Criteria and intervention techniques in rammed earth structures. The restoration of Bofilla tower at Bétera (Valencia)

Abstract

This article presents a reflection on the various criteria and intervention techniques in rammed earth constructions carried out in Spain over the last decades, the intrinsic difficulties of this delicate operation and consequences resulting from each possible option for conservation of the authenticity, materiality, imprinted traces of its factories, and so on. First of all, it takes place a brief overview to the range of rammed earth variants existing on the Iberian Peninsula, that present various problems for restoration because of their different constructive devices that raise specific issues when it comes to restore them. Secondly, it introduces three great groups of interventions, ie, interventions recovering lost volumes, surfaces substitution restoration and conservation and protection actions of the historic fabrics. These three types of interventions are explained through examples done during the last three decades in Spain, where a briefly description both of the applied criteria and employed techniques and the results obtained after the intervention process. Finally, as a conclusion of the study on all these criteria and techniques and taking into account the results collected over recent decades, the restoration of Bofilla tower at Bétera (Valencia), done by the authors of this paper, is displayed with its study, analysis, criteria, techniques and on site implementation, as a possible option for the historic rammed earth structures restoration.