The Dining Room Installation / i/thee

The Dining Room, the inaugural installation of the ARTocka Trail Loop, is an experimental earthen pavilion that harnesses the forces of nature to create a public dining space and picnic area at Lake Petocka in Bondurant, Iowa. The pavilion features two rammed earth walls intentionally eroded to reveal playful public infrastructures that intersect and protrude from the volumes—giving the impression natural forces have slowly excavated them over centuries. As one of Iowa's first public rammed earth projects, the installation showcases the benefits, versatility, and feasibility of rammed earth construction in a humid continental climate and provides a model for subsequent earthen buildings.