VOICES

Earthen architecture is widely used throughout arid regions of the world. Some of the oldest surviving buildings in the world are earthen. The Taos Pueblo is an earthen structure which has been designated a UNESCO site for being the oldest continually inhabited structure in North America. Adobe is made with clay, sand and/or silt mixed with sand and grasses, which keep the squares from cracking as they dry in the sun. The word ‘adobe’ is derived from the ancient Egyptian word which was adopted by the Arabic ‘al-tob’, suggesting the practice is connected to North African materials engineering.

Like Acequia, the community centered practice of water sharing, the use of Adobe arrived to the Iberian peninsula from North Africa in the 9th Century during the establishment of al-Andalus. Spanish settlers carried both practices to the Americas, where they found similar ways of building and agriculture already in practice. Spanish settlers broadened canal systems throughout Patagonia, the Andes and north through the Pueblo lands. They also shared the technology of mixing grass into the mud adobe bricks to strengthen them, improving the quality of the built environment.

The Anglicized version of the word refers to architecture that simply has the aesthetic of traditional adobe structures; the Casita was designed to aesthetically fit into the area, but the bulk of it is framed. We also felt like it was important to utilize the traditional material itself, so we made use of it as a fire-wall behind the dual wood-burning/propane stove we found for the space. The thermal qualities of adobe, in the way it absorbs heat, make it the perfect material to protect from the fire within a wood stove.

Adobe in Action is a local non profit that promotes the use of traditional adobe in the Southwest.