The Adobe Alliance
The Adobe Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping communities apply cooperative building techniques in earth architecture. It offers workshops in adobe design and construction and is a resource for anyone interested in learning more about adobe. It is based in Presidio, a community in the Texas Mountain Trail Region. For more information,
click here.
Adobe Alliance News 2007
Upcoming Projects and Trips
The Adobe Alliance has been retained to design a student union at the
Buddhist center of Diamond Mountain in Bowie, east Arizona. Co-designer
introduced to the project is Estevan Trujillo of e3designlab in Santa
Fe, New Mexico. The client has opted for rammed earth walls to be
roofed by adobe brick vaults which Alliance workers and interns will
build by hand.
Plans to build a 60-foot vault 12 ft wide to roof an adobe-walled shed
and garage are in process. The location is Chupadero 6 miles north
east of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Adobe Alliance will design a private house of adobe brick in Ojinaga,
Chihuahua, Mexico, in collaboration with local architect Roberto Rubio.
In spring 2007 Simone will visit a group of builders near Montpellier,
France, who construct Nubian vaults by hand. She will proceed to
Tunisia to explore the earth architecture of Tunis, the isle of Jerba
and beyond. Students/photographers who wish to join, please enquire.
For 2007 workshops please contact Simone Swan at swan@adobealliance.org
Scheduling depends largely on the clients in Santa Fe, Mexico and Arizona.
Other workshops are in the discussion phase to construct small domed
buildings in Taos, New Mexico, also in Crestone, Colorado.
The book "Simone Swan: Adobe Building" is now available. Written by
Dennis Dollens, 2005 graduate of an Adobe Alliance workshop, it was
published in April 2006 by Lumen Books and is readily available from
Amazon and regional bookstores.
Gallery of Adobe
RUIDOSA
At the end of the Pinto Canyon road (Hwy 2810) you come to Ruidosa and this stunning 1914 adobe Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church. The Texas Historical Commission and others have provided resources for the stabilization of the structure, but there's still need for restoration of this beautiful church. To read more about this unique building and its restoration efforts, click here.
VAN HORN
The El Capitan Hotel Building (now the local bank) in Van Horn graces Broadway at the intersection of Hwys 90 and 54 in the center of town.
FORT HANCOCK
An adobe church in Fort Hancock, Texas, off I-10.
Many of our Heritage Tourism Sites are Abobe Structures, include them in your travels!
Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center
Big Bend National Park: Castolon
Fort Davis National Historic Site
Fort Leaton State Historic Site
Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Butterfield Overland Trail Station
Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Frijole Ranch
Indian Lodge
Los Portales Museum and Tourist Center
Magoffin Home State Historic Site
Socorro Mission
Tigua Indian Cultural Center