Rocío Merlos graduated in Fine Arts and specialized in construction techniques with earth. She carries out natural finishings and renderings using this material, realizing embossments, incisions, sgraffito, trencadís (broken tile mosaics), natural paintings, etc. She offers training, specialized work on site and advisory services.
She is… part of the team named “Siendo Tierra”, a travelling training project in decorative techniques with earths, which promotes learning via courses and theoretical-practical workshops.
The work on-site is completely personalized. They carry out their own formulations with the soil of the place where the work is going to be carried out, which is stabilized with natural additives extracted also from the land. When they don’t have access to the optimal soils they make use of clays, sands, marble powders, etc. to achieve the desired composition. In other cases, they resort to specific businesses dedicated to the manufacture of those types of mortars.
Rammed-earth plastering offers a better quality of life. They are breathable, and due to their hygroscopic capacity they control the room-temperature. They are also flame-retardants, work as excellent thermal and acoustic insulators, do not emit toxic substances and they neutralize unpleasant odours. They are mainly suitable for interiors but they can be basically applied on whatever sort of supporting element. They also enable artistic creation thanks to their great plasticity and malleability.
Grundtvig Scholarship for the teacher training courses within the specialized framework of rammed-earth renders. “New Educational Approach in Sustainable Natural Building (Clay Plaster – Module 2)” by the FAL e.V. Instituto Europeo de Construcción con Tierra, Wangelin, Germany.
Several volunteering works and courses carried out in… France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, Chile, and Argentina with masters and teachers such as Gernot Minke, Jorge Belanko, Anne Lemarquis, Laurent Coquemont, Iñaki Urquia and Irmela Fromme, among others.
Around 12 workshops on rendering and rammed earth techniques were delivered in Spain (in Murcia, Valencia, Burgos and Bilbao) and about 20 workshops imparted in Argentina and Chile, within the project “Siendo Tierra”.
Mural carried out in the botanic gardens: El Paraíso Escalante, Quillota, Chile.
Mural and renderings carried out during the workshop of finishes at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Bench and pergola carried out within the rammed earth workshop of the International Festival of… Arts and Construction “IFAC”, in Covarrubias, Burgos, in collaboration with the association Terrachidia.