Posted by Michael Blaha, May 17th , 2009.
On Friday I went to AdobeUSA 2009 Conference in El Rito. It was hosted and co-sponsored by Northern New Mexico College. A college that offers a certificate program in Adobe Construction.
Presentations that stuck out for me were Pallet Building by Dafyd Rawlings; Carole Crews speaking about traditional ways of working mud; and Tim White‘s talk on plaster increasing energy performance, sometimes by 10%. Between presentations I snuck off to take some pictures…
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Posted by Michael Blaha, October 31st , 2008.
Carole Crews, is an artist, author, natural builder, and plaster guru near Taos, New Mexico. She has worked with mud and finishes for earthen buildings professionally for 25 years. She is also the creator of this incredible earthen building. The Dome is a work of art. Never before have I seen a building quite like this – it’s magic.
The Dome is 16 feet in diameter and roughly 550 square feet. All made of adobe and cob. Carole started the project back in 1992, working sporadically over the years. The adobe bricks were laid one by one, cut to specific shapes and leveled with pea stones and adobe mortar or cob forming the adobe dome. Over time extra space was added including a kitchen, bedroom, and a outdoor space. The outdoor space, which is around 200 square feet, was originally meant to be room for her daughters, but in the end was left open-air. What a nice place to hang out and take in the view of Taos Mountain.
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Posted by Michael Blaha, May 28th , 2007.
At 7,200 feet, under the majesty of The Taos Mountain, stands a true relic of earthen architecture, The Taos Pueblo. Ancient ruins in the Taos Valley indicate the Taos Indians lived there nearly 1000 years ago. The main part of the present buildings were constructed between 1000 and 1450 A.D. These buildings are said to be the oldest continuously inhabited earthen buildings in the United States.
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Posted by Michael Blaha, May 11th , 2007.
This adobe wall suffered a water leak. I inspected the adobe bricks beneath and filled with an earthen plaster. Local materials were sourced for the plaster. Some of the mud came from a near by ditch and some came from the wall itself.
In the end the 10 foot walls received a lot of mud!
Kelly, the owner, sculpted a very nice relief on the finish plaster.
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Posted by Michael Blaha, November 25th , 2006.
At the Overland Ranch, on highway 64 to Taos, there is a adobe wall wearing away quite gracefully. This wall has no ‘roof’ to protect it so it slowly washes away. I like the way the bricks seem to levitate on the mortar.
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