Reclaiming material literacy at the XS scale: earthen architecture and design-build learning in Türkiye

Abstract

Thirty years after Bigness normalized architectural thinking around industrial scalability, architectural educa- tion continues to reproduce a material hierarchy shaped by large, standardized systems. Concrete, steel, and prefabricated assemblies remain the dominant technological languages through which building production is taught, while low-carbon local materials such as earth, straw, or stone occupy only a marginal place within architectural training in Türkiye. This reflects a deeper mismatch between industrial modes of material in- struction and the small-scale forms of judgment required for context-responsive construction.

Unlike standardized industrial products, unprocessed natural building materials operate through a radical- ly different epistemology of construction. They demand small-scale judgment, iterative assembly, and conti- nuous recalibration between material behaviour, craft knowledge, and local site conditions. The competen- ce required by such practices cannot be acquired solely through abstract technical instruction. Yet despite Anatolia’s extensive earthen-building heritage and a growing field of contemporary small-scale earthen expe- rimentation, this material intelligence remains weakly integrated into formal teaching and is sustained largely through informal learning networks.

Drawing on selected contemporary earthen-building examples in Türkiye, this paper examines the discrepancy between the adaptive knowledge mobilized in practice—soil testing, hybrid detailing, non-standard assembly, and situated decision-making—and the codified industrial knowledge privileged in architectural education. It argues that the current legitimation crisis of earthen construction is inseparable from this pedagogical gap. In response, the paper positions 1:1 design-build studios, practitioner-led workshops, and hands-on earthen building initiatives as critical counter-pedagogies through which unprocessed natural materials are learned through making, testing, and direct construction at the scale of fitting. Reclaiming material literacy at the XS scale is thus framed as a necessary pedagogical shift if architecture is to produce fitting responses within resource-constrained futures.