🚨 NEW | CPF-eligible certification training
The training course Integrating Raw Earth into a Construction Project – Argumentation, Strategy, and Feasibility offers a comprehensive introduction to the properties and potential of raw earth as a building material. From July 6 to 10, 2026, at Les Grands Ateliers in Villefontaine (38).
Raw earth constructions are an integral part of the architectural heritage of many countries around the world, including France. Present in vernacular architecture, they reflect an ancient know-how that is just waiting to be studied, restored and reinvented.
As a local resource available right under our feet, raw earth can be used in a wide variety of implementation techniques (rammed earth, cob, wattle and daub, adobe, earth panels, plasters, etc.), which are proving increasingly relevant in contemporary architecture in the face of the ecological transition challenges. With its low carbon footprint and potential for reuse, raw earth also contributes to indoor comfort thanks to its hygrothermal regulation capacity and high thermal mass. It is also appreciated for its variety of its materiality and the quality of atmospheres it creates.
The training course Integrating raw earth into a construction project – Argumentation, strategy and feasibility is aimed at professionals involved in the design and management of construction or renovation projects. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the properties and potential of raw earth as a building material. Learners acquire the knowledge needed to identify the different techniques, understand their specificities and make relevant integration choices into a construction project.
Targeted skills
- Analyse a client’s request regarding a raw-earth construction project
- Argue for the use of raw earth in a construction project (technical, economic, environmental, social, aesthetic, health related aspects, etc.)
- Evaluate the potential of a given earth using a test protocol and assess its suitability for use in construction
- Propose strategies for integrating one or several raw earth elements into a construction project
- Anticipate the normative, regulatory and insurance constraints that the use of raw earth would entail in the design of a construction project
- Identify and mobilise qualified professionals in the raw-earth field by relying on sector stakeholders
Program
- Raw earth material: material properties, grain science, moisture states
- Raw earth construction techniques: characteristics of materials and construction systems (rammed earth, BTC, cob, wattle and daub, adobe, lightweight earth, earth panels and plasters), construction requirements, pathologies
- Stakeholders and supply chains
- Regulatory context: obligations, standards, insurance aspects
see the detailed program
Audience
Architects, interior architects, engineers, construction economists, project managers, owner’s representatives, site managers and foremen
Prerequisites
Provide a diploma, certification, or other document demonstrating completion of a training program in architecture, interior architecture, building engineering, materials engineering, construction economics, etc., or provide proof of at least 5 years of professional experience in the construction sector
Methods
- Teaching methods : The teaching team adopts a participatory, creative, and experimental approach, from material to architecture, including: theoretical contributions, practical workshops, case studies and feedback
- Monitoring methods : Initial assessment questionnaire, Immediate satisfaction questionnaire, Follow-up questionnaire
- Evaluation methods : Evaluation based on a questionnaire designed to assess the degree of acquisition of the targeted skills
Certification and label
The training course is eligible for the French Personal Training Account (CPF). Certification Integrating raw earth into a construction project, listed in the Specific Directory since 24.09.2025 — File RS7253 — Title held by Les Grands Ateliers Innovation Architecture and amàco. Consult the skills reference framework (French)
This training course is also certified by the French labelArchitecture Branch. The conditions for funding this certified training course are decided by the CPNEFP (National Joint Commission for Employment and Training in the Architecture Sector) and implemented by the OPCO des Entreprises de Proximité (OPCO EP).
