Adobe is a natural building material mixed from sand, clay, and straw, dung or other fiberous materials, which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. It is similar to cob and mudbrick. Adobe structures are extremely durable and account for the oldest extant buildings on the planet. Adobe buildings also offer significant advantages in hot, dry climates; they remain cooler as adobe stores and releases heat very slowly. More...
Earth Architecture - A website whose focus is contemporary issues in earth architecture.
Building With Awareness - A detailed how-to DVD video that shows adobe wall construction and their use as thermal mass walls
Cal-Earth (The California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture) has developed a patented system called Superadobe, in which bags filled with stabilized earth are layered with strands of barbed wire to form a structure strong enough to withstand earthquakes, fire and flood.
Kleiwerks- International organization recognized for their unique contribution to modern earthen and natural building techniques throughout the world, their focus is on education through hands on experience.
EARTHA : Earth Architecture and Conservation in East Anglia- British organisation that focuses on the proper maintenance and conservation of earth buildings in a region of the UK that has a long history of building with mud. Very experienced experts are contactable and there are regular demonstrations in the area.
Kerpic.org - A website on earthen architecture researches stabilized with gypsum.
Cape Cod House Image from Pilgrim Hall Museum Web Site
Cape Cod
A Cape Cod is a style of house originating in New England in the 17th century. It is traditionally characterized by a low, broad frame building, generally a story and a half high, with a steep, perfectly pitched roof with end gables and a large central chimney.
The Cape Cod style (and in turn its Colonial Revival descendant of the 1930s–50s) originated with the More...
Georgian architecture is the name given in English-speaking countries to the architectural styles current between about 1720 and 1840, named after the four British monarchs named George.
It succeeded the English Baroque of Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Among the first architects to promote the change in direction from baroque were Colen Campbell and the engravings in Vitruvius Britannicus, Lord Burlington and his protegé William Kent, Thomas Archer and the Venetian Giacomo Leoni, who passed his career in England.
The styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking world's equivalent of European Rococo.
Central Pavilion, Tontine Crescent, Boston, 1793-1794, by Charles Bulfinch
Federal style architecture occurred in the United States between 1780 and 1830, particularly from 1785 to 1815. The period is associated with the early Republic, and the establishment of the national institutions of the United States. This same period is associated with the motifs of furniture design, emulating similar design principles of the architectural period. The founders of the United States consciously chose to associate the nation with the ancient democracies of Greece and Rome. This was a deliberate and marked contrast with the Gothic style, which was used for many English public buildings and associated with feudalism. Federal style takes influence from the Georgian Neoclassical style, but differs in its use of plainer surfaces with attenuated detail; it was most influenced by the Adam style, an interpretation of Ancient Roman architecture fashionable after the unearthing of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The American eagle was a common symbol used in this style, with the ellipse a frequent architectural motif. This style is also referred to by its era: Federal Period. The style reflected the nationalist aspirations of the time. Its successor was the Greek Revival style.
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