The Southwest Vernacular Zone is composed of the southern Rockies, the Mohave and Sonoran deserts, and Southern California. The semi-arid to arid environment of the southwest makes for bitter cold winters and sweltering summers. The earth forms include plateaus, mountains, valleys, plains, and canyons.
Traditions
The relative lack of timber and abundance of stone and natural clays has brought forth a regional architectural style that is so successful at responding to its environment, that it has endured for over 800 years.
The more than 30 tribes of Native American peoples that call the southwest “home” have been able to somewhat maintain their cultural identity, and have created enduring architectural styles of their own. Their earliest structures included pit houses that were built into the earth and then covered with wood frames and sod or wood roofs. Some elected to use gigantic rock overhangs to fashion their villages within, providing natural shade and weather protection. The forms of their more modern buildings are often both horizontal and vertical – creating a living “mountain” of stepped adobe mud brick that is cool in summer and warm in winter. Storage and utility functions are in the lowest sections of the structures, with access often by stairs or ladders to the upper living areas.
Mexican and Spanish-American families, who can often tie their lineage back to land grants of the Spanish kings, brought with them the hacienda concept, with its ample cooling courtyards. The hacienda strategy continues to endure to this day, though many people are afraid of the relative size of these structures, even though they naturally outperform modern structures in energy efficiency.
Interestingly, in 1610, Governor Don Pedro de Peralta established the town of Santa Fe in New Mexico, under a town plan that followed a mandate called the Law of the Indies, which dictated that all Spanish colonial towns contain a central plaza with public, commercial, and church and government buildings facing the plaza, as had been done in Rome a millennia before. Residences were built along a grid of streets extending from the plaza.
The natives revolted in 1680, leading to the Spanish fleeing, and upon return, their buildings took on a more fortified shape, complete with turrets, lookout towers, and windowless exterior walls. In certain areas, this form has been retained. Missions came next, with their unique aisle-less naves, and many appear to be fortified - with small high windows and only one point of entrance and exit - because they were in fact fortified, to protect the villagers in case of attack.
After the gold rush in 1849, the first waves of European-Americans began arriving in the southwest, and with them brought their regional architectural styles, which they merged with the traditional architecture of the area – leading to the Territorial style, which has pitched roofs, milled woodwork, and often a Spanish-influenced layout.
In the early part of the 20th century, the Civil Conservation Corps created a unique architectural style for the area which has been termed CCC-Rustic, incorporating curvilinear earth forms in adobe, exposed log structural roof framing called vigas that are expressed both inside and outside, and stucco.
Areas in Texas also had suitable clay for brickmaking, and this region has a predominance of brick structures.
The social nature of the dominant Hispanic culture has brought forth a need for large community spaces, and oftentimes you can see the Native American concept of kiva – a round community gathering space that is usually at least partially embedded in the earth - used for creating spaces of ceremony and gathering.
Response to Environment
Structures in these areas also tend to be designed to minimize the impacts of drought and fire, which are common. Only 4 percent of the region’s available land has access to running surface water, and the land that does provide access is valuable beyond measure, as it is the only location capable of sustaining gardens and shade trees. In all cases, structures are usually expressed in vigas or trussing. Posts rest on stone bases and sometimes the house rests on a stone foundation. Walls are massive, monolithic and of the earth for maximum cooling and heating. They have soft rounded edges and corners. (or will have if they are built without these – the desert is a very abrasive place.) Oftentimes, a vertical structural element will be dressed as a buttress. Wood details are common. Bright colors are not uncommon, in either detail or the mass of the building itself, depending on location. Windows are small, square or oriented vertically, located high in the wall, and deeply inset for shading, and most often larger and/or more plentiful on the north, east, and southeast sides. Often they are double-hung for ventilation. Homes are often extended with portals (pronounced pore-talls) which are partially covered terraces constructed of latillas – a roughly straight young tree shed of it’s branches. Roofs are often flat or shed style, and small, minimizing surface are exposed to the sun, and relatively flat - in pitches from 1:12 to 6:12. (Higher pitches are for territorial style homes.) Landscapes are sparse – either xeriscaped or allowed to grow wild. It is extremely uncommon, and considered a flight of fancy of someone who is clearly non-local, to have an ornate garden, especially near the home.
