Contacts
Info
Conversations with Adobe in Action board member Quentin Wilson (and other practitioners from the field) on building and maintaining your own earthen home.
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
12 MAR 2025 · 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 https://www.lmarchitectsinc.com/, where his work focuses on the reuse of existing buildings and the founder of https://adobeisnotsoftware.com/, an earthen education and advocacy initiative.
12 FEB 2025 · 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:
- https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/66e2f4cc87abd260ea9baf3b/1726149840820/Slot1_006_Joe+Silins_2024.pdf
- https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/66e2f60ecd767209cb63c47d/1726150159622/Slot6_011_Stephen+Hren_2024.pdf
Joe Silins is the Owner of http://tierrabuenahome.com/, 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 https://www.muddauberbuilding.com/ 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 https://www.earthusa.org/.
21 JAN 2025 · 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 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/66e2fa0380e12f64ddf5102d/1726151173612/Slot19_077_Ronald-Rael_2024.pdf.
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 https://www.earthusa.org/.
27 DEC 2024 · 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 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/66e2f69081c0654322c3ef80/1726150289030/Slot9_064_Ben-Loescher_2024.pdf.
Ben Loescher is a founding Principal at https://www.lmarchitectsinc.com/, where his work focuses on the reuse of existing buildings and the founder of https://adobeisnotsoftware.com/, 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 https://www.earthusa.org/.
17 DEC 2024 · 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 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/66e2fb80327ec324df863777/1726151552529/Slot25_059_Anthony-Dente_2024.pdf.
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 https://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 https://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 https://www.earthusa.org/.
6 DEC 2024 · In our twenty-seventh Mud Talks podcast, we listen to https://www.arch.columbia.edu/faculty/3396-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 https://www.earthusa.org/.
11 OCT 2024 · 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.
7 JUN 2024 · 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.
2 APR 2024 · 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.
29 NOV 2023 · 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.
Conversations with Adobe in Action board member Quentin Wilson (and other practitioners from the field) on building and maintaining your own earthen home.
Information
| Author | Adobe in Action |
| Organization | Adobe in Action |
| Categories | How To , Education , Non-Profit |
| Website | www.adobeinaction.org |
| - |
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