Afghanistan · Earthen Construction / Architectural Craft
پخسه (Pakhsa — pressed/rammed earth and straw); سنج (Senj — timber-and-brick wall framing)
The traditional building method behind most historic domestic architecture in Kabul and much of rural Afghanistan, combining sun-dried mudbrick, rammed earth (pakhsa), and a timber-and-brick composite wall technique called senj. Construction begins with stone-filled foundation trenches topped by a raised stone course to protect the earthen walls above from rain and snow. Walls are then built using senj: vertical timber poles set roughly 60-70cm apart around the room's perimeter, joined to horizontal floor and ceiling beams with a 'chool and faq' joint, with the gaps between poles filled by mudbrick laid diagonally in alternating directions every 7-10 courses — a pattern specifically intended to make the structure more earthquake-resistant. Roofs are built up from woven willow or bamboo matting laid over the beams, then sealed with a mud layer called ghoragel, and interior walls are finished with successive plaster layers — a mud-straw-water base coat, then a finer screened-mud layer called simgil, sometimes finished with lokh, a material made from the soft down of reeds mixed with clay.
Risk level: Endangered in urban centers · Not documented as separately inscribed; part of the globally recognized earthen-architecture family
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