Library partially built with mud is award-winning architect's next project

The Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library has been designed to use locally sourced compressed mud in the form of a rammed earth facade. Photo: AFP

Winner of the 27th Annual Crystal Award at the Davos World Economic Forum, Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye Obe, has designed a surprising project: a library built partially with mud.

The library will make use of locally sourced compressed mud to make a rammed earth facade. Less energy intensive and less costly than concrete, rammed earth has been used for centuries to make buildings, before largely falling out of use.