Sheltered By The Earth
Walking into an adobe home feels much like falling into welcoming arms, and the book I’m recommending, The Small Adobe House, agrees. It claims: “adobe walls envelop you with cool respite on a sweltering day and cozy warmth on a frigid one.” Furthermore, it’s been said that once you’ve been sheltered by adobe walls, you won’t want anything else.
And so my house of the month is an adobe home. The book feels that “by its very nature, adobe allows a freedom of imagination and innovation” and that building such a home is an artistic endeavor. So being an artist, this is probably one of the reasons I’m so drawn to these structures.
The book details the charms and pleasures of building, living, and working with adobe. The chapters point out the history and evolution of adobe homes in the Southwest, followed by selections on roofs, ceilings, doors, windows, floors, walls, and exterior and interior features–everything you would ever want to know about adobe home living.
And there’s loads of photos, including latillas (thin peeled saplings on ceilings) placitas (an enclosed patio with high walls) and my favorite, a coyote fence (a tall fence made of unpeeled saplings. Although no longer used to keep coyotes out, it’s not altogether unusual to hear coyotes at night here in the desert, their howls echoing in the foothills and arroyos).
Now, just imagine it’s thousands of years ago, and you’re standing on a brush riverbank, looking out, knowing you need to build a shelter using only what you see in front of you.
Earth. Grass. Water.
That’s what early settlers of the arid Southwest had to do, and so they developed adobe material. Using the “puddling” method, they built-up layers of adobe, as each lower level dried, using their hands. Once the Spanish arrived, forms were then utilized to mold the adobe into bricks.
They built multistoried communities; some remain in use today (Taos Pueblo. I’ll post more about this later). Many small rooms were constructed on four and five levels, each stepped back from the one below, creating a series of terraces.
But entrance was gained only by ladder leading to the second level. Its purpose: protection from enemies, since the ladder could easily be drawn up in the event of an attack.
Want an adobe feel in your living space? Use a kiva-style ladder as a towel rack in your bathroom.