Saddam Hussein was born in Tikrit, Iraq on April 28, 1937 and grew up in the town of Al Dawr, a mud-brick town on the banks of the Tigris River. Adobe dwellings in Iraq date back as far as 8000 b.c. The earliest known form molded adobe blocks are also in Iraq (5600 b.c).
Tucson Adobes
This photo-postcard from 1906 shows several adobe buildings in Tucson, Arizona including Hotel Hall with its wide balconies.
Terra Cruda/Raw Earth
www.terracruda.com has some interesting examples of modern earth architecture. The site is only in Italian, but you can translate at babelfish.
San Diego Mission
Adobe Walls at an Old Mission in San Diego, California, date unknown
Adobe Resource
Quentin Wilson is the “The Adobe Building Resource of Northern New Mexico”.
Filipino Adobe
Photo of four people posing infront of a Spanish Colonial era adobe Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte, Philippines. c.1910.
Oldest Australian Earth Block Building
Is this the oldest existing earth block building in Australia?
Earthquake-Resistant Mud Brick
A University of Technology, Sydney engineering student recently returned from El Salvador where he coordinated construction of an earthquake-resistant mud brick building of his own design.
Earth Building Books
The Dirt Cheap Builder offers several books on building with earth.
Architecture for the Poor
Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt describes Hassan Fathy’s plan for building the village of New Gourna, near Luxor, Egypt, without the use of more modern and expensive materials such as steel and concrete. Using mud bricks, the native technique that Fathy learned in Nubia, and such traditional Egyptian architectural designs as enclosed courtyards and vaulted roofing, Fathy worked with the villagers to tailor his designs to their needs. He taught them how to work with the bricks, supervised the erection of the buildings, and encouraged the revival of such ancient crafts as claustra (lattice designs in the mudwork) to adorn the buildings.