ADOB 111 – Adobe Construction Basics Dates: 8/24 to 10/17/2020 (8 weeks) Format: Online Course Description: History and overview of adobe construction techniques. Topics include monumental structures and settlements throughout the world and adobe practices that meet modern building codes. Students will examine construction and design techniques from foundation to roof. Students will make adobe bricks, build walls and construct other building components.
ADOB 112 – Adobe Wall Construction Dates: 10/19 to 12/12/2020 (8 weeks) Format: Online Course Description: An introduction to exterior and interior adobe wall construction techniques. Students will learn the requirements for wall thickness, height and foundation construction based on the New Mexico Earthen Building Code. Topics include the installation of windows and doors and lintels over openings, the construction of bond beams at the top of walls, methods for the attachment of roof structural members and design and construction of buttresses and arches.
ADOB 113 – Passive Solar Adobe Design Dates: 10/19 to 12/12/2020 (8 weeks) Format: Online Course Description: The integration of passive solar heating systems into the design of adobe homes. Topics include direct gain systems, Trombe Wall (indirect gain) systems and greenhouses/sunspaces. Students will learn the advantages and disadvantages of each system in order to choose among them for use in different parts of a house or commercial structure. Students will calculate the proper sizing of systems as well as auxiliary back-up systems.
Full details about the Adobe Program at SFCC can be found at https://www.sfcc.edu/programs/adobe-construction/ or contact adjunct faculty member Kurt Gardella at kurt.gardella@sfcc.edu.