Feature Story

During the peak of the bohemian era in Taos, Mable Dodge Luhan built a fantastic house complex in the spirit of an Italian villa.

Globalized Adobes

Story and Photos By Elmo Baca

Continued from the Su Casa's home page...

The fact is that with a new century, a new millennium, and a new President (who we can more or less claim from the Southwest), the entire planet is bracing for a dramatic change—psychological if not substantive. How might this change impact the art of homebuilding in New Mexico?

Pondering the origins of New Mexico home style leads one on a path directly to Nature. Anyone can easily decipher the roots of New Mexican architecture in the organic expressions of adobe, stone, and timber. This is the fundamental triumph and appeal of our aesthetic: it springs from nature and not (entirely) from reason. It provides a visual and creative contrast to the entire European tradition of “designed” architecture based on carefully constructed systems of order and proportion.

We must acknowledge that what many of us consider the “New Mexico style” of adobe architecture evolved from primal needs of survival and accommodation to a challenging environment. Our homes were shelter first and foremost and not art forms.

If you wish to read the printed Su Casa magazine, you can buy it at a newsstand near you or click here to subscribe. Su Casa magazine is published quarterly by Hacienda Press, a division of the Home Builder Association of Central New Mexico, 5931 Office Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Phone: (505) 344-1783 or toll-free 866-256-4925; Fax: (505) 345-3795. Direct your editorial inquiries, other questions, and comments to Charles Poling, editor and associate publisher.