Construction of Modern Adobe

With its links to the ancient villages of the Pueblo Indians and the buildings of Spain, Santa Fe style has evolved today in the desert states of America into a style of building that is recognised around the world. On a recent visit to Santa Fe in New Mexico 'Burke's Backyard' looked at contemporary Santa Fe houses, and met the owners and the builder of one of these unusual 'little brown houses'.

The Poston residence

Helen and Don Poston describe their Santa Fe style home as being at one with nature, with its organic lines and the sensuous, moulded curves of the walls. North-east of Santa Fe, the Poston home is positioned on top of a mountain and with panoramic views.

The house has an open plan. Large French windows and doors take advantage of the views. The ceilings are three to four metres (10-12') high. The thick walls (30cm or 12" thick) give good insulation against the extremes of temperature.

Although modern in its appearance and fixtures the house has many traditional adobe architectural features, including a Kiva (beehive shaped) fire place, wooden door and window frames and flagstone floors. The Kiva is derived from the architecture of the Pueblo Indians. The circular shaped area held spiritual significance.

The Postons find their home to be very appealing, practical in design and easy to maintain.

Adobe construction

Dennis Saye started building Santa Fe style houses with his grandfather when he was 11, and from him learnt the traditional techniques of adobe construction and finishing, including mud rendering, treatments to age and hand plane wood, and using oxen blood to stain floors. Dennis builds two to three adobe houses each year, as well as carrying out commercial building renovations.

The basic unit of construction in adobe architecture is the mud brick. Dennis prefers to use the dimensions used by the ancients for mud bricks, being 35x25x10cm (14x10x4"). Beneath their smooth exteriors, Santa Fe buildings are essentially square, and have been softened by successive layers of plastering material and the rounding effects of erosion. On the internal walls and ceilings, Dennis uses a mix of plaster and fine aggregate, and on the outside, a more resilient slurry of wheat coloured stucco with fine straw pieces.

The external surfaces of adobe houses are partly eroded each year by the wind, rain, snow and the extremes of temperature - sometimes varying 10°C (50°F) in one day. Every 12 to 24 months, adobe houses will need some maintenance to keep the smooth textures of their exterior walls.

While the flowing lines of adobe architecture hold universal appeal, Dennis foresees the need to substitute more modern materials such as concrete for the Santa Fe style to be as successful elsewhere in the world. A particular problem for wetter or tropical climates could be the traditional flat roof.

Further reading

Moore, Suzi (photographs by Terrence Moore), Under the Sun Desert Style and Architecture (Bulfinch Press, Boston, 1995).

Copyright 2006 CTC Productions