Solar Adobe: Energy, Ecology, and Earthen Architecture by Albert Narath
Against the backdrop of a global energy crisis, a widespread movement embracing the use of raw earth materials for building construction emerged in the 1970s. A new book, Solar Adobe: Energy, Ecology, and Earthen Architecture by Albert Narath , examines this new wave of architectural experimentation taking place in the United States, detailing how an ancient tradition became a point of convergence for issues of environmentalism, architecture, technology, and Indigenous resistance.
Utilized for centuries by the Pueblo people of the American Southwest and by Spanish colonialists, adobe construction found renewed interest as various groups contended with the troubled legacies of modern architecture and an increasingly urgent need for sustainable design practices. In this period of critical experimentation, design networks that included architects, historians, counterculture communities, government weapons labs, and Indigenous activists all looked to adobe as a means to address pressing environmental and political issues.
Albert Narath charts the unique capacities of adobe construction across a wide range of contexts, consistently troubling simple distinctions between traditional and modern technologies, high design and vernacular architecture. Drawing insightful parallels between architecture, environmentalism, and movements for Indigenous sovereignty, Solar Adobe stresses the importance of considering the history of the built environment in conjunction with architecture’s larger impact on the natural world.
The Metropolis Magazine article, “The Politics of Adobe Architecture“, discusses recent scholarship on earth architecture in America that highlights larger issues concerning power, extraction, and Indigenous resistance to the settler state and capitalism.
Based in Monterrey, Mexico, Diseño Norteño is an architecture firm celebrated for merging modern innovation with the cultural heritage of northern Mexico. Their projects are designed to respect the natural environment, utilizing local materials and reinterpreting traditional techniques with a contemporary twist. With a multidisciplinary team, they have become known for creating spaces that reflect regional identity while delivering functional and forward-thinking design solutions.
Photo by Diseño Norteño
The “OJA” project, located in the serene landscapes of Coahuila, Mexico, showcases Diseño Norteño’s dedication to sustainability and elegant design. “OJA” serves as a harmonious retreat, blending seamlessly with its natural surroundings. The project draws inspiration from traditional northern Mexican architecture, adapted to a modern context, to create a sanctuary that respects and enhances its environment.
Photo by Diseño Norteño
Key materials used in the “OJA” project include compressed earth, which is a contemporary twist on traditional earthen construction. This material not only provides excellent thermal insulation, keeping the indoor environment comfortable year-round, but also minimizes environmental impact by utilizing locally sourced resources. Recycled wood plays a significant role as well, adding warmth and a rustic charm to the interiors, creating inviting spaces that feel both cozy and grounded. Additionally, local stone is incorporated for its durability and aesthetic qualities, establishing a strong connection between the building and its natural surroundings. This thoughtful selection of materials enhances the visual appeal of the structure while reinforcing the project’s commitment to eco-friendliness and sustainability. By choosing materials that are both beautiful and environmentally responsible, “OJA” embodies a harmonious relationship between design and nature.
Photo by Diseño Norteño
“OJA” employs several passive design techniques to improve sustainability. The building is oriented to maximize natural light and promote cross ventilation, reducing reliance on artificial heating and cooling. Large windows and strategic shading devices protect the interiors from excessive heat, while modern systems like rainwater harvesting and solar panels further enhance self-sufficiency. Together, these elements create a beautiful, functional space that reflects a harmonious blend of traditional practices and contemporary innovations, reinforcing the project’s commitment to ecological and cultural sustainability.
References
(n.d.). Diseño Norteño – Tijuana. Retrieved November 5, 2024, from https://d-n.mx/
CONTENT WARNING:graphic descriptions of art installations and construction. ie sexual violence, murder, blood.
Teresa Margolles, born in 1963, is an artist from Mexico City. Teresa is considered a conceptual artist, with a focus on the impacts of violence and death, specifically in her home country of Mexico, and Latin America as a whole.
Bernd Kammerer
In her early adulthood, she went to school and studied to become a forensic pathologist. She then worked in the morgue, and witnessed the ways in which bodies, and the lives lost resulting in these bodies, were unnoticed. The violence of her home and surroundings became the subject of much of her artistic work. Margolles went on to create an artists’ collective named SEMEFO in the 1990s.
“When I was working with SEMEFO I was very interested in what was happening inside the morgue and the situations that were occurring, let’s say, a few meters outside the morgue, among family members and relatives. But Mexico has changed so violently that it’s no longer possible to describe what’s happening outside from within the morgue. The pain, loss and emptiness are now found in the streets.” Teresa Margolles, 2009.
Margolles has a pattern of using natural earthen and human materials in her work, such as water, dirt, sand, sweat, blood, fat, and tissue. These materials are used to tell her story through the art pieces and installations, all with a focus on violence, erasure, destruction, and death.
Recovered Blood, 2009
Recovered Blood, as shown above, was created using the mud-soaked clothes that were used to clean the sites of drug-related murders throughout Mexico.
Mesa y dos bancos, 2013
This table and benches were created using a mixture of concrete and organic material harvested from the grounds of the site of a murder on the Northern Mexico and US border.
Vaporizacion, 2001
This installation was created using the water used to wash corpses in the morgue in Mexico. This water was then dispersed throughout the space using two fog machines.
Joyas, 2007
This piece of jewelry was created with shattered glass fragments sourced by Margolles from a local gunfight in Mexico. She then collaborated with a local jeweler to create a piece of jewelry that resembles one a powerful gang member might wear.
Lote Bravo, 2005
This installation, Lote Bravo, in Mexico consisted of adobe bricks. The bricks were mixed and made out of soil and earth harvested from the site of murders and burials of Mexican women found along the border of the United States and Mexico. These women were often determined to be sexually assaulted at the site of their death.
Cleaning, 2009.
This exhibit featured an hourly mopping of the floor, however the cleaning liquid that was used contained blood from individuals murdered in Mexico.
Herida, 2010.
This installation consisted of a seam in the wall, filled with human fat which was gathered from corpses of murdered people in Mexico.
Marlene Pista de Baile del club ‘Mona Lisa’, 2016
In addition to conceptual and performance art, Margolles is also a photographer. In this particular collection, she focuses on the destruction of clubs in Juarez and throughout Mexico. In the image above, Margolles captures Marlene, a transgender woman standing on what remained of the dance floor of the club she worked at, Mona Lisa.
Composed of 726 plaster face castings, they were created from the faces of only trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals from both Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Colección Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Mostoles, Madrid, Spain; Colección Fundación ARCO, Madrid, Spain; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland; Colección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada; Museion Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Bolzano, Italy; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany; Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Tate Modern, London, UK and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.
Awards:
Artes Mundi Prize and the Prince Claus Award for Culture and Development in 2012.
53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 for What Else Could We Talk About?
This essay from 2023 by Automate Construction focuses on the development of 3D Printed Earthen Architecture by Ronald Rael, WASP, and presents a brief history of Earthen Architecture as it relates to this technological development.
Located in the town of San Jose de Garcia in Michoacan, Mexico, Casa Nandi is a collaborative project between architect Fino Lozano and the firm Moro Taller de Arquitectura. This two-story residence is designed to blend with its natural environment while offering views of the landscape. The home employs rammed-earth construction techniques combined with concrete elements such as casting, creating a balance between traditional and modern building methods. The design aims to respect the local context while providing a functional and aesthetic living space.
Architects: Fino Lozano, Moro Taller de Arquitectura
Area: 1345 ft²
Year Built:2022
City/State: San Jose De Garcia, Michoacan
Country: Mexico
By making the most of its orientation to create a bright, intimate space, the residence also emphasizes the simplicity of its surroundings. Its natural ventilation which is derived from its forms, creates moments of release within the home that allow for contemplation of not just the environment but of self-embracing elements of harmony and tranquility for the inhabitants.
Ground Floor Plan Courtesy of Fino Lozano and Moro Taller de ArquitecturaSection Render Courtesy of Fino Lozano and Moro Taller de Arquitectura
Constructed upon pine wood beams, the building also features handcrafted mud bricks supporting a concrete slab that indeed displays the underlying natural elements for an effortlessly elegant yet raw appearance. As previously indicated, the walls that make up the house are a combination of modern concrete techniques and traditional rammed earth, providing a juxtaposition that emphasizes how timeless architectural building practices can be. This combination offers acoustic and thermal insulation in addition to structural support.
Photograph by Rafael Palacios MaciasPhotograph by Rafael Palacios Macias
Every material used in the home is on display, allowing each texture and color to contribute to a visual experience that authentically reflects the surrounding landscape. Rammed earth construction is popular in conveying the essence of Mexican architecture and Casa Nandi is a great example due to its rosy pink walls of local mud, creating a seamless connection between the home and its environment. “Casa Nandi, in that spirit, stands out yet settles in the place it belongs to” (Zohra Kahn).
Photograph by Rafael Palacios Macias
References:
Caballero, Pilar. “Nandi House / Fino Lozano + Moro Taller de Arquitectura.” ArchDaily, ArchDaily, 7 June 2024, www.archdaily.com/1017433/nandi-house-fino-lozano-plus-moro-taller-de-arquitectura?ad_medium=gallery.
Khan, Zohra. “Casa Nandi in Its Muted Rammed Earth and Concrete Form Stands out yet Settles In.” STIRworld, STIRworld.com, 15 July 2024, www.stirworld.com/see-features-casa-nandi-in-its-muted-rammed-earth-and-concrete-form-stands-out-yet-settles-in.
Will Bruder is an American architect known for his innovative use of materials and site-specific designs. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1946, Bruder’s background spans art, sculpture, and architecture. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, earning a degree in Fine Arts, and later apprenticed under visionary architect Paolo Soleri, which significantly influenced his work in the desert Southwest.
Bruder’s work focuses on creating architecture that integrates with the natural environment, using innovative material choices and architectural forms. His approach prioritizes materials that connect the building to its surroundings, as seen in his use of adobe for the Matthews Residence.
The Matthews Residence, designed by Will Bruder, was built between 1979 and 1980 and received the 1983 Environmental Excellence Award for its innovative design. The residence is a 2,800-square-foot adobe home. The primary material of this residence is adobe brick, a traditional earth material made from sun-dried bricks, which is able to blend into the natural landscape. Adobe also offers excellent thermal properties, helping regulate temperature in the desert climate.
Inspired by the traditional Southwestern courtyard house, the design features curving adobe walls, strategically shaped to reduce exposure to the intense Arizona sun. The house spans a large double cul-de-sac lot in a suburban area of west Phoenix.
The layout creates a dynamic interplay between expansive and more intimate spaces, enhanced by the flowing geometry of its curves. The design’s sense of light, compression, and openness is carefully crafted, with a long skylight running from the entrance, introducing a play of light that highlights the contrast between rougher materials like adobe and concrete floors and the more refined details of oak and galvanized steel.
A key inspiring aspect is how Bruder masterfully combines adobe with modern materials like steel and wood, which creates a dynamic contrast between natural, traditional, and modern industrial materials. This combination enriches the architectural narrative by blending the old with the new. The combination of modern architectural design with natural, sustainable materials makes the Matthews Residence a source of inspiration for architects interested in sustainability and regionalism.
Interestingly, this is the only known Bruder house constructed from adobe, making it a rare and distinctive project. The way adobe is used in this design adds to its uniqueness, and it remains one of the most intriguing examples of Bruder’s residential work.
Taos Pueblo is an ancient, occupied multi-generational community in Northern New Mexico. “Pueblo” refers to both the physical buildings and community (stylized “pueblo”) and the native people of those communities (stylized “Pueblo”). The people are also known as Puebloans, or Pueblo peoples, and are native to the Southwestern United States (New Mexico, Arizona, Texas). They share a common culture, including food and agriculture, history, traditions, and religious practices. Aside from Taos, inhabited pueblos include San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi.
The most recognizable feature of the Taos Pueblo community are the multi-story, red clay and adobe homes and community buildings. They span both sides of the Sacred Blue Lake/Rio Pueblo de Taos (a tributary of the Rio Grande) which is also the population’s only source of water. The community has been continuously occupied for over 1000 years, likely originally built between 1000 and 1450 C.E. It is both the longest continuously inhabited community in the United States, and the largest of the pueblos.
The structures are built in terraced tiers, extending out as they descend toward the ground, and a height of five stories at maximum. “The property includes the walled village with two multi-storey adobe structures, seven kivas (underground ceremonial chambers), the ruins of a previous pueblo, four middens, a track for traditional foot-races, the ruins of the first church built in the 1600s and the present-day San Geronimo Catholic Church” UNESCO. The community sits at the base of the Taos mountains, the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains
Spanish explorers arrived in 1540 C.E. and originally believed the community to be one of the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, a legend of Aztec mythology pursued by Coronado, among others. The miccaceous mineral (micca) found in the clay that is used to re-mud the homes every year shimmers in the light, seemingly like gold.
old-taos-images-historic-museum-of-taos-008 https://taospueblo.com/history/old-taos-images-historic-museum-of-taos-003 https://taospueblo.com/history/old-taos-images-historic-museum-of-taos-002 https://taospueblo.com/history/Google Earth 3D aerial of Taos Pueblo buildingsGoogle Earth aerial of Taos Pueblo land
The front facade of Centinela Chapel captured at dusk. (César Béjar via Arch Daily)
Architect: Estudio ALA
Location: Jalisco, Mexico
Year of Completion: 2014
Area: 480 square meters
Centinela Chapel was designed byEstudio ALA based in Gaudalajara, Mexico. The studio was established in 2012 by Luis Enrique Flores and Armida Fernandez. Flores received his undergraduate education from Universidad de Guadalajara, and a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard GSD. Fernandez began her education in industrial design at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudio Superiores de Monterrey before continuing on to a Master of Design Studies at the GSD. Their view of the architectural discipline is as interdisciplinary as their educational backgrounds might suggest, approaching each project with a holistic mindset that in their words is rooted in “[the time, the history, the place, and the people]”[1]. You can read more about their approach in this interview with the Architectural League of New York.
These design imperatives are evident in Centinela Chapel. The 480 square meter building, a small chapel located inside of a Tequila production facility in Jalisco, sits in a verdant landscape with broad views to a pond and adjacent fields [2]. The chapel consists of two rectilinear volumes, open to the air and sky. Used primarily by the facility’s workers, the open plan allows great flexibility and large capacity with a very small building, all while elegantly connecting to the landscape.
Plan of Centinela Chapel (via Arch Daily)
Adobe bricks and pink terracotta tiles are the dominant material expression of the Chapel. However, the primary structural system is in fact steel, which allows for large span openings, and a flexible open plan with wide views. Although the adobe bricks incorporated here are not structural they do play an important role of tying the Chapel to its site, by enhancing thermal comfort, and relating the building to local architecture. Estudio ALA puts great emphasis on the materials as means of connecting a project to its surroundings [3], and the adobe walls undoubtedly achieve this at Centinela Chapel. As a whole the building is an interesting case study of a hybrid material composition, where adobe is the protagonist, but has been enhanced beyond its traditional formal limits with the introduction of a steel structure. The project demonstrates that even where traditional adobe construction may not be feasible for the given form the material can still be a critical part of a building’s identity given its cultural, aesthetic, and climatic significance.
A construction detail illuminated the relationship between steel structure, and adobe bricks (via Arch Daily)
The interior of the chapel. The unusually large spans and flexible plan, and openess to the air and sky are evident (César Béjar via Arch Daily).
1. Estudio ala. Estudio ALA. (n.d.-a). https://estudioala.com/
2. Arch Daily. (2015, December 29). Centinela Chapel / Estudio Ala. ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/779489/centinela-chapel-estudio-ala
3. Be critical, adapt constantly, and connect. The Architectural League of New York. (2024, July 30). https://archleague.org/article/be-critical-adapt- constantly-and-connect/
R. M. Schindler in Taos, October 1915. Photographer likely Victor Higgins. Courtesy UC Santa Barbara Art Museum, Architecture and Design Collections, Schindler Collection.
Rudolph Schindler was an Austrian architect that practiced in Southern California from 1920 to 1953. [1] Starting as a talented student at the “Wagnerschule” in Austria, Schindler became a pioneering figure in 20th-century modern architecture, ultimately emerging as one of the most significant influences of the Modern Movement in America. Rudolph was born in Austria but spent most of his life in the United States, establishing his identity as a “Californian architect”[2].
Nevertheless, Rudolph Schindler generally surpasses many boxes attributed to him with a term he championed in his work: space architecture, in which he sought the protagonism of materials into a “new architecture”[2]. Materials like adobe!
His country house in adobe project is the result of a trip to Taos, New Mexico in which Schindler allowed the Southwestern scene to fill his sketchbooks and camera films, influencing his designs and eventually his style[3].
Photograph taken by Schindler in 1915. Courtesy of New Mexico Architecture Magazine.
His sketches and photographs reveal a delicate eye sensitive to tradition in Southwestern America, and inevitably an understanding of the nature of this material[3]. Delineated lines in his sketchbook represent the characteristic irregular bulk of adobe walls, and his photographs show his interest in how adobe ultimately shapes space[3].
Sketch made by Rudolph Schindler in New Mexico. Courtesy of New Mexico Architecture Magazine.
These observations hung onto Schindler when he was commissioned to design a summer house for a client, Dr. T. P. Martin in a site spanning approximately 3 acres, set against the scenic backdrop of Taos, New Mexico. [4]
Taos Pueblo, October 1915. Photograph by R. M. Schindler. Courtesy UC Santa Barbara Art Museum, Architecture and Design Collections, Schindler Collection.House Floor Plan Design by Schindler. Courtesy UC Santa Barbara Art Museum, Architecture and Design Collections, Schindler Collection.
In his proposed plan, Schindler advocated for a modernization of the Spanish Pueblo vernacular architecture he discovered featuring ADOBE, to draft his “Country Home in Adobe Construction” design that stretched horizontally within the site[4]. While the house plan did not model local tradition with its reigning symmetric layout, his material of choice, adobe, allocated him the freedom to explore what he inevitably noticed in his trip to Taos: the versatility of the material [3]. His design therefore probes the fundamental thickness of the adobe walls in the deep recesses of the windows and reveals adobe’s inherent lack of rectangular precision with the uneven surfaces of the walls[3].
As planned, his proposed layout sought to integrate harmoniously with the landscape as a low-rise adobe structure with viga ceilings and a large courtyard[4].
Perspective of Design by R.M. Schindler. Courtesy UC Santa Barbara Art Museum, Architecture and Design Collections, Schindler Collection.
This design never came to fruition, but the lessons that Schindler absorbed from New Mexico fundamentally embedded his designs with a vision he could only learn from the South, architecture as a question of space formed through materials[5].
“When I speak of American architecture I must say at once that there is none. . .The only buildings which testify to the deep feeling for soil on which they stand are the sun-baked adobe buildings of the first immigrants and their successors — Spanish and Mexican — in the south-western part of the country.”
Letter from RMS to Richard Neutra, Los Angeles, California, ca. January, 1921: quoted in E. McCoy, Vienna to Los Angeles: Two Journeys (Santa Monica, Arts & Architecture) [6]
[6] “R. M. Schindler and Richard Neutra: Space Architecture and the Pueblo” Southern California Architectural History, 18 May 2019, socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2019/05/schindler-wrote-to-neutra-extolling.html
