Main entry:

Narath, Albert, 1977- author.

Title & Author:

Solar adobe : energy, ecology, and earthen architecture / Albert Narath.

Publication:

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

Description:

294 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: preparing the ground -- Mud machines: William Lumpkins, the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and the Technics of Earth -- Earth ecologies: Ralph Knowles, the natural forces laboratory, and ecosystem design -- In and out of sight: Vincent Scully, Reyner Banham, and the image of earth -- Mud/hud: Theodore Jojola, Indigenous planning, and the politics of adobe -- Conclusion: back into the ground -- Acknowlegments -- Notes -- Index.

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.

ISBN:

9781517914073 (paperback)
1517914078
9781517914066 (library binding)
151791406X
(ebook)
9781452970769

Subject:

Building, Adobe Environmental aspects United States.
Building, Adobe Social aspects United States.
Solar buildings United States.
Architecture and society United States History 20th century.
Constructions solaires États-Unis.
Architecture et société États-Unis Histoire 20e siècle.
ARCHITECTURE / History / Contemporary (1945-)
NATURE / Environmental Conservation & Protection.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 320635
Call No.: 320635
Copy: 1
Status: Available