Adobe: Made of Mud

Adobe: Made of Mud

Residents of Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States are having a renewed romance with adobe structures. Demand for stylish, upscale Indigenous and Mexican-influenced architecture shows no sign of slowing. Sharp eyed aficionados can drive around almost any local residential street or business district in a big city to see variation upon variation of this warm and comfortable style. Whether it is Mission, Monterrey, Rancho Hacienda, or Pueblo Revival, adobe constructed homes and commercial buildings have always been a beautiful and economically friendly way of living. Now, they are also a hot commodity.

Adobe architecture has not always been so romanticized. In the past, adobe homes were a sign of poverty, and adobe building were generally only seen in poorer areas of a city. Many times people would try to conceal the fact that they lived or worked in an adobe structure by camouflaging the faÐ"§ade with more modern materials. Beautiful adobe homes were plastered with stucco and painted to blend in with the neighbors. Historical buildings were covered with wooden paneling, and fake pitched roofs were added to hide any meager history. The de-Indianization of Northern Mexico and the United States was running rampant, and it was grossly evident in the changing landscape of our cities.

Adobe bricks are made of mud, and mud is free. This is the underlying reason why adobe buildings were once looked upon as dwellings for the poor. According to S. Stanger of Architectural Digest (1997), mud is almost too basic of an item even to talk about. However, humans have used it for more thousands of years to build things, so its value is undeniable. The Earth is under our feet, and easy for most people in our modern world to take for granted. Fortunately for all of us, the pre-Columbian People didn't take anything for granted, and used everything around them to make shelter, art, clothing and all items that a society wants and needs.

Adobe buildings are constructed by stacking large adobe blocks, or bricks, on top of each other, using wet adobe mud for mortar. Adobe bricks are primarily made of soil, clay and water. Straw and gravel are added for strength, and cactus juice is usually added for its' water-proofing properties. The moist mud is hand shaped or put into a mold and dried in the sun for a minimum of thirty days. The bricks are hand turned at least once a week to ensure even drying. Adobe bricks traditionally measured about 8 x 16 inches, and were 6 inches thick. Modern adobe bricks vary in size, depending on the application.

The Pueblos are American Indians of the Southwest, and, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica (2000), the Pueblo culture began developing techniques for adobe brick making and building structures in the first millennium AD. The Pueblos perfected their techniques over centuries, and many of their ancient ruins are still standing today. Their agricultural crops included several varieties of corn as well as long-staple cotton, and both have been used in the making of adobe bricks.

The Pueblo ancestors were the prehistoric Anasazi Indians. Beginning in about 700Ð'-1000 AD, the Anasazi, who had settled in what is now known as Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico, began building above-ground dwellings made of stone, wood and adobe blocks. These enduring shelters reflected a change in their previously nomadic lifestyle. As they became increasingly dependent on agriculture, they became more sedentary and required permanent accommodations.

By 1000 AD, their adobe structures became even more sophisticated. The Anasazi had begun to build multistoried houses in the rocky sides of the flat-topped hills and in canyon walls. The hill-sides and canyons, along with adobe bricks, were used to form the walls of their buildings. Each floor was usually set back from the floor below, so that the whole building resembled a zigzag pyramid. This method also provided terraces on those levels made from the roof tops of the level below. Movement between levels was achieved by ladders laid through a hole in the ceiling. Most rooms above the first level could also be entered by doorways from adjoining rooms. Ground floor rooms had no windows, and ground level doors were used exclusively for storage, primarily grain.

When a family had more than one room, which was commonly the case, the rooms were arranged in a line radiating out from the center of the structure. When a family needed more space, a section of the original building was added to, both above and below their original rooms. In this way, square footage was added without having to move the family altogether.

The elders occupied the lower levels, leaving it to the younger members of the family to climb to upper the upper floors. Each home had at least two ceremonial rooms, or kivas, which were used as places of worship.

While the Anasazi lived in their beautiful homes in the sides of mountains, they continued to farm the land below. They had invented an ingenious way of keeping a watchful eye on their farm land, which could easily be seen from their houses, and easily defended in case of raids.

Adobe was known as a material of community. People came together to dig the dirt, gather and dry the straw, mix the mortar and shape the bricks. Together, communities would take the time to build homes for each other, and collectively participate in their upkeep. Adobe buildings do require maintenance, as any structure does. The exteriors need to be sealed annually to remain water and weather resistant. It was common in many communities for women to come together to re-plaster each other's houses once a year.

The Classic Pueblo period was characterized by significant advances in architecture and pottery. The great cliff houses built by the Pueblos remain an architectural wonder. They had from 20 to 1,000 rooms each, and were from one to five stories high. The Regressive Pueblo period marked many apartment houses that were later abandoned during the Pueblo's time of southward and eastward migration. Many aspects of Pueblo architecture and art still thrive, while modern technologies are