The San Isidro Labrador Chapel

The San Isidro Labrador Chapel is a collaborative effort of many people, the tangible demonstration of the cooperation of architects, engineers, craftsmen, peasants, creative people and students.

João Caeiro e Capurso Fulvio got together with Benito Guzman Canseco (President of the Consejo y Oaxaca Nopal Tuna, e Mayordomo de San Isidro in the years 2009-2010) to organize a series of courses to endorse people with the ability to build houses with noble materials from the region.

These courses, mostly hands-on, are addressed to people seeking to build their own houses, within a philosophy of low cost, high quality and contemporary design.

The first opportunity emerged in San Bartolo Coyopec, for the construction of a chapel for the saint patron of the cultivated fields, annually celebrated. The building was finished in may 2010.

Eddy Residence

Michael and Lisa Eddy dreamt of living in a home that was designed to showcase their love of nature and appreciation for the environment around them in Colorado. Designed by JCL Architecture, their fantasy home made of rammed earth is characterized by a continuous trellis that greets you at the entry and leads you through the warmth of the house and out into the open backyard towards the landscape beyond. Aside from being beautiful, the house incorporates passive solar strategies and high thermal mass. Proper roof overhangs and southern exposure were calculated to allow maximum solar gain in the winter while minimizing heat gain in the summer. The thermal absorbent qualities of the rammed earth walls and dark stained concrete floors on both levels stabilize temperature swings from night to day and mitigate the need to run an air conditioning unit during the summer. These features are then further supported by a high-efficiency geothermal radiant floor heating system as well as soy-based insulation in the roof and walls.
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Adobe Homes for All Climates

Adobe Homes for All Climates: Simple, Affordable, and Earthquake-Resistant Natural Building Techniques, by Lisa Schroder and Vince Ogletree, is ideal both for first-time do-it-yourselfers and for experienced adobe builders seeking to improve their craft. Drawing on the experience of more than fifty major adobe projects since 1993, Adobe Homes for All Climates describes Adobe Building Systems’ patented reinforcement and scaffolding systems, showing readers how to construct adobe homes more easily and safely, and with superior strength, durability, structural integrity, and aesthetic appeal, as compared to earthen homes of the past.