Solar Adobe : Energy, Ecology, and Earthen Architecture / Albert Narath.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Narath, Albert, 1977- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Building, Adobe--Environmental aspects--United States.

Building, Adobe.

Building, Adobe--Social aspects--United States.

Solar buildings--United States.

Solar buildings.

Architecture and society--United States--History--20th century.

Architecture and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Albert Narath charts the unique capacities of adobe construction against the backdrop of the global energy crisis of the 1970s, troubling simple distinctions between traditional and modern technologies, high design and vernacular architecture. Drawing insightful parallels between architecture, environmentalism, and movements for Indigenous sovereignty, Solar Adobe stresses the importance of considering the history of the built environment in conjunction with architecture's larger impact on the natural world"-- Provided by publisher.

"How a centuries-old architectural tradition reemerged as a potential solution to the political and environmental crises of the 1970s Against the backdrop of a global energy crisis, a widespread movement embracing the use of raw earth materials for building construction emerged in the 1970s. Solar Adobe examines this new wave of architectural experimentation taking place in the United States, detailing how an ancient tradition became a point of convergence for issues of environmentalism, architecture, technology, and Indigenous resistance. Utilized for centuries by the Pueblo people of the American Southwest and by Spanish colonialists, adobe construction found renewed interest as various groups contended with the troubled legacies of modern architecture and an increasingly urgent need for sustainable design practices. In this period of critical experimentation, design networks that included architects, historians, counterculture communities, government weapons labs, and Indigenous activists all looked to adobe as a means to address pressing environmental and political issues. Albert Narath charts the unique capacities of adobe construction across a wide range of contexts, consistently troubling simple distinctions between traditional and modern technologies, high design and vernacular architecture. Drawing insightful parallels between architecture, environmentalism, and movements for Indigenous sovereignty, Solar Adobe stresses the importance of considering the history of the built environment in conjunction with architecture's larger impact on the natural world. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Introduction: Preparing the Ground

Chapter 1. Mud Machines: William Lumpkins, the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and the Technics of Earth

Chapter 2. Earth Ecologies: Ralph Knowles, the Natural Forces Laboratory, and Ecosystem Design

Chapter 3. In and Out of Sight: Vincent Scully, Reyner Banham, and the Image of Earth

Chapter 4. Mud/HUD: Theodore Jojola, Indigenous Planning, and the Politics of Adobe

Conclusion: Back into the Ground

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Author Biography.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4529-7076-9

1-4529-7075-0