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.
Poeh Center

The Poeh Center Museum Building is the tallest adobe building in New Mexico. The four story tower was completed in 1996.
La Luz

Designed and built between 1967 and 1974, the La Luz community was architect Antoine Predock’s first major commission. More uniquely, it was the first major townhouse development to be constructed entirely of adobe. For more information click here.
[ La Luz: The Light on the Mesa | Essay by Christopher Mead ]
Festive Earthen Building Events

Festive Earthen Building Events (FEBE), a program of Youth Empowerment America, invites youth and adults to help construct a mud brick building at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 29 in southeast Atlanta.
The Nk’Mip Desert Interpretive Centre
The Nk’Mip Desert Interpretive Centre is finally open. View pictures at Rammed Earth is for Everyone
Adobe Architecture of California

Spanish Colonial : or Adobe Architecture of California, 1800-1850 concentrates on the historical buildings of the period and includes numerous black and white photos of old buildings.
Simone Swan: Adobe Building

Simone Swan: Adobe Building is the first book to discuss and illustrate Swan’s architecture while also chronicling one of her annual workshops in author Dollens’ first-hand account. Swan studied with the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in his Cairo studio and after his death in 1989 adopted his mission of helping house the world’s poor through the creation of environmental projects that re-examine and promote traditional adobe building while introducing compatible forms, such as the Nubian vault and dome through her organization, The Adobe Alliance.
Powell Guest House

University of Arizona grads Jason Gallo and Andy Powell build a 750-square-foot guesthouse out of rammed earth in the back yard of Powell’s parents’ home in the Sam Hughes area. more…
