Eleven graduate students in the Historic Preservation program spent their Spring Break shoveling soil, straw, and sand into wheelbarrows, mixing buckets of lime plaster, and applying limewash on historic walls as part of an Adobe Preservation Workshop organized by Debora Barros, visiting assistant professor of Historic Preservation in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (GCPE) in collaboration with Kurt Gardella, executive director and instructor at Adobe in Action, a New Mexico based non-profit organization supporting the planning, construction, and preservation of adobe homes. The workshop took place in Mesilla, NM, and was facilitated by Pat Taylor, a consulting contractor to Adobe in Action, a native of Mesilla, and local adobe conservation expert and advocate.
During warm, sunny days, students restored historic adobe homes and buildings with local earthen and lime-based materials. They applied limewash and lime plaster to the facades of late 19th century homes, reinstating their original shield against weather damage and their historic appearance.
“The students benefited from having the tactile experience of making adobe and preparing materials to restore these beautiful historic structures,” said Vicki Weiner, academic director of the Historic Preservation program, who supported the planning of the workshop and attended the trip.
Barros explained that “they were solving real problems and helping people. They learned all kinds of things about earthen building technologies and construction, and had the opportunity to apply that knowledge to helping the local community.”
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![A person wearing a yellow baseball cap, safety glasses, mask, blue plaid jacket, pink pants, and tan boots uses a power drill to mix a substance in a bucket. They are working inside an earthen-walled building with two other people in the background also wearing masks and hats.]()
Students mixing limewash -
![A group of people outdoors under a clear blue sky work with buckets and construction materials. A woman in a black hat, black shirt, and red pants pours a red bucket into a green bucket while a man wearing a black cap and sunglasses holds the bucket steady. Several others wearing gloves, masks, and casual work clothes observe the process.]()
Students preparing limewash -
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Student pressing the adobe mix into a wood mold -
![A person wearing a yellow baseball cap, safety glasses, mask, blue plaid jacket, pink pants, and tan boots uses a power drill to mix a substance in a bucket. They are working inside an earthen-walled building with two other people in the background also wearing masks and hats.]()
Students using a wheelbarrow to transport materials
Adobe construction and restoration draws on indigenous knowledge and locally sourced materials. It contrasts with modern construction and repair techniques that are reliant on globally produced, commercialized materials carrying substantial carbon footprints. Interventions on earthen buildings made with incompatible materials like cement, a common practice, can accelerate an adobe building’s deterioration, a phenomenon that students encountered in Mesilla.
During the trip, students learned that well-built and properly maintained earthen buildings can remain structurally sound indefinitely, offering a sustainable construction option for communities.
As part of the HP course indigenous Building Technologies as Climate Solutions taught last spring, Barros taught six lectures and planned a similar workshop in Brazil. Inspired by the trip’s focus on earthen materials, Kaylee Johnson, Master of Science in Historic Preservation ’25, based her thesis research on studying the social and environmental impact of a tax on adobe buildings in Marfa, Texas.
“It’s so important to have these hands-on experiences where students can touch the material and be present with it,” Barros said. “It’s a sensorial experience that provides a reawakening. It’s an invitation to step away from the hyper technological world in which we live and reconnect with nature, self, and each other, building a sense of community within the classroom. By fostering the students’ understanding of earthen building techniques with a global perspective, both philosophically and practically, we work to nurture a generation of critical thinkers in the field, and encourage them to employ these concepts and methods in their own future practices towards modes of production of the built environment that integrally respond to the needs of people and the planet.”