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    Articles
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CROCKER LTD  
Architectural Conservation  
901 West San Mateo Rd., Suite L  
Santa Fe, NM 87505  
505/ 982.2448  •  877/ 982.2448  
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Terra 2008 Conference Proceedings, published articles from the 10th International Conference on the Study and Conservation of Earthen Architectural Heritage:

Recent Work in Earthen Architecture

Toward a Comprehensive Taxonomy of Earthen Architecture

Presented at UNESCO, ICOMOS and Turkish Ministry of Culture, International Conference on the Seismic Performance of Traditional Buildings, Istanbul, Turkey, November 16-18, 2000:

Earthen Architecture and Seismic Codes; Lessons from the Field (PDF)

Presented at The 3rd Adobe Conference of the Adobe Association of the Southwest, May 2005 in El Rito, New Mexico:

Racing Alone:  Thoughts on Advancing Earthen Architecture

 

"Understanding Adobe," a monthly column written by Ed Crocker for the Real Estate Guide of the Santa Fe New Mexican. These essays are intended to further the reader's knowledge and understanding of architectural conservation, historic preservation and earthen architecture.

Jump to a category:   (newly posted articles are at the top)
Earthen Traditions  •  Characteristics of Adobe  •  Adobe Laying and Repair  •  Mud Plaster
Structural Issues  •  Wood Treatments  •  Building Codes  •  Santa Fe/Local Themes
Solutions  •  "Alternatives"  •  Preservation Issues


Articles added recently

How I Met Nigger George

Wapton Toshowna's Wall and Gore Vidal's Mantel

John Armstrong's Tea, Trudy Blom and the Dishes

Recollections on the Closing of Martin's

Sitting Back:  Advice from the Source

Monty Python and the Zero-Energy Emerald

Mud Walls and Princess Grace's Doorjamb

¡Maestro! Estos pájaros son pintados

The State Makes a Breakthrough

Conserving Earthen Structures by Using Fluids in Motion

 
EARTHEN TRADITIONS

Let's Talk Tabby

Waiting for the Big One

The Hutmachers and the Hopi

Mud "Shingling" in North Dakota

Into Africa

"Soy un Zoquetero":  Why We Need a Glossary

Adobe:  Whence the Word?

Poets, Prophets and the Insidious Adobe Bloodsucker

"We Emerged From There" -- The Magic of Earth

Stabilized Mud and Mobile Homes

Whence Tradition?

Pliny the Elder Endorses Mud

The Passion of the Un-Chaste

Mud Fences and Rocket Surgery

Report from Yazd

Earthen Architecture and the Axis of Evil

The Costilla Country Courthouse - An Early Jackalope

Buildings as Systems:  A Discussion of the Compatibility of Materials

Cornerstones and the Acoma Initiative

Destruction as Metaphor

Santa Fe Style:  Ersatz Adobe and a Vanishing Heritage

Myth and Synthesis:  New Mexico's Adobe Vernacular

Modified Sehalian Scaffolding in the New World?

The Threat of Sweat:  How One Earthen Roof Works

Bam! Adobe Takes Another Unfair Hit

 
CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOBE

Maverick Mud

Quality and Quality:  A Response

Swedish Modern and the "Old Reliable"

R-values, U-factors and Thermal Mass

Earth:  The Thoroughly Modern Material

Rastra Bad Vibrations

Strawbale:  An Okay Second Choice

 
ADOBE LAYING AND REPAIR

Upon this rock. . . . .

Adobe Laying in Winter:  Some Cautionary Notes

Contrapared:  The Kiss of Death

The Dog-Prints Go Down:  Traditional Wisdom in Adobe Laying

Dust to Dust:  The Utilization of Bones in Adobe Repair

 
MUD PLASTER

Form and Function in Decorated Earthen Surfaces

Stunning Cracks

Aggregates:  The Key to Successful Mud Plastering

Crossbreeding Plasters:  Folly in Every Way

Elastomeric Plaster:  Silver Bullet or Blight?

Overworked Plaster:  Breaking the Second Commandment

Stabilized Mud -- Tinkering of the Worst Kind

Straw in Mud Plaster:  Don't Ask Why, Just Do It!

 
STRUCTURAL ISSUES

Underpinning Earthen Walls

Opening the Cell:  Polyurethane on Probation

Adobe and the Law of Unintended Consequence

Beer Bottles, Arches and Eggs

Rogue Gardeners (I Reveal a Trade Secret)

Embedded Downspouts:  A Really Bad Idea

Caging Adobes and Capturing the Zia

Why I Don't Use Freedom Drains; With Commentary on the Origin of the Term

Foundation Repairs in Historic Earthen Buildings

Interrupted Equilibrium and the Descent of Homes

Protecting the Crown:  Detailing Parapets on Earthen Buildings

 
WOOD TREATMENTS

Bridging the Mote:  A Simple Method of Structurally Splicing Vigas and Beams

On Insects, Rot and the 20 Mule Team

 
BUILDING CODES

Encounters with Adobe Nazis

The Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Vernacular Architecture

Adobe Code -- Lessons From the Field

Building Inspections:  Of What, for Whom?

H-boards and My Grandfather’s Razor

 
SANTA FE/LOCAL THEMES

The Underground Architecture Critic

Adam to Atom

Death of a Citizen:  Reflections on 984 Acequia Madre

A Site of Conscience (on the destruction of the Santa Fe Indian School)

What Do We Value?:  A commentary on The Style over ten years

Concha

Santa Fe Style:  A Caricature of Adobe

Santa Fe Style:  Ersatz Adobe and a Vanishing Heritage

Mother Ditch vs. the President of the United States

Adobe and the Essential Plotinus

Watching the Palace

Where's the Village?

Sour Cream on Tamales:  How Buildings Die

Requiem for the Bandelier House

Potting Pindi: Getting Hooked on Mud

Hubbell House

The Lamy Lime Works

Garcia Street:  Adventures in Adobe

An Earthen Builder’s Tour of Cerro Gordo


SOLUTIONS

Underpinning Earthen Walls

Graffiti Removal from Soft Surfaces

Termites in Mud? Back to Bam


"ALTERNATIVES"

"Green" Builders are at It Again

Niche Market:  Green Building with Earth

The Advocate and the Zealot

Anti-American Mud


PRESERVATION ISSUES

Adam to Atom

Authenticity and Chaos Theory

Me and Sam and the Future



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Crocker LTD
901 W. San Mateo Rd.  •  Suite L  •  Santa Fe, NM 87505
tel 505/ 982.2448  •  fax 505/ 995.9877
email: info@crockerltd.net
toll free: 877/ 982.2448


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