Since that time, Rauch has followed a vision with universal significance that can be expressed in just a few sentences: _Building in such a way that a house can return to “nature” after a hundred years – without leaving behind any residues or contamination – and break down into its original material constituents _Building in harmony with natural life cycles and using the absolute minimum of grey energy in constructing, maintaining and dismantling architectures _Building with locally available and no-cost materials – using earth taken from the construction site that is as pure and pristine as possible _Advancing the idea of building with earth so that it is technically and logistically up to date, in the process empowering the majority of the world’s population to turn to this technique and use it to significantly improve their living conditions He has always had a particular interest in rammed earth techniques, a process by which the material is not clad with further materials or surface finishes. Once fabricated, non-plastered pisé façades express their character directly, a phenomenon that Rauch encountered in the vernacular, well-preserved outbuildings dating from the nineteenth century that he came across in France and Germany. The layered construction of the wall simultaneously weaves the ornament of its own appearance. The pure structure, colour, and haptic qualities of the material are preserved and heightened during the process of moulding and compacting. With a ceramicist’s sensitivity to the composition and physical-chemical conditions and effects of his material, Rauch set about rearticulating the language of pisé, adapting it to meet contemporary standards and once again exposing the full sensory potential of earthen building material, with technical advances and enhancements going hand in hand with formal complexity. He was thus able to avoid, for example, the need to compensate for certain deficiencies in traditional pisé techniques by adding cement, as this would diminish some of the essential qualities of earth building, such as its ease of recyclability, its breathability, or its minimal entropy. Instead, he sought to improve natural material mixtures, optimized the compaction process and the shape of the formwork, and introduced layers of reinforcement to systematically develop traditional techniques without abandoning their basic structural principles. Tools, procedures, and types of formwork were developed from scratch and then evaluated and refined; test walls were constructed and the practical experience gathered in the process was immediately fed into the next series of experiments.
Rauch made his first forays into building in 1982, in the form of small
projects for family members and friends who were open to experimentation, collaborating with local architects such as Robert Felber and Rudolf Wäger. The house in Schlins constructed for his elder brother Johannes – a farmer, master locksmith, and graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, who had been involved for many years in development projects in Zambia, Uganda, and Tanzania – was the very first modern timber-and-earth construction in the Vorarlberg region. The Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin-Mitte represents a clear turning point in his practice. In accordance with plans drawn up by the
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