Adobe USA 2007

The 4th Adobe Conference of the Adobe Association of the Southwest: AdobeUSA 2007 will take place May 18, 19, 20 and 22, 2007 in El Rito, New Mexico on the campus of co-sponsor Northern New Mexico Community College in Cutting Hall Auditorium. It adjoins the two-story South Dorm and Cafeteria forming a stately adobe complex.

Information on the Association and the previous conferences can be found at: http://www.adobeasw.com/

Call for Papers Schedule:

December 15, 2006: Abstracts due. One page, 8-1/2 x11, maximum
January 5, 2007: Notification of acceptance
February 23, 2007: Full paper due. (7-page maximum including graphics)

Presenters will have 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes to answer questions. Time limits will be carefully monitored. The host institution can handle 2×2 slides in Carousels, digital presentation files, DVD, VHS and overheads.

Submit abstracts to:
Quentin Wilson, Speakers Committee
PO Box 426, El Rito, NM 87530
505-581-4130 fax
or qwilson@mail.nnmc.edu as an attachment in .txt, .doc (msword) or .pdf format or email body or printed on paper.

Final papers for publication consideration must be in .pdf or .doc formats. Conference Languages: English and Spanish

Topics of special interest are:

Affordable adobe construction
Thermal properties of earthen materials
Physical properties of earthen materials including seismic considerations
Historical buildings of note
Historical builders, developers, architects or designers worldwide
New projects: architecture, adobe art and design
Adobe education
Manufacture and supply of adobe and related construction materials

Building With Cob: A Step-by-step Guide

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Cob building uses a simple mixture of clay subsoil, aggregate, straw, and water to create solid structural walls, built without shuttering or forms, on a stone plinth. This ancient practice has been used throughout Britain for centuries – in fact, the material is so strong and durable that it is currently in use for forty-five thousand houses in Cornwall, a county in southern England. Building With Cob: A Step-by-step Guide, by Adam Weismann and Katy Bryce, covers everything from design, planning, and siting to roofs, insulation, and floors. It is lavishly illustrated with more than three hundred inspirational color photographs. The authors have recently been commissioned to build a thirty-classroom school in England in 2006; it will be the largest new cob construction project in the Western hemisphere.

Earth Architecture in Portugal – Two New Publications

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With the participation of 54 authors, the book Earth Architecture in Portugal is an assembly of essays and work by professionals with expertise on the topics of architecture and construction with earth. Topics include technology, materials, history, anthropology, conservation and particular attention is given to the contemporary architecture constructed of earth in the two last decades in Portugal. Publication is in English and Portuguese, 23 x 32 cm Hard Layer – 300 pages.

Terra em Seminário contains 70 essays presented in IV SIACOT and III SEMIN¡RIO OF EARTH ARCHITECTURE IN PORTUGAL. The publication offers a perspective on the current state of earthen architecture in an international context.

For purchase information contact www.centrodaterra.org or by emailing info@centrodaterra.org

The 5th International Photo Contest on Earth Architecture

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The 5th International Photo Contest on “Earth Architectures: architectures landscapes” is an initiative of Casalincontrada (Ch) Documentation Centre on Earth Architectures. The “rediscovery” of the knowledge linked to raw earth architecture recomposed in images, like tiles of a mosaic made of people, things, material and places. Images that can be of “surviving structures” but also “new scenarios”, architectures of the territory, memories and situations. Entry deadline: June 30, 2006

V? SIACOT y I? SAACT

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El V? SIACOT SEMINARIO IBEROAMERICANO DE CONSTRUCCIÓN CON TIERRA y el I? SAACT SEMINARIO ARGENTINO DE ARQUITECTURA Y CONSTRUCCION CON TIERRA apunta un doble objetivo. Por una parte, reunir a los científicos, tecnólogos y profesionales que trabajan en torno al tema en la región: desde el pasado hacia el presente, desde el patrimonio cultural de arquitecturas de tierra, al uso actual de la tierra estabilizada. Por la otra, posibilitar el desarrollo de un espacio de discusión que permita evaluar resultados hacia futuro, el desarrollo de los programas y proyectos en marcha. La rica y vasta dimensión de lo histórico constituye la base ineludible para la recuperación en la práctica del uso de estas antiguas tecnologías. Más informaciones