The book, Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County
TK-Pad
Ward+Blake’s TK Residence outside Jackson, Wyo., adapts rammed earth building techniques by grafting post-tensioning rods into the foundation’s walls, thereby making them nearly as strong as pure concrete, a much more environmentally intrusive building material when compared to green-friendly rammed earth. Article: Digging Deep, Building Strong—Rammed Earth for the Ages
Adobe Alliance Seeks Intern
The Adobe Alliance, a Texas based non-profit organization whose aims include to apply cooperative building techniques in earth architecture is seeking a resident intern to work in Santa Fe, New Mexico or from a distance. Responsibilities will include research, image scanning, simple bookkeeping, assisting with workshop organization, website maintenance, and telephone management. The ideal person is a graduate student in architecture, art/art history, public policy or related fields. To learn more, please contact Ms. Simone Swan at simoneswan@gmail.com or visit www.adobealliance.org
Juana Briones House Preserved on Film
As demolition looms, scholar moves to preserve historic Juana Briones house on film.
[ Save the house | Research Paper | Previously ]
Casas del Sol
An innovative home design by UNC Charlotte students has won the The Casas del Quinto Sol Housing Development National Design Competition for affordable housing. Their winning entry, which combines rammed earth with photovoltaic panels, could eventually become the model for a 21-home desert community to provide housing for recent immigrants along New Mexico’s southern border.
Juana Briones House Slated for Demolition
The oldest house in Palo Alto, California is a 160-year-old building constructed of a unique hybrid system that combines techniques found in rammed-earth and cob, traditionally known as encajonado. Known as the Juana Briones House, this historic work of earthen architecture is now slated to be demolished. After nine years of legal battles, the city of Palo Alto has agreed to issue a demolition.
Down and Dirty
The article Down and Dirty from the New York Times, discusses the growing populatiry of earthen floors. (subscription required)
Early one Saturday morning in January, Kevin Rowell dumped a bucket of dark mud on the floor of his big south-facing bedroom. It landed with a plop, spreading out and merging with a blanket of wet earth that already extended across much of the room. On his knees, Mr. Rowell took a trowel to the pile, nudging it this way and that until the mud was roughly level and about an inch and a half deep.
Springs Preserve
The $250 million, 180-acre Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada will feature museum, walking trails and a 46,000-square-foot desert-living center, built using the latest green-building techniques. Designed by Lucchesi, Galati Architects, it will have earth-rammed walls, and an angled roof that collects rainwater for irrigation and flushing toilets.
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
House of 5 Dreams
House of 5 Dreams, by Jones Studio is a 30,000 square foot residence/private museum created to serve the needs of a pair of prolific art and artifact collectors. Knowing that much of their collection had been excavated, the decision was made to place exhibition space below the horizon and contained within 4-foot thick rammed earth walls. Above the gallery, a floating residential pavillion is spatially composed of translucent light.