Building Community: The Roots of Adobe
Creando Comunidad: Las Raíces del Adobe

Introduction

Home building is an important skill. Until recent times most people around the world have built their homes from available natural resources. In New Mexico, both the Pueblo Indian and Hispanic people have built their homes with adobe bricks since the Spanish introduced the brick mold. Many people in New Mexico still build their own homes from this and other materials.

Learning to build walls correctly is critical in the process of building an adobe house. In this lesson, students will learn how to make adobe bricks as well as how to lay them in an intersecting pattern so that the wall will be strong and stable. They will replicate the placement of adobe such as found in the corner of a house.

New Mexican woman working to complete building an adobe horno. Mujer nuevomexicana trabajando para terminar la construcción de un horno de adobe.

Objectives 1. Students will be able to discuss the history of adobe building in New Mexico (historical and cultural understanding). 2. Students will determine how to place adobes in a staggered pattern as well as at right angles in order to create a strong corner (perceiving, analyzing and responding). 3. Students will learn how to make adobe molds and mix adobe earth to make bricks (creating and performing).

Vocabulario / Vocabulary el adobe - unfired earth brick made of clay, sand, water and straw la adobera - wooden mold for making adobes la dispensa - pantry el fogon de campana - bell-shaped corner fireplace el horno - bee-hive shaped oven for baking la latilla - wooden poles placed between vigas el nicho - niche la pieza - room la puerta - door el portalporch la sala - receiving room/living room el santo - image of a saint el suelo (piso) - floor el torreon - circular defense tower la ventana - window la viga - wooden beam spanning two walls el zoquete - mud

Materials shovel and hoe, hose and bucket earth or dirt enough to make at least eleven adobes straw, water and a site for mixing and laying of adobes cardboard boxes of uniform size, a pencil, ruler and a utility knife for cutting box to desired size, a rag Motivation Ask students the following questions: Why do we take shelter in houses? What is your house built out of? Who built it? What was the most common building material in New Mexico a hundred years ago? What is the most common material now? What is adobe made of? What materials and tools are needed for making adobes? How do they harden? How do you build with adobe? What kind of stacking is needed? What is needed between each adobe? How are corner walls created so that they do not fall down? Show pictures of historic and modern adobe buildings, show a movie or video if applicable.

Photo by Laura Temple Sullivan New Mexico school teachers mixing adobe mud. Profesores mezclando lodo.

Procedure: Adobe Making

1. If wood is not accessible, locate one or two uniformly shaped sturdy cardboard boxes whose tops or bottoms measure approximately 15 x 10-in. Measure 4-in. up from bottom with ruler and draw a line all around box. Take a utility knife and cut along the line. The resulting shallow box will serve as an adobera or adobe mold. Note: You may wish to make miniature molds for an indoor project.

Two students building an adobe wall together. Dos alumnos construyendo una pared de adobe juntos.

2. Mix earth, straw and water using shovel and hoe in appropriate outdoor site. (Students need to be careful not to mix with hands and shovel or hoe at the same time). Mix to a thick consistency or paste. This is the mud or zoquete. 3. Lightly wet the inside of the cardboard mold with a wet rag. Pour stiff mud into mold and turn over carefully. Lift mold slowly to release adobe. Allow adobe to dry for three or four days in the sun before handling. They can be turned several times to allow them to dry evenly. Building A Wall 1. Take three adobes and lay them in a straight line leaving small gaps between them for mud mortar. Next take three more adobes and lay them perpendicular (at right angles) to the first adobes. Make sure the edges of the two adobes are flush.

Photo by Laura Temple Sullivan New Mexican school teachers filling molds or adoberas with mud to make adobe bricks. Profesores llenando un molde con lodo.

Place mud mortar on the surface of the first level and cross a single adobe from the second row over the first. Place adobes behind the first adobe. The bricks will be naturally staggered through this procedure and students will have built a sturdy corner. 2. Mud plaster the wall by simply wetting the wall with sprinkles of water and then coating it with mud 1/4-in. thick. Smooth it with the palms of your hand. Evaluation 1. Have students create an illustrated booklet showing how to make adobes, how to build an adobe wall and how to plaster it. 2. Have students evaluate the following: Did we succeed in building a sturdy adobe wall? How does staggering the adobe bricks keep the adobe from falling? What would happen if the adobes were simply stacked on top of each other in a pile? Why is it sturdy? What will keep the corner from coming apart? How so?