Casa Adobe

In their third book, the authors forge through the mountains of Mexico and the deserts of the American Southwest in celebration of the strength and wonder of adobe design style. 195 photos, 175 in color.

The long-awaited revision and enlargement of a major pioneer work on adobe architecture first published in 1961. The first edition, reprinted here with minor editorial revisions, contains sketches and plans of twenty-two adobe homes inspired by existing old houses in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico; details of Hispanic doors dating from around 1850; and an introductory history of adobe architecture. Lumpkins has added a preface on passive solar heating systems and four sets of solar house drawings to this revised and enlarged edition of 1986. La casa adobe remains an invaluable resource for architects, builders, home owners and buyers, and everyone interested in adobe architecture and solar technology.--Cover.

Adobe, or mud brick, has been widely used as a building material in the American Southwest, including California. The vulnerability of many original adobe structures to damage or destruction from earthquakes has been of great concern. The guidelines presented here address the practical aspects of this problem and represent the culmination of 12 years of research and testing on the seismic retrofitting of adobe buildings. These guidelines can assist in the planning of seismic retrofitting projects consistent with both conservation principles and established public policy.

In their fourth book, authors/designers Karen Witynski and Joe Carr forage through the American Southwest and mountains of Mexico in search of the furnishings, accents and architectural elements that reveal its time-honored beauty and character. From rugged Arizona ranches and haciendas to contemporary Santa Fe homes, Adobe Details celebrates the natural materials--earth, wood and stone--that proudly bear evidence of the human hand. From adobe walls textured with agave fibers to hand-adzed vigas and gleaming Saltillo-tile floors, the adobe home is alive with rich surfaces that evoke a casual, timesless context. Adobe Details will show you how to achieve the look.

A dazzling photographic journey, Casa Yucat�n focuses on architectural elements, water spaces, and open-air living in houses both colonial and contemporary, including haciendas and coastal retreats.

Debunks the great tourist myth, and explains how the Santa Fe architectural and design style, so popular with millions of visitors today, was consciously created by Anglos in the early 20th century.

How a centuries-old architectural tradition reemerged as a potential solution to the political and environmental crises of the 1970s 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. Solar Adobe 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.

This book explores the depths of adobe and enables the reader to build their own home intelligently and realistically. With an emphasis on adobe construction, McHenry discusses the planning of every aspect of one's home from the financing to the foundation, the floors to the fireplaces. The prospective builder must be prepared for a long period of frustration, doubt, worry, and plain hard work, but the helpful ideas found on the pages of this book will encourage readers to build despite the challenges. McHenry describes this process as a tremendous puzzle, for which one must create and arrange all the pieces, and then live with the result. McHenry begins with a brief history of adobe and then moves on to the planning of the home, emphasizing the influence of individual ideas. The intention of this book is to help bridge the gap between architects, builders, craftsmen, and the unskilled but determined individual who wants to build their own home. This book outlines the technical aspects of adobe construction with several pictures and figures to simplify production. The creation of a home, from the earliest design concepts to successful completion, is one of the most rewarding experiences one can ever have. McHenry's Adobe offers a realistic and straightforward guide to "doing it yourself." His advice regarding adobe is useful for professionals and amateurs alike.