With Dirt And A Vision, Palestinian Architects Break The Mold

hide captionShamsArd, a Palestinian architecture firm, uses packed earth to construct its environmentally friendly homes.

ShamsArd, a Palestinian architecture firm, uses packed earth to construct its environmentally friendly homes.

The city of Jericho sits in the hot, flat Jordan Valley down the hill from Jerusalem. Jericho has bragging rights as one of the oldest towns on Earth. But one of its newest homes looks like it might have arrived from outer space.

Ahmad Daoud hired a firm of young Palestinian architects to build this house. Like Jericho's original homes, it is built of dirt. This one has a contemporary twist, though: It's constructed with earth compacted in bags that are then stacked and plastered over.

Daoud loves the domed rooms, the nod to the past and the environmental advantages.

"It's an environmentally friendly house," he says. "I can tear it down and nothing will remain. In the summer, I don't need air conditioning, and in the winter, I don't need heat."

hide captionAhmad Daoud's neighbors in Jericho are skeptical of his home, with its domed ceilings and walls packed with earth.

Ahmad Daoud's neighbors in Jericho are skeptical of his home, with its domed ceilings and walls packed with earth.

Amid the dust, palms and the square, concrete houses of Jericho, Daoud's home stands out. Daoud says everybody has something to say about it.

"A lot of neighbors say it's nice to look at but not to live in," he says.

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With Dirt And A Vision, Palestinian Architects Break The Mold