EARTH ARCHITECTURE

The msn group, Archi-terra Fotos, is a small, but growing, collection of earth architecture from around the world.

The Third Annual Adobe Conference of the Adobe Association of the Southwest Celebrating the Work of Simone Swan will take place May 20, 21 and 22, 2005 in El Rito, New Mexico on the campus of 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:

November 22, 2004: Abstracts due. One page, 8-1/2 x11, maximum
December 10, 2004: Notification of acceptance
February 22, 2005: 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, Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations and overheads. Submit abstracts to Quentin Wilson, Speakers Committee, PO Box 160, El Rito, NM 87530; 505-581-4130 fax or qwilson@mail.nnmcc.edu as an attachment or email body. Final papers preferred in pdf format.

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 especially in the United States
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

Conference Schedule:

Friday, May 20, 2005 11AM to 1PM Registration
1:30PM to 4:30PM Session I
5PM to 6:30PM Dinner
7PM to 9PM Social Hour
Saturday, May 21, 2005 9:30AM to 12M Session II
1:30PM to 5PM Tour
7PM to 9PM Session III
Sunday, May 22, 2005 9:30AM to 12M Session IV

The Conference registration cost is $60; $30 for speakers. This year, speakers will be responsible for their own room and board costs. Northern New Mexico Community College has dorm rooms, suites, and a cafeteria available at very reasonable prices. Contact us for conference registration, college reservations or local hotel/motel contacts at 877-806-2987 or email info@adobeasw.com

“Earthen Architecture in the Northern United States: European Traditions in Earthen Construction” by Richard Pieper

“In the United States, the use of earth for building is most frequently associated with Hispano-American traditions of adobe construction in the Southwest. There is also, however, in the northern United States a significant tradition of earthen wall construction that is related to techniques of northern European immigrants.”

The “Earth House,” as this newly opened museum in the Western Bekaa is called, is sponsored by the National Heritage Foundation, the museum, inaugurated on Friday, aims to revive the traditional house style of the rural Bekaa region of Lebanon.

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A VULNERABLE BEAUTY: the earthen architecture of Iran was shown at the RIAS Gallery in Edinburgh this spring. For those who missed it, download the .PDF

In Situ was established in 1998 by Rowland Keable.

Built By Hand by Eiko Komatsu, Athena Steen and Bill Steen is, according to Michael Webb, the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine,” A photographic anthology of the astounding variety of architecture produced without architects-a colorful successor to Bernard Rudofsky’s pioneering study of vernacular building, Architecture Without Architects. The book contains an entire section dedicated to earth architecture.

Chitra Vishwanath is an architect in Bangalore, India that has been buillding interesting works of architecture with mud for the past 20 years.