Advertise on podcast: Mud Talks

In our thirty-sixth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to passive solar adobe specialist and Adobe in Action board member Quentin Wilson on the topic of the recent National Ambient Energy for Buildings Research Symposium which took place at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM - almost 50 years after construction began on the Sundwellings.

In our thirty-fifth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to adobe owner builder Paul Mallory on the topic of the “Volunteer Work Days" he has begun offering in support of ongoing Adobe in Action owner-builder projects.

In our thirty-fourth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Adobe in Action field instructor Issac Logsdon on the topic of his recent “Horno Design & Construction” workshop which took place in Abiquiu, NM with a group of eight students. In addition to his teaching at Adobe in Action, Issac is the Assistant Program Director for Cornerstones Community Partnerships. With deep family roots throughout Northern New Mexico, learning traditional building skills has been a way to reconnect with the land-based traditions that have skipped a generation in his family. Issac has worked on adobe and stone preservation projects at Pecos National Historical Park, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Joshua Tree National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Death Valley National Park, various projects on BLM land, and in communities throughout Northern New Mexico. He also teaches in the Adobe Construction Program at the Santa Fe Community College. 

In our thirty-third Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Debora Barros and Siena Leone-Getten from the Pratt Institute Historic Preservation MS Program on the topic of Adobe in Action’s recent “Intro to Adobe Preservation with Pat Taylor” workshop which they attended in Mesilla, NM with a group of eleven students. When asked why the preservation of adobe buildings is a special experience for Historic Preservation students, architect and Professor Debora Barros explained that there is more common ground between the two fields than one can expect. At Pratt Institute’s Masters in Historic Preservation, theory and hands on practice of adobe preservation have been harnessed as a rich pedagogical tool to promote a variety of learning outcomes: Adobe (and other earthen) buildings are among the oldest in the world, with many featured as highly significant heritage across the globe, potentially becoming the subject of work of our graduates focusing on architectural conservation.The hands-on experience of adobe conservation highlights the significance of traditional building crafts, fostering interest in this career path, potentially mitigating the incremental loss of knowledge transfer and subsequent loss of qualified workforce which has been a long-standing concern in the field.Adobe preservation fosters a deeper connection to the land, to local, regional and ancestral practices that are beneficial holistic experiences. Processes of making build student’s confidence and problem-solving abilities. This fits within the tradition of Pratt Institute as a School of Arts and Design.Both Historic Preservation and the preservation of earthen buildings are inherently sustainable. Historic Preservation is a field of advocacy for the retention and adaptation of the built environment for the benefit of society and future generations. The synergy between preservation and sustainability in light of the climate imperative can be leveraged as a powerful catalyst to mitigate the effects of climate change.And finally, both Historic Preservation and earthen buildings are fields underpinned by advocacy efforts. In our age, characterized by a material culture of planned obsolescence, preservation of the potential offered by existing buildings and the fight for a return to a healthier, regional building culture that can acknowledge the wisdom of earthen construction can be seen not only as advocacy, but as acts of resistance.Debora Barros is an architect and Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute. She has been practicing Architecture and Preservation for over 18 years with experience in New York, United Kingdom and Brazil. After completing her Master of Science from the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University, with focus on materials conservation, Ms. Barros has worked extensively on preservation and adaptive reuse projects such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Park Avenue Armory and the New-York Historical Society. Her passionate engagement in Historic Preservation straddles Architecture of the Modern Movement, such as leading educational tours in Brazil on behalf of the non-profit DOCOMOMO_US, and Conservation and Maintenance of Archaeological Sites, where her research focuses on the preservation of traditional construction techniques and building crafts, and their translation into contemporary construction practices. Siena Leone-Getten is a recent graduate of the Historic Preservation M.S. Program at the Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. She hopes to one day work on the preservation and interpretation of historic buildings within parklands.

In our thirty-second Mud Talks podcast, we speak to architect and Adobe in Action board member Ben Loescher on the topic of the recent Los Angeles fires and the role that adobe might play in the rebuilding process. Ben Loescher is a founding Principal at Loescher Meachem Architects, where his work focuses on the reuse of existing buildings and the founder of Adobeisnotsoftware, an earthen education and advocacy initiative.

In our thirty-first Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Joe Silins and Stephen Hren deliver their podium presentations at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research papers here: Joe Silins: Play, Toil and Ritual: Building an Experimental, Poured Clay Studio in the Covid19 EraStephen Hren: Getting Cob through the Inspection Process: My Experience in North CarolinaJoe Silins is the Owner of Tierra Buena Home and Garden, LLC, which is an Arizona-based general contractor specializing in strawbale and earthen construction, and small-scale real estate development. Joe received an M.S. in Urban Planning and a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Arizona. Stephen Hren is a natural builder, inspector, writer, teacher, husband and father living in Durham, North Carolina. He currently teaches cob classes at Mud Dauber School in Silk Hope, NC. Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.

In our thirtieth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Ronald Rael deliver his podium presentation "Robotic Nubian Vault Construction" at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research paper here. Ronald Rael is a trained architect, activist, design technologist, multi-generational rancher, and traditional builder. His work blurs the borders between architecture, art, technology, land-based practices, and social justice. He writes books, forms startup companies, advocates for human rights at the U.S.–Mexico border, creates software, invents novel materials and new forms of construction, and designs buildings as an applied research enterprise. His work often combines indigenous and traditional materials and processes with contemporary technologies to speak to the contrasts, contradictions, and complexities of othered subjects, ranging from people to materials, and places, in modern society. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, The London Design Museum, LACMA, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Renwick Smithsonian American Art Museum. He is the Chair of the Department of Art Practice and Eval Li Memorial Chair in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.

In our twenty-ninth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Ben Loescher deliver his podium presentation "Building Momentum: Creating a U.S. Earthen Masonry Standard" at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research paper here. Ben Loescher is a founding Principal at Loescher Meachem Architects, where his work focuses on the reuse of existing buildings and the founder of Adobeisnotsoftware, an earthen education and advocacy initiative. He has acted as author of portions of the International Building Code sections on adobe masonry, and recently initiated the recent effort to create international design standards for earthen masonry through the Masonry Society. Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.

In our twenty-eighth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Anthony Dente, Lisa Morey and Rachel Tove-White deliver their podium presentation "The Challenges of Keeping Earthen Construction Low Carbon" at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research paper here. Anthony Dente is a licensed engineer across the US and CEO at Verdant Structural Engineers and Verdant Building Products, which produces straw SIPs developed with EPA support. He’s the vice president of the Cob Research Institute and was the lead engineer for the Cob and Hemp-Lime IRC appendices. He leads the earthen masonry structural committee in TMS and authored Essential Cob Construction with New Society Publishers. Please visit www.verdantstructural.com for more information. Lisa Morey, is owner and founder of Nova Terra Inc (formerly Colorado Earth LLC), a company that designs, manufactures, and builds with earthen masonry. Committed to the advancement of earth building, Nova Terra is exploring new additives to reduce the embodied carbon of compressed earth blocks while creating energy-efficient and durable walls. Please visit www.novaterrausa.com for more information. Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.

In our twenty-seventh Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Lola Ben-Alon deliver her keynote address "EARTH MATERIALS "RECIPES": EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH AND PEDAGOGIES" at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lola is an Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP, where she directs the Natural Materials Lab and the Building Science and Technology curriculum. She specializes in earth- and bio-based building materials, their life cycle, supply chains, fabrication techniques, and policy. Ben-Alon received her Ph.D. from the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University and holds a B.S. in Structural Engineering and an M.S. in Construction Management from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. At the Technion, Ben-Alon co-founded the Experimental Art and Architecture Lab. Her work has been exhibited at the London Craft Week, Indian Ceramics Triennial, Tallinn Architecture Biennale, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, and published in Building and Environment, Journal of Green Building, and Automation in Construction. Ben-Alon serves on the board of ACSA’s Technology | Architecture + Design, and Elsevier’s Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.

In our twenty-sixth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Paul Mallory about his owner builder adobe experience in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Paul has gone through all phases of owner builder support at Adobe in Action - he has taken all 8 of our online courses, participated in our remote owner builder support program and also served as a repeat volunteer for our biennial earthbuilding conference Earth USA. Listen as Paul walks you through his personal owner builder adobe journey.

In our twenty-fifth Mud Talks podcast, we celebrate the milestone of 25 episodes by returning to our roots with a new round of adobe inspiration by Quentin Wilson - recorded in Quentin's adobe home in La Madera, New Mexico.

In our twenty-fourth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to future adobe owner builders Jaimus & Kim about the steps they have taken to get their property ready for an upcoming off-grid adobe home build in Eastern Arizona.

In our twenty-third Mud Talks podcast, we speak to owner builder Rex Edhlund about his adobe blockmaking operation and plans to build his own adobe home in Pioneertown, CA.

In our twenty-second Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Dan Krause about his owner builder adobe experience in the Taos, New Mexico area. Dan has participated in all 8 of our online courses at Adobe in Action and also gave a podium presentation about his project at Earth USA 2022. You can download his full paper about the project here. Dan recently became a board member at Adobe in Action. Listen as he walks you through his personal owner builder adobe journey.