We’re feeling official today, now that we have the Stamp of Approval on our drawings! The prep work that went into this project was enormous. When we talk to people about this build, one of the first questions we get is, did we use an architect? Answer: no. The second question usually is, did either of us go to school for architecture? Answer: no. And then we feel amazed and humbled that our client thinks the best people to design his house are a contractor with a classics degree and a flutist. Hopefully there will be many more adobe homes in our future. We’d love to work with an architect, actually, because by no means do we have all the best design answers. But I do think we have a pretty good sense for what makes a home function well, feel right, and fit in to a larger tradition of adobe building in New Mexico. For this house, we started with a floor plan that fit all our client’s needs, and then came up with a scheme to build it that will show off some of our favorite interior details while also fitting within the budget. I have no doubt that this house will be beautiful (and smell great – seriously, fresh cut pine and mud plaster smells amazing!). We used @sketchup_official to create a 3D model of the house, and extracted layers from there to create our set of construction drawings. It was an enormous amount of work – and not the type of work that comes naturally to either of us – but in the end we are all really pleased with the plans. Now we just have to build it! 😅 #selftaught #adobearchitecture #sketchup #abqhomes #adobehouse #designbuild

May 28, 2021