Plastic soil is usually formed in balls, which are freshly stacked upon each other. This technique has been used a lot long ago in Europe, where it was named cob in England and bauge in France.

This technique is still used a lot in Africa, India and in Saudi Arabia, where beautiful examples can be seen. The most beautiful examples are encountered in Yemen with Shibam. This old historic capital of Southern Yemen has been named “The Manhattan of the Desert”. Shibam was recorded by UNESCO as a world heritage site. In fact Shibam was built with a combination of cob and with adobe.

Since a while, cob is getting known again with some development in USA, as well as in other parts of the world. We show hereafter only worldwide traditional developments.