International Hakka Tulou Alliance (IHTA)
v Hakka Tulou
� also known as Fujian Tulou, Hakka rammed earth
buildings - a UNESCO World Heritage
v Founded on June 24, 2009
v Founded at the Hakka Tulou Forum 2009: Lessons to Be Learned, Past, Present and Future,
Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
v Founded by
Ruifeng (Ray) Liang, Ph.D. West Virginia Univ Constructed Facilities Center, Morgantown, WV, USA
Gangarao Hota, P.E.
Ph.D. West Virginia Univ Constructed Facilities
Center, Morgantown, WV, USA
Jorg Ostrowski,
Autonomous Sustainable Housing Inc, Calgary, AB, Canada
Ying Lei, Ph.D. Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Minoru Ueda, MU Design Inc, Tokyo, Japan
Vision
The world is facing a Sustainable crisis!� Now the responsibility for change has fallen to
entire scientific and engineering community. We need to commit ourselves to act on it quickly. We need to turn back the
environmental clock and steer the world toward a greener direction.
Mission
v
To help make the
scientific and engineering community aware of the advantages of rammed earth
construction, catalyze new international collaborations and cooperation between
University researchers and rammed earth construction societies, and promote new
research opportunities that can further advance our knowledge (near zero
embodied energy) on rammed earth material and make it a viable
building material option, leading to a greener future for planet Earth
Objectives
v To help save, preserve and revitalize
Hakka Villages for our common World Heritage and a more sustainable future of
planet Earth
v To emulate Hakka Tulou
technologies for design, construction and operation of future green structures
v To advance and promote use of rammed
earth as a structural material and construction technique for sustainable
structures
Activities
Hakka Tulou Forum Series
v Hakka Tulou Forum 2009: Lessons to Be Learned, Past, Present and
Future
Launch of the
International Hakka Tulou Alliance (IHTA) (in
Mandarin & English)
June 24, 2009, Xiamen
University, Xiamen, China
� Presentations
� Photos
v Hakka Tulou Forum 2011: Structures of Sustainability
International
Workshop on Rammed Earth Materials and Sustainable Structures
October 28 � 31, 2011,
Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
In conjunction with
International
Symposium on Innovation & Sustainability of Structures in Civil Engineering
(ISISS�2011), October 28 -30, 2011, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
� Front cover of the
proceedings
� Electronic version
of the proceedings
� Photos
v Hakka Tulou Forum 2012: Putting Sustainability into Practice NEW!
June 29 - July 1, 2012, Toronto, Canada
In conjunction with
Toronto
Hakka Conference, Toronto, Canada
US-NSF Grant Study: Material and Structural Response of
Historic Hakka Rammed Earth Structures (1/15/2009 � 6/30/2011)
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation under Grant No. 0908199. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do
not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
v NSF Reports
v Papers
� Liang, Ruifeng
(Ray), Hota GangaRao, Daniel Stanislawski and
Ying Lei (2011a) Thermal and mechanical responses of Hakka Tulou
rammed earth structures: Lessons to be learned for a sustainable future.
Proceedings of 2011 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, Jan
4-7, Atlanta, Georgia
� Liang, R, G Hota, Y
Lei, Y-H Li, D Stanislawski, and Y-Q Jiang (2011b)
Nondestructive evaluation of historic Hakka rammed earth structures, Proceedings of Int. Workshop on Rammed Earth
Materials and Sustainable Structures, Oct 28-31, Xiamen University, China
� Liang, R, D Stanislawski,
G Hota (2011c) Structural responses of Hakka rammed
earth buildings under earthquake loads,
Proceedings of Int. Workshop on Rammed Earth Materials and Sustainable
Structures, Oct 28-31, Xiamen University, China
� Liang, R, G. Hota,
D. Stanislawski, Y. Lei, Y LI, and Y. Jiang (2010)
Material and structural response of historic Hakka rammed earth structures.
Proceedings of the 85th Annual Meeting of the West Virginia Academy of Science,
Morgantown, West Virginia, 10 April
� Hakka Tulou: Lessons to Be Learned for a Sustainable Future (a
poster)
v Presentations
� Liang, R and HVS Gangarao
(2009) Hakka Tulou and Science. Forum on Hakka Tulous:
Lessons to Be Learned, Past, Present and
Future, June 24, Xiamen University, Xiamen,
China
� Liang, R, HVS GangaRao,
J Ostrowski, and Y Lei (2009). Applying Hakka wisdom
to future sustainable structures. Forum on Hakka Tulous:
Lessons to Be Learned, Past, Present and
Future, June 24, Xiamen University, Xiamen,
China
v Thesis
The �Center
for Earth Structures� Project (2011-)
IHTA promotes and supports the
development of a Sustainable
Technology Research and Demonstration Center for Earth Structures
either within or near the world heritage site of Fujian Tulou
of China. The proposed center will be used as a work base not only to help
save, preserve and revitalize Hakka rammed earth buildings for our common World
Heritage, but also to implement Hakka sustainable technologies for design,
construction and operation of green structures, and to advance and promote use
of rammed earth as a viable building material option for a more sustainable
future of planet Earth. It is hoped that the participants of the International Workshop
on Rammed Earth Materials and Sustainable Structures, the friends of Hakka Tulou, the community of rammed earth research and
construction, and any environmental conscious individuals will support and work
together to make the proposed Center for Earth Structures become a reality.
v
The �Center for
Earth Structures� Proposal [by Minoru
Ueda and Judy Ueda, MU Design Inc, Tokyo, Japan]
� Rammed
earth and sustainability
� Moving
toward technology transfer and implementation
� Center
concept
� The
model
� Funding
options
� Strategy
Hakka Tulou and Sustainability: The
Greenest Buildings in the World (2012) New!
Special
Issue of Journal of
Sustainability
This special
issue comprises selected papers from the Hakka Tulou
Forum 2011: Structures of Sustainability - International Workshop on Rammed
Earth Materials and Sustainable Structures, that took place as a special
session at the International Symposium on Innovation and Sustainability of
Structures in Civil Engineering (ISISS�2011) from October 28 to 31, 2011,
Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. Rammed earth is both
a construction material and technique with favorable life cycle impact on the
planet Earth, yet there are challenges to implement rammed earth technologies
in modern constructions. The World Heritage Hakka rammed earth buildings, i.e.
Fujian Tulou of China, serve as a prime example of
what rammed earth construction can offer and demonstrate how the sustainability
of Hakka village architecture built hundreds of years ago and still in use
today, bridge the past, present and future, with exemplary lessons for our
modern world. These papers highlighting the state-of-the-art of rammed earth
material and construction technologies, will surely play multifold roles in
building a sustainable 21st century; including helping make the engineering
community aware of the advantages of rammed earth construction and promoting
new research opportunities that can further advance our knowledge on the rammed
earth material for modern construction.
v
Sustainability
Journal Special Issue Website
v
Key Words
� Earth Architecture
� Contemporary Rammed Earth Construction
� Environmental Sustainability
� Structural Stability
� Green Building
� Hakka Tulou
� Housing Infrastructure
� Round Houses�
Other Resources
v Photo Tour of Hakka Tulous (Liang, 2001)
v Many more to be added soon
v Links
o
North American Rammed Earth
Builders Association
Organization
�
Contact
v
Ruifeng (Ray) Liang, Ph.D.
Materials and Sustainable
Structures
Constructed Facilities
Center
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV 26506-6103,
USA
Phone: 304-293-9348
Fax: 304-293-7109
Email: rliang@mail.wvu.edu
First established: March 3, 2011
Updated: June 12, 2012
