CLAYTOURS: Inspirational encounters with clay architecture
A guest post by CLAY TOURS
We think: Traveling is the best way to get to know new things, maybe also to leave old ideas behind. We love to put all of our senses on the receiving end, to be open to big and small discoveries that come across on the way. They make the trip an unforgettable experience.
One such discovery is clay as a building material. The oldest building tradition in the world is more current and diverse than ever. As a sustainable and healthy material, clay offers an answer to the challenges that everyone who builds or renovates is faced with. At the same time, its versatility in terms of materials, colors and surfaces inspires creative design.
A visit to clay architecture becomes a very special experience - whether for a glass of wine on the rammed earth wall in the winery or during an overnight stay in a hotel room with warming clay walls.
The building material clay affects all the senses
Anyone who has ever used clay or stayed in an object built with clay knows how wonderful this building material can be. The sensual experience is in the foreground in earth building. Clay plasters and paints bring a piece of nature into the house and bring a restrained harmony into your own four walls that you will enjoy for many years to come. The clay minerals contribute to a room climate that is beneficial to health and wellbeing.
Experience clay live with CLAYTOURS
However, it is often difficult to just describe the special qualities of earth building materials and surfaces. Much that clay can do is difficult for words to convey. Clay simply has to be experienced and seen. Don't just see and touch clay, feel it, marvel at the special wall surfaces, feel secure, breathe freely and relax. This is exactly what you can do with CLAYTOURS.
CLAYTOURS is the source for personal and inspiring encounters with clay architecture. Experience the oldest building tradition in the world in contemporary application and modern use: from the urban city hotel to the remote mountain house, from coworking at the lake to vintage event locations - the platform brings together a nice selection of houses that make clay architecture tangible.
All objects by CLAYTOURS combine an architectural quality and attitude that is based on responsibility for people, space and place - each in their own very authentic way. Sometimes trendy, sometimes historical, sometimes award-winning, sometimes with a lot of heart, sometimes innovative, sometimes traditional - but always with a very special ambassador: clay as the ideal building material.
What is clay anyway?
Clay is a natural raw material. It consists of sand, silt (very fine sand) and clay as a binding agent. The composition of these three raw materials determines the properties of the clay - and its suitability as a building material.
The advantages of clay at a glance:
- Ecological: From extraction, to refinement, from installation to use to re-use at some point, the following applies: There is hardly any other building material that uses so little energy. There are almost no CO2 emissions with clay; nature gives us its strength and cohesiveness free of charge. Clay is pure earth, millions of years old. After we have used it to live, we can simply give it back. Modern environmental product declaration processes summarize all these aspects in impressive numbers.
- Moisture regulating: clay consists of the finest silicate flakes that are layered in the material. Water can be stored in the gaps. This is how the clay - in which clay is used as a binding agent - receives its good moisture-regulating properties. For indoor and living spaces, it means that when the humidity is high, water is absorbed from the air and later released again. As a result, the air humidity remains in a constantly comfortable range.
- Air-purifying: Together with the water vapor, pollutants, fine dust and odor molecules can also be absorbed. This makes clay ideal for modern, open apartment floor plans.
- Heat-storing: As a heavy, solid building material, clay is a very good heat store and can, for example, release solar heat absorbed during the day in the evening.
- Free of harmful substances: Clay is a purely natural mineral-based product. It works without chemical additives. Colored surfaces can also be made with clay. They result from the mixture of the pure raw clays: not “colored” but pure. Special properties and effects can be achieved with other natural additives.
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