Quentin Branch, the rammed earth builder for architects Rick Joy and Jones Studio, has a very informative website that includes photos, workshop offerings and video.
House of Earth and Light
The House of Earth and Light, a private residence designed by Iraq-born, Phoenix Architect Marwan Al-Sayed uses a 3-layer fabric roof to bring tension and lightness to the thick poured gypsum walls. Computer renderings of the building show the proposed quality of the architecture. More information can be found here in an article by the Industrial Fabrics Association International (.pdf format).
Casa Grande
The Casa Grande Ruins were constructed in somewhere between AD 1200-1450 by the Hohokam Phoenix, Arizona, and represent a great collision in modernity and tradition. One of the most apparent restoration efforts was made in 1903 when S. J. Holsinger designed a covering for the ruins. The cover was a large galvanized, corrugated iron roof with a six foot overhang supported by 10″X10″ redwood posts embedded into the ground (middle image). The entire structure was then anchored to the ground by cables attached to each corner of the structure. In 1932 Congress appropriated funds to construct a new shelter over the ruins to protect them. The old iron roof, painted red to protect it, had deteriorated severely. In 1928, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. who was acting as an adviser to the National Park Service, sketched a design for a new roof. “The thought at the time, however, was that a design competition should be held for the roof.” In 1932 the final Olmsted Jr. design (top image) was realized. The hip roof supported by leaning posts was consistent with Olmsted’s design and the tensile roof structure incorporated glass skylights. Completed on December 12, 1932, the structure stands forty-six feet from the ground to the eaves and was painted sage green to harmonize with the mountains and vegetation as well as provide contrast to the ruin. Images courtesy of the National Park Service.
Church in Tucson
Old Adobe Church, Old Tucson, Tucson Mtn. Park. Tucson Arizona. Date unknown.
Ehrenberg
Photo of Ehrenberg, Arizona, once the largest town in Yuma County and chief distributing port for Arizona on the Colorado River, circa 1908
Desert Works
Rick Joy: Desert Works contains masterfully modern designs in rammed earth by this Tucson, Arizona based architect. Joy uses color, texture, and materials to turn the six houses shown here into spare and subtle evidence of humanity in a vast natural world. He uses a similar approach, with expanded functionality, in the three studio/office designs that complete this book. The quiet of the settings and the simplicity of Joy’s approach are perfect partners in producing architecture appropriate to a vast, unpeopled place.
Tucson Adobes
This photo-postcard from 1906 shows several adobe buildings in Tucson, Arizona including Hotel Hall with its wide balconies.
Tucson Post Office
Color linen postcard of the US Post Office, Old Tucson, Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona. Mailed to Jackson Michigan 1947. Horseman with cowboy hat stands in front of old adobe brick building.