![Qasroddasht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Qasroddasht.JPG)
Adobe ( ; ) is a
building material
Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-ma ...
made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''
mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the
Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of earthen construction, or various architectural styles like
Pueblo Revival
The Pueblo Revival style or Santa Fe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States, which draws its inspiration from Santa Fe de Nuevo México's traditional Pueblo architecture, the Spanish missions, and Territor ...
or
Territorial Revival. Most adobe buildings are similar in appearance to
cob and
rammed earth
Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method.
...
buildings. Adobe is among the earliest building materials, and is used throughout the world.
Adobe architecture has been dated to before 5,100 B.C.
Description
Adobe bricks are rectangular prisms small enough that they can quickly air dry individually without cracking. They can be subsequently assembled, with the application of adobe mud to bond the individual bricks into a structure. There is no standard size, with substantial variations over the years and in different regions. In some areas a popular size measured weighing about ; in other contexts the size is weighing about . The maximum sizes can reach up to ; above this weight it becomes difficult to move the pieces, and it is preferred to ram the mud ''
in situ
''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
'', resulting in a different typology known as
rammed earth
Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method.
...
.
Strength
In dry climates, adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater
thermal mass
In building design, thermal mass is a property of the mass of a building that enables it to store heat and provide inertia against temperature fluctuations. It is sometimes known as the thermal flywheel effect. The thermal mass of heavy structura ...
, but they are known to be particularly susceptible to earthquake damage if they are not reinforced. Cases where adobe structures were widely damaged during earthquakes include the
1976 Guatemala earthquake
The 1976 Guatemala earthquake struck on February 4 at with a moment magnitude of 7.5. The shock was centered on the Motagua Fault, about 160 km northeast of Guatemala City at a depth of near the town of Los Amates in the department of Iza ...
, the
2003 Bam earthquake
The 2003 Bam earthquake struck the Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 01:56 UTC (5:26 am Iran Standard Time) on December 26. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The ear ...
, and the
2010 Chile earthquake
The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami ( es, Terremoto del 27F) occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking l ...
.
Distribution
Buildings made of sun-dried earth are common throughout the world (Middle East, Western Asia, North Africa, West Africa, South America, southwestern North America, Southwestern and Eastern Europe.) Adobe had been in use by
indigenous peoples of the Americas
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
in the Southwestern United States,
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...
, and the
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
for several thousand years.
Puebloan peoples
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
built their adobe structures with handsful or basketsful of adobe, until the Spanish introduced them to making bricks. Adobe bricks were used in Spain from the
Late Bronze and
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
s (eighth century BCE onwards). Its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and manufacture, and economics.
Etymology
![San Pedro de Atacama church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/San_Pedro_de_Atacama_church.jpg)
The word ''adobe'' has existed for around 4000 years with relatively little change in either pronunciation or meaning. The word can be traced from the
Middle Egyptian
The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the deciphe ...
(c. 2000 BC) word ''
ḏbt'' "mud brick" (with vowels unwritten). Middle Egyptian evolved into
Late Egyptian
Late Egyptian is the stage of the Egyptian language that was written by the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt around 1350 BC (the Amarna Period). Texts written wholly in Late Egyptian date to the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and later. Late Egyptian ...
and finally to Coptic (c. 600 BC), where it appeared as
ⲧⲱⲃⲉ ''tōbə''. This was adopted into Arabic as ''aṭ-ṭawbu'' or ''aṭ-ṭūbu'', with the
definite article
An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...
''al-'' attached to the root ''tuba''. This was assimilated into the
Old Spanish language
Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
as ''adobe'' , probably via
Mozarabic
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
. English borrowed the word from Spanish in the early 18th century, still referring to
mudbrick construction.
In more modern English usage, the term ''adobe'' has come to include a style of architecture popular in the desert climates of North America, especially in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, regardless of the construction method.
Composition
![Santa Fe adobe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Santa_Fe_adobe.jpg)
An adobe brick is a
composite material
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
made of earth mixed with water and an organic material such as
straw or
dung. The
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt
Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty.
Common types of dirt include:
* Debri ...
composition typically contains
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
,
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...
and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
. Straw is useful in binding the brick together and allowing the brick to dry evenly, thereby preventing cracking due to uneven shrinkage rates through the brick. Dung offers the same advantage. The most desirable soil texture for producing the mud of adobe is 15% clay, 10–30% silt, and 55–75% fine sand. Another source quotes 15–25% clay and the remainder sand and coarser particles up to cobbles , with no deleterious effect. Modern adobe is stabilized with either emulsified asphalt or Portland cement up to 10% by weight.
No more than half the clay content should be
expansive clay
Expansive clay is a clay soil that is prone to large volume changes (swelling and shrinking) that are directly related to changes in water content. Soils with a high content of expansive minerals can form deep cracks in drier seasons or years; su ...
s, with the remainder non-expansive illite or kaolinite. Too much expansive clay results in uneven drying through the brick, resulting in cracking, while too much kaolinite will make a weak brick. Typically the soils of the Southwest United States, where such construction has been widely used, are an adequate composition.
Material properties
![Djenne great mud mosque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Djenne_great_mud_mosque.jpg)
Adobe walls are load bearing, i.e. they carry their own weight into the foundation rather than by another structure, hence the adobe must have sufficient compressive strength. In the United States, most building codes call for a minimum compressive strength of 300 lbf/in
2 (2.07 newton/mm
2) for the adobe block. Adobe construction should be designed so as to avoid lateral structural loads that would cause bending loads. The building codes require the building sustain a 1 g lateral acceleration earthquake load. Such an acceleration will cause lateral loads on the walls, resulting in shear and bending and inducing tensile stresses. To withstand such loads, the codes typically call for a tensile modulus of rupture strength of at least 50 lbf/in
2 (0.345 newton/mm
2) for the finished block.
In addition to being an inexpensive material with a small resource cost, adobe can serve as a significant heat reservoir due to the thermal properties inherent in the massive walls typical in adobe construction. In climates typified by hot days and cool nights, the high thermal mass of adobe mediates the high and low temperatures of the day, moderating the temperature of the living space. The massive walls require a large and relatively long input of heat from the sun (
radiation) and from the surrounding air (
convection
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the conve ...
) before they warm through to the interior. After the sun sets and the temperature drops, the warm wall will continue to transfer heat to the interior for several hours due to the time-lag effect. Thus, a well-planned adobe wall of the appropriate thickness is very effective at controlling inside temperature through the wide daily fluctuations typical of desert climates, a factor which has contributed to its longevity as a building material.
Thermodynamic material properties have significant variation in the literature. Some experiments suggest that the standard consideration of conductivity is not adequate for this material, as its main thermodynamic property is inertia, and conclude that experimental tests should be performed over a longer period of time than usual - preferably with changing thermal jumps. There is an effective
R-value for a north facing 10-in wall of R0=10 hr ft
2 °F/Btu, which corresponds to thermal conductivity k=10 in x 1 ft/12 in /R0=0.33 Btu/(hr ft °F) or 0.57 W/(m K) in agreement with the thermal conductivity reported from another source. To determine the total R-value of a wall, scale R
0 by the thickness of the wall in inches. The thermal resistance of adobe is also stated as an
R-value for a 10-inch wall R
0=4.1 hr ft
2 °F/Btu. Another source provides the following properties: conductivity=0.30 Btu/(hr ft °F) or 0.52 W/(m K); specific heat capacity=0.24 Btu/(lb °F) or 1 kJ/(kg K) and density=106 lb/ft
3 or 1700 kg/m
3, giving heat capacity=25.4 Btu/(ft
3 °F) or 1700 kJ/(m
3 K). Using the average value of the thermal conductivity as k = 32 Btu/(hr ft °F) or 0.55 W/(m K), the thermal diffusivity is calculated to be 0.013 ft
2/h or 3.3x10
−7 m
2/s.
Uses
Poured and puddled adobe walls
![Cueva de las Jarillas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Cueva_de_las_Jarillas.jpg)
Poured and
puddled adobe (puddled clay, piled earth), today called ''cob'', is made by placing soft adobe in layers, rather than by making individual dried bricks or using a form. "Puddle" is a general term for a clay or clay and sand-based material worked into a dense, plastic state. These are the oldest methods of building with adobe in the Americas until holes in the ground were used as forms, and later wooden forms used to make individual bricks were introduced by the Spanish.
[Keefe, Laurence (2005). ''Earth Building: Methods and Materials, Repair and Conservation''. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 22. .]
Adobe bricks
![Milyanfan-adobe-bricks-8038](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Milyanfan-adobe-bricks-8038.jpg)
Bricks made from adobe are usually made by pressing the mud mixture into an open timber frame. In North America, the brick is typically about in size. The mixture is molded into the frame, which is removed after initial setting. After drying for a few hours, the bricks are turned on edge to finish drying. Slow drying in shade reduces cracking.
The same mixture, without straw, is used to make
mortar and often
plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
on interior and exterior walls. Some cultures used
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
-based cement for the plaster to protect against rain damage.
Depending on the form into which the mixture is pressed, adobe can encompass nearly any shape or size, provided drying is even and the mixture includes reinforcement for larger bricks. Reinforcement can include manure, straw, cement,
rebar, or wooden posts. Straw, cement, or manure added to a standard adobe mixture can produce a stronger, more crack-resistant brick. A test is done on the soil content first. To do so, a sample of the soil is mixed into a clear container with some water, creating an almost completely saturated liquid. The container is shaken vigorously for one minute. It is then allowed to settle for a day until the soil has settled into layers. Heavier particles settle out first, sand above, silt above that, and very fine clay and organic matter will stay in suspension for days. After the water has cleared, percentages of the various particles can be determined. Fifty to 60 percent sand and 35 to 40 percent clay will yield strong bricks. The
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) was an extension agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), part of the executive branch of the federal government. The 1994 Department Reorganization Act, ...
at New Mexico State University recommends a mix of not more than clay, not less than sand, and never more than silt.
During the
Great Depression, designer and builder
Hugh W. Comstock used cheaper materials and made a specialized adobe brick called "Bitudobe." His first adobe house was built in 1936. In 1948, he published the book ''Post-Adobe; Simplified Adobe Construction Combining A Rugged Timber Frame And Modern Stabilized Adobe,'' which described his method of construction, including how to make "Bitudobe." In 1938, he served as an adviser to the architects
Franklin & Kump Associates, who built the
Carmel High School, which used his Post-adobe system.
Adobe wall construction
![Fort Saint-Sébastien - Visite des fouilles juin 2012 68](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Fort_Saint-S%C3%A9bastien_-_Visite_des_fouilles_juin_2012_68.jpg)
The ground supporting an adobe structure should be compressed, as the weight of adobe wall is significant and foundation settling may cause cracking of the wall. Footing depth is to be below the ground frost level. The footing and stem wall are commonly 24 and 14 inches thick, respectively. Modern construction codes call for the use of reinforcing steel in the footing and stem wall. Adobe bricks are laid by course. Adobe walls usually never rise above two stories as they are load bearing and adobe has low structural strength. When creating window and door openings, a
lintel is placed on top of the opening to support the bricks above. Atop the last courses of brick, bond beams made of heavy wood beams or modern reinforced concrete are laid to provide a horizontal bearing plate for the roof beams and to redistribute lateral earthquake loads to shear walls more able to carry the forces. To protect the interior and exterior adobe walls, finishes such as mud plaster, whitewash or stucco can be applied. These protect the adobe wall from water damage, but need to be reapplied periodically. Alternatively, the walls can be finished with other nontraditional plasters that provide longer protection. Bricks made with stabilized adobe generally do not need protection of plasters.
Adobe roof
The traditional adobe roof has been constructed using a mixture of soil/clay, water, sand and organic materials. The mixture was then formed and pressed into wood forms, producing rows of dried earth bricks that would then be laid across a support structure of wood and plastered into place with more adobe.
Depending on the materials available, a roof may be assembled using wood or metal beams to create a framework to begin layering adobe bricks. Depending on the thickness of the adobe bricks, the framework has been preformed using a steel framing and a layering of a metal fencing or wiring over the framework to allow an even load as masses of adobe are spread across the metal fencing like cob and allowed to air dry accordingly. This method was demonstrated with an adobe blend heavily impregnated with cement to allow even drying and prevent cracking.
The more traditional flat adobe roofs are functional only in dry climates that are not exposed to snow loads. The heaviest wooden beams, called
vigas
This is a list of characters associated with the character The Punisher.
Family Tree
, -
, style="text-align: left;", Notes:
Frank Castle Jr.
Francis "Frank" Castle Jr. is the son of The Punisher (Frank Castle) in Marvel Comics. Th ...
, lie atop the wall. Across the vigas lie smaller members called latillas and upon those brush is then laid. Finally, the adobe layer is applied.
To construct a flat adobe roof, beams of wood were laid to span the building, the ends of which were attached to the tops of the walls. Once the vigas, latillas and brush are laid, adobe bricks are placed. An adobe roof is often laid with bricks slightly larger in width to ensure a greater expanse is covered when placing the bricks onto the roof. Following each individual brick should be a layer of adobe mortar, recommended to be at least thick to make certain there is ample strength between the brick's edges and also to provide a relative moisture barrier during rain.
Roof design evolved around 1850 in the American Southwest. Three inches of adobe mud was applied on top of the latillas, then 18 inches of dry adobe dirt applied to the roof. The dirt was contoured into a low slope to a downspout aka a 'canal'. When moisture was applied to the roof the clay particles expanded to create a waterproof membrane. Once a year it was necessary to pull the weeds from the roof and re-slope the dirt as needed.
Depending on the materials, adobe roofs can be inherently fire-proof. The construction of a chimney can greatly influence the construction of the roof supports, creating an extra need for care in choosing the materials. The builders can make an adobe chimney by stacking simple adobe bricks in a similar fashion as the surrounding walls.
In 1927, the
Uniform Building Code The Uniform Building Code (UBC) was a building code used primarily in the western United States.
History
The UBC was first published in 1927 by the International Conference of Building Officials, which was based in Whittier, California. It was i ...
(UBC) was adopted in the United States. Local ordinances, referencing the UBC added requirements to building with adobe. These included: restriction of building height of adobe structures to 1-story, requirements for adobe mix (compressive and shear strength) and new requirements which stated that every building shall be designed to withstand seismic activity, specifically lateral forces. By the 1980s however, seismic related changes in the California Building Code effectively ended solid wall adobe construction in California; however Post-and-Beam adobe and veneers are still being used.
Adobe around the world
The largest structure ever made from adobe is the
Arg-é Bam built by the
Achaemenid Empire. Other large adobe structures are the
Huaca del Sol
The Huaca del Sol is an adobe brick pyramid built by the Moche civilization (100 AD to 800 AD) on the northern coast of what is now Peru. The pyramid is one of several ruins found near the volcanic peak of Cerro Blanco, in the coastal des ...
in Peru, with 100 million signed bricks and the ''ciudellas'' of
Chan Chan
Chan Chan was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America. It is now an archaeological site in La Libertad Region west of Trujillo, Peru.
Chan Chan is located in the mouth of the Moche Valley and was the capital of the historic ...
and
Tambo Colorado, both in Peru.
File:RomaniaDanubeDelta MakingMaterialForCOnstructing0003jpg.JPG, Still in production today, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
's Danube Delta
File:RomaniaDanubeDelta MakingMaterialForCOnstructing0002jpg.JPG, Mixing mud and straw in brick frames
File:RomaniaDanubeDelta MakingMaterialForCOnstructing0001jpg.JPG, Community effort
File:Milyanfan-adobe-brick-house-8039.jpg, Adobe brick house under construction in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...
File:Sa'dah 02.jpg, House in Sa'dah
Saada ( ar, صَعْدَة, translit=Ṣaʿda), a city and ancient capital in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the province of the same name, and the county seat of the county of the same name. The city is located in the ...
, Yemen
File:AdobeHouseVrancea.JPG, Adobe brick house under construction in Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
File:Мазанка у ІКК Запорозька Січ.jpg, Ukrainian Cossack hut
File:5640-Linxia-City-Dongguan-back-street.jpg, An adobe wall in Linxia City
Linxia City (, Xiao'erjing: لٍِثِيَا شِ), once known as Hezhou (, Xiao'erjing: حَجِوْ), is a county-level city in the province of Gansu of the People's Republic of China and the capital of the multi-ethnic Linxia Hui Autonom ...
, Gansu, China
File:Poeh museum, night.jpg, Poeh Museum
The Poeh Museum (Tewa ''poeh'', "pathway") is a museum in Pojoaque, New Mexico, U.S.A. The museum is located off U.S. Route 84. It is devoted to the arts and culture of the Puebloan peoples, especially the Tewas in the northern part of the state. ...
tower, the tallest adobe structure in New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, US
File:16 21 2688 san miguel.jpg, San Miguel Mission
San Miguel Chapel, is a Spanish colonial mission church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Originally built around 1610, it is often referred to as the oldest church in the United States (excluding Puerto Rico). The church was rebuilt twice, once in ...
in Santa Fe, New Mexico
File:Great Mosque of Djenné 3.jpg, Great Mosque of Djenné
The Great Mosque of Djenné ( ar, الجامع الكبير في جينيه) is a large brick or adobe building in the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali, on the flood plain of the Bani R ...
, famous building made from banco, a type of adobe
See also
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* used adobe walls
*
* (waterproofing plaster)
*
*
*
*
* (also known as Ctesiphon Arch) in Iraq is the largest mud brick arch in the world, built beginning in 540 AD
*
References
External links
{{Authority control
Soil-based building materials
Masonry
Adobe buildings and structures
Appropriate technology
Vernacular architecture
Sustainable building
Buildings and structures by construction material
Western (genre) staples and terminology