Adobe Structure and Architecture
Some of the earliest structures were Adobe architecture.Adobe is a material made from sand, clay and straw, dung orother fibrous materials.
The adobe is then formed into bricks using frames and driedIn the sun. Similar to cob or mud bricks, the structuresbecome extremely durable. They are used mainly in hot, aridclimates because they remain cool in the summer and releaseheat very slowly in the winter.
The same mixture, without the straw is used for mortar inplacing the dried adobe bricks together to form astructure. Some cultures even figured out they couldutilize lime-based cement for plaster to protect againstthe wet months. Such methods of construction are used in many modern landscape architecture jobs.
The thickness of the adobe bricks is key in thearchitecture. It is what essentially keeps the structurescool in the summer and warm in the winter.
The largest structure ever erected from Adobe was the BamCitadel. But it suffered serious damage from an earthquakein 2003.
The Huaca del Sol in Peru is another grand adobe structurethat was created from over 100 million signed bricks.
The world’s largest adobe architecture job is thecitadel of Arg-e Bam, erected as late as 500BCE, possiblyearlier.
The area of Bam Citadel is 180,000 square meters and issurrounded by walls 6-7 meters high and 1815 meters inlength, all out of Adobe. When the gates to the city wereclosed, no human or animal could enter. The city wasself-contained with well access, gardens and cattle allwithin the walls.
The adobe architecture was a little different when it cameto putting a roof on the structure. Typically roofs wereassembled from lengths of wood or metal. Then rows of driedadobe bricks are laid over the top of a support structureand plastered into place with more adobe.
