This document summarizes the construction of a retaining wall made from a mixture of paper, clay, sand, and organic mortar. Key steps included preparing materials like sifting clay and mixing paper with water, constructing brick frames, and mixing an organic mortar using local ingredients like clay, manure, straw, and a small amount of cement. The retaining wall was then built by laying the paper clay bricks with organic mortar. While the bricks dried, workers helped with other projects like digging trenches and installing soil barriers. The finished retaining wall had an urbanite foundation and was used to create a terraced organic garden bed.

1. CCAT
Retaining Wall
Green Building
Class
Spring 2013
…First a variety
of sample test
Brick were

2. Paper & Clay Retaining Wa
Super Local & Close to Free
Bricks
• 40% Paper
• 30% Clay
• 30% Sand
Adobe Mortar
•
•
•
•
Clay-mainly
Manure-binding agent
Straw –holding fiber
Cement-small amount

3. Prepping the Materials
Sifting out big rocks &
Braking up big Clay
Chunks
Mushing the Clay & Sand
together

4. Mixing up Shredded Paper with Water
-Majority of waster was then
Removed threw sifting and pressing
out the paper
Construction of Brick
Frames with 2x4’s

5. Native Mortar Dance
Stomped around in
circles mixing
organic matter and
clay while gradually
shaking hay out of
hands
Flip tarp over to
roll mortar
together then
dance some
more
–multiple times

6. Materials All Very Local
Item
Location Found
Clay
Mound on HSU Campus
Paper
Recycled Lumberjack Newspapers and
shredded paper from BSS on HSU Campus
Sand
Mad River
Chicken Wire and cement
CCAT Green Shed
Wooded 2x4
CCAT Scrap Pile
Manure
Tyler's grass grazing cattle
Straw
Local Farm $6
Total Cost of Project
$6 Plus over 170 worker hours
Pros
As local as you can get
Practically Free
Super Fun!-Helped to build community
+
Cons
Scavenge/ Access to materials
 Time consuming
In man hours put in
Waiting for bricks to dry
-

7. - Urbanite foundation placed level
-Paper and Clay Bricks placed on top
-Urbanite side walls mortared together
-Hand spread mortar
Then chicken wire
overhang was formed on
top and covered with
mortar

8. Terraced Organic Garden Bed
Lined so that the wall didn’t soak up moisture from watering
Decorations: Experimented with naturally
pigmented paint mixed with cement

9. While waiting
for the Bricks to dry…
We Helped
Dig a Trench that
zigzagged down hill for
water to flow down
Local wood stakes
were driven into
ground and sticks and
wigs were weaved to
form barrier to hold
soil
Hay was dispersed to
retain water in clay soil

10. The Sky
Line
-New York
-New York
New Appropriate
Technology