility with the substrate and this is probably related to the same degradation problems. Finally, the influence of the semiarid climate in the degradation process is discussed. This study indicates constraints on the selection of the most suitable materials for sustainable restoration of these historic buildings.

Archaeological and Chemical Investigation on the High Imperial Mosaic Floor Mortars of the Domus Integrated in the Museum of Archaeology D. Diogo de Sousa, Braga, Portugal

“…MD3 showed the lowest Al 2 O 3 (20.7%) and LOI (2.7%) concentrations, among all samples. The low LOI (2.7-11.2%) in all samples, when compared to other studies, e.g., [8,40], can be related to the high percentage of clay minerals and its release of OHand calcite release of CO 2 [41].…”

Mud-Based Construction Material: Promising Properties of French Gravel Wash Mud Mixed with Byproducts, Seashells and Fly Ash as a Binder

“…Earth is one of the most ancient and extensively used building materials worldwide [ 1 ]. Historically, raw earth has been one of the main building materials in ancient cities such as Harappa (Pakistan), Duheros (España), Akhlet-Aton (Egypt), Jericho (Palestine), Chan-Chan (Peru), Atal-Huyuk (Turkey), Babylon (Iraq), Marrakech (Morocco) and others [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. During the past centuries, overshadowed by the architecture of the fossil fuel consumption era, earth-based building materials are nowadays slowly regaining their status and becoming an integral part of sustainable construction [ 5 ].…”

Vernacular earthen buildings from Leiria, Portugal – Architectural survey towards their conservation and retrofitting

“…The increase of earth construction in the past decades, due to its recognized low environmental impact and good hygrothermal and acoustic performance, therefore eco-efficiency, must be seen as an opportunity to preserve and retrofit vernacular earthen buildings. In fact, with the regained interest in earth construction, several authors have been producing research in the last years in topics related with vernacular earthen architecture and their pathology after a long aging period, thus contributing to relearn the construction techniques, so that compatible interventions can be performed (Aubert et al, 2015;Silveira et al, 2012;Silveira et al, 2013;Fratini et al, 2011;Daoudi et al, 2017;Hamard et al, 2017;Costa et al, 2019;Bamogo et al, 2020;Luo et al, 2020). Some examples are given below.…”

“…In fact, it is well known that such actions are likely to be more efficient (and compatible) when performed with similar materials, like Gomes et al (2019) have shown to be the case in repair actions of deteriorated surface of rammed earth. Daoudi et al (2017) performed an extensive experimental campaign to evaluate several properties of rammed earth and coating materials collected from the XVI th century Badii Palace in Marrakech, Morocco, in order to support compatible, reversible and effective conservation actions. Authors identified differences between the composition of rammed earth and the coating materials, possibly indicating they had different origin and frequently causing incompatibility problems.…”