Workshops
Future Workshops 2009 and 2010
September 2009, Katmandu, Nepal. Adobe Alliance is invited by architect Nripal Adhikary, former student, to teach a week-long course in adobe roof building: a dome and a Nubian vault. Adhikary will further teach the inclusion of bamboo elements for reinforcement and protection from rain. The fee is $550 per participant plus airfare to Katmandu. See link on website to Abari, then scroll for Nripal Adhikary.
Spring 2010, Presidio, Texas. Adobe vaults, domes and courses in design, theory and history, plus a course in biomimetism by Dennis Dollens, author of The Tumble Truss Project, Building As Nature, Simone Swan: Adobe Building, and more. Fifteen students and professors from the International University of Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, will attend.
Delayed: Building the student center in Bowie, AZ, at Diamond Mountain University. The center is designed by Simone Swan and Estevan Trujillo of e3 design lab in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Fall 2008 Workshops Announced
Please download the new PDF fall workshop poster!
September 2008, Juarez, Mexico. Adobe building of vaults and domes at the architecture school of the Universidiad Autonoma. Former Adobe Alliance student, professor Teresa de Jesus Estrada, is organizing a weeklong seminar and hands-on session. For information contact lourdes@adobealliance.org.
October 17-22, 2008: learning how to build a foundation of gravel, stones, rocks and poured mud mortar.
October 24-November 3, 2008: building walls for a room measuring 31'x10'x6' with large adobe bricks and adobe mortar, keying the corners.
November 3-25, 2008: instruction in hand-crafting a Nubian vault, springing from six feet to cover the space.
Registration: Adobe Alliance holds registrations with deposit of $200 preferably before June 1st. Mail checks to Adobe Alliance 632 Avenida Celaya, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87506.
Fees: Will depend on dates desired and can be agreed upon individually.
Funds for scholarships will have to be raised.
The adobe workshop will take place at the Adobe Alliance, Swan House, 1 Casa Piedra Road, Presidio, Texas 79845.
Directions:
South from Marfa, Texas, on 67. Driving into Presidio you will cross a long bridge over shallow Cibolo creek, you turn left onto 170 east which meanders through presidio, sometimes at unexpected absurd right angles. Stay on this paved road for 6 miles, then turn left onto Casa Piedra dirt road. 1.5 miles up the mesa is the swan house/ adobe lab for Adobe Alliance on the right. Welcome!
Presidio has a private airport. Also it is 3 hours by bus from Chihuahua airport, 4 hours from El Paso and Midland, Texas, airports.
Lodgings:
In Presidio are twomotels, Big Bend Motel (#432-229-3611,) and Riata Inn (#432-229-2528.)
Also right across the bridge in Ojinaga, Mexico, is a choice of clean, inexpensive motels, Cabañas El Camino (#011-52-626-453-4699,) Hotel Karike (#011-52-626-453-0368) and Hotel Valentino’s (#011-52-626-453-2677.)
La Paloma RV park 5 miles from Swan House welcomes campers who will benefit from showers and laundry (432-229-2992.) There is camping space on my land but no water.
Comforts:
1. Bring sun protection , work gloves, heavy shoes, a bucket and a float, plus your own drinking water as my filter is too slow for 20+ thirsty people. 2. There is a great view from the privy down the bluff to the east (sorry! no flushing indoors lest we overburden and even drain the 12 batteries which provide electricity that pumps water to the 24-volt solar system.) 3. You may sleep on the deck on your mattress and in your bag, weather permitting (November hovers between 90 degrees at 1pm and 60 at 7 am.) 4. Do not lean over to pet my dog, Hassan Fatima, if you are wearing a gimme cap or a large hat; she feels attacked. 5. Feel free to bring your dog. 6. Required reading: Architecture For The Poor, Hassan Fathy, U. of Chicago Press, also sold in Mexico in Spanish, in Japan in Japanese and in Brasil in Portuguese. 7. We will arrange car-pooling to distant Presidio by phone or e-mail during the last week before this work session.