We were gifted an awesome collection of vintage adobe magazines. Produced by Joe Tibbets of the Southwest Solaradobe School, this publication ran for many years through the 70’s and 80’s with amazing illustrations and helpful articles. It is absolutely astonishing to see the number of adobe builders, adobe yards, architects, and material suppliers, all buying ad space in these magazines. The breadth and depth of this community was astounding. Adobe construction in the Southwest has been on a slow but consistent decline ever since this renaissance. There’s not really one answer as to why this is. But the economic trends that have replaced your locally-owned grocery or hardware store with Walmart and Home Depot have done something similar in construction. There once was a time when frame or block building crews were also made up of multi-talented tradesmen/women who were present for the entire project, involved in every aspect of construction. Adobe builders have always operated this way, but that way of building houses is now the outlier. There are so few adobe builders left, and there is only one (one!) commercial adobe yard remaining in all of New Mexico. There are still passionate people and organizations doing great work, but with projects fewer and further between than ever before. And although permitting officials are often unfamiliar with it, adobe is not illegal in New Mexico. Thanks to the work of @theearthbuildersguild, the adobe building code gets updated and stays on the books. It’s hard to say what the future holds for adobe. Our little business is committed to building houses with this material, but it’s not an issue we can solve alone. We need architects – especially of larger developments and commercial projects – to design with it. We need more builders willing to break out of the stick-frame box. Maybe we need something like a state tax incentive to make adobe construction more competitive. And, most urgently, we need a new generation of adobe brick manufacturers. #adobetoday #adobeconstruction #adobe #adobehouse #adobebuilder #joetibbets #southwestsolaradobeschool #adobemagazine #earthbuilders

Dec 26, 2022