Adobe Transformation
(Page 2 of 2)
September/October 2004
By Athena and Bill Steen
As we became more knowledgeable about building performance, we took on the smaller guesthouse, which now serves as a bed and breakfast. We added considerable insulation to the walls and roof, upgraded to thermal-pane windows, and installed a solar heating system. Our biggest challenge has been heating the main house during the three coldest months of the year, an issue we’ve gradually been resolving—with full knowledge that it will take time to bring it to the level we’d like.
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We were also concerned that the buildings offer much more living room than we really need, until we decided we could use that space to accommodate small groups of people. Our life has largely been structured to suit the buildings and property ever since. Without them, we probably wouldn’t have created The Canelo Project, a nonprofit organization that connects people, culture, and nature.
Essentially our compound has become a hybrid between a home for our family (currently three children at home) and a place that periodically hosts small groups for various events. We run workshops on straw bale construction, courses on clay and lime plastering as well as digital imaging, and small gatherings for friends and local musicians for a day’s worth of live music. As inspiration or need arises, we bring groups together for discussions on topics that we share in common. We’ve also inched ourselves into a small bed-and-breakfast operation.
The old buildings that we once found so objectionable have been crucial to all these endeavors, a major source of inspiration and creativity. In addition, the work they’ve required has been an ongoing process of exploration and learning. We’ve relied largely on materials and methods that we could either collect or make: local clays, rock, reeds, fibers, and straw to create a variety of plasters, paints, clay ovens, and built-in furniture. The changes brought about by these materials were what really seemed to make the place come alive. They added color, texture, and definitive shapes to wall surfaces and ceilings.
There are still days when we wish for something simpler. Yet we always manage to remember all that this place has given to us—and to the many others who have passed through. These old adobe buildings have led us to become much more than what we would have been without them. They’re a constant reminder about the importance of acceptance and how the opposite of what one had hoped for can be a source of transformation.
For more information on the Canelo Project, go to CaneloProject.com.
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