Author(s): Orlando Romero, David Larkin, Michael Freeman

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

ISBN: 0395566932

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From Booklist , 10/15/94:
When David Larkin’s name graces a title page, the book is bound to be well designed and full of superb color photographs. His most recent projects include Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks and Barn (1993). Here Larkin has teamed up with Romero, library director for the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe and expert on adobe in particular and southwestern culture in general, to create a picture-rich study of the history, technology, and dignified, sculptural beauty of adobe structures. The oldest of building materials, adobe bricks are made from mud and straw and have been used in Africa, the Iberian peninsula, and all across the Southwest and Mexico. Surprisingly durable if maintained, adobe constructions can last for centuries. Romero and Larkin explain brick-making and remudding techniques, showing both archival photographs of Native Americans at work on their pueblos and photographs of contemporary builders. They also document some of the Southwest’s most famous adobe churches and pueblos, such as the San Francisco Mission Church at Ranchos de Taos and the wondrous mesa-crowning Acoma Pueblo, as well as a selection of lesser-known buildings. Special attention is paid to interior decorative detail and to adobe’s intrinsic connection to the landscape.

Synopsis:
The use of earth as building material is as old as civilization itself. For the 20th-century American, the process is most familiar in the sun-dried brick called “adobe” and the style characteristic of the desert Southwest. Here is the story of adobe, from Asia and North Africa to New Mexico and the fabulous homes near Taos. 200 color photos; line drawings.

Booknews, Inc. , 12/01/94:
This mouthwatering documentary and visual history of adobe structures encompasses their geographical, esthetic, and historical dimensions. It surveys North African earthen buildings, Hispanic-influenced Native American pueblos and churches of the American Southwest, and the contemporary architecture of Santa Fe and Taos, showcasing interiors, exteriors, and special features in gorgeous color photos (by Michael Freeman). The text is clear and informative. Of interest to a wide audience of architects, interior designers, and those with an interest in the esthetic, ecological, and economic appeal of adobe. No index.

Author(s): Jerome Iowa

Publisher: Sunstone Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2005)

Paperback: 160 pages

ISBN: 086534034X

ISBN-13: 978-0865340343

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The American Southwest possesses an extraordinary depth of cultural heritage and much of its history is preserved in its architecture. Particularly prominent in the region’s man-made landscape are the historic structures made from the earth itself: adobe. Attention has turned to ways of preserving and maintaining the old buildings of the Southwest partly because of the growing national interest in historic preservation. However, in the Southwest there has also been an increased awareness of the inherent viability of native architecture. Adobe structures present unique challenges and require special treatment and until now, much of that information has been unpublished. Ageless Adobe provides practical details on methods of preservation and maintenance for old adobe buildings. The over 200 illustrations in the book along with directions on ‘how-to’ will enable the do-it-yourself home owner as well as the professional architect or contractor to plan and carry out renovation. The author presents solutions to the problems of keeping an historic structure intact while repairing it and making it 20th century livable. The issue of energy conservation is discussed at length and the premise of the book is that historic integrity does not have to be sacrificed for energy efficiency. Rehabilitation is always preferable, usually possible and often more profitable than demolition.

Author(s): Hugo Houben, Hubert Guillaud

Publisher: Intermediate Technology

Paperback: 372 pages

ISBN: 185339193X

ISBN-13: 978-1853391934

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Earth Construction: A Comprehensive Guide
Reissue Edition
Paperback Publication date: October 1993

This comprehensive, illustrated handbook deals with the world’s oldest and most widespread building material. Although earth is extremely versatile and can be used at relatively low cost, it is essential that users have a good knowledge of its real potential in order to use it to best effect, and to avoid misuse.

This book assembles, orders and clarifies information about building with earth which has up till now been available only in scattered form. Text supported by illustrations deals with the essential aspects of earth construction, taking one step at a time–decision-making, planning, design and the realization of a project–so that the procedures, benefits and precautions are easily accessible and understood by those involved at every level. The accumulated knowledge and experience of centuries of use are presented alongside current technologies and research findings. There is a chapter devoted to disaster-resistant construction techniques, and extensive bibliographies throughout for those who require more details about a particular subject area.

This is essential reading for anyone involved in construction projects at all levels, including decision-makers and planners, building inspectors, architects and engineers, technicians, building promoters and bricklayers, and sub-contractors–as well as students and academics–enabling them to visualize and plan programs which profit from earth’s wide range of qualities and ameliorate its defects, to test, stabilize and build with the local soil, and to find solutions to problems as they arise.

Table of Contents
1.Earth construction
2.Soil
3.Soil identification
4.Soil stabilization
5.Soil suitability
6.Tests
7.Characteristics
8.Construction methods
9.Production methods
10.Design guidelines
11.Disaster-resistant construction
12.Earth wall finishes
13.Bibliography