{"id":16,"date":"2026-04-08T18:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/spring-2026\/dasosa\/?page_id=16"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:52:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:52:31","slug":"from-the-ground-up","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/spring-2026\/dasosa\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Ground Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Finding alternate building materials for reconstruction
using old-world solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What a finished, California-size adobe brick looks like. (Photo by David Sosa)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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3 years. That\u2019s how long Maxwell May and his wife Lauren Ward had their house in Altadena until the Eaton fire destroyed it in January of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with their two dogs, they fortunately evacuated before the fire destroyed their home. May, a General Motors engineer designing self-driving cars, returned soon after the dust settled to search for anything that survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce we found out the house was gone, we went through this really bad rollercoaster of emotions when we came back,\u201d said May. \u201cYou go through these really big ups where you find something and you’re like, \u2018Oh, cool. This is something that I thought I had lost.\u2019 And then you realize, \u2018What am I going to do with this? This is all technically trash.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the structure collapsed and burned down most of the house, May was surprised to find several pieces of his father-in-law\u2019s pottery intact. Unlike the house\u2019s wood framing and stucco, most of the pottery was made of clay at high temperatures in a kiln, allowing it to endure the Eaton fire, a small miracle amid a devastating event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That durability isn\u2019t unique to pottery. It\u2019s a property of clay itself, one that early settlers of Los Angeles used for centuries in construction methods like adobe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Many homes in Altadena remain in ruins following the January 2025 wildfires. Altadena, a historically Black neighborhood in LA County that has since become ethnically diverse in the past few years, lost about 9,413 buildings destroyed or damaged<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When one of the few things that survives a fire is pottery made out of a seemingly banal and trivial material like clay, a question might come up during reconstruction: What if a home were made entirely of a fire-resistant material? And in a community like Altadena, where previously safe areas were redrawn into high fire-risk zones, the preventive element is especially appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, reconstruction in the Eaton fire burn area is slow. According to the LA County rebuilding dashboard<\/a>, 2,776 building plans have been approved, 1,346 are currently under construction and 45 are complete as of early May. Thousands of rebuilding efforts are still in progress across the fire-damaged area, assuming residents did not sell their property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As residents begin rebuilding, some architects and builders are asking whether the materials used in LA homes should change. In the wake of the destruction, locals and experts alike began weighing alternative, fire-resistant options to concrete and other traditional building materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter the fire, the community in Altadena really came together in their will to change. To build differently,\u201d said Rohan Guyot Sutherland, a natural builder and professor at Cal Poly Pomona. \u201cAnd the local government has not been receptive to that at all.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Maxwell May standing where his living room used to be before the Eaton fire.<\/em> (Photo by David Sosa)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Compared to plywood and timber framing, earth-based materials like adobe and cob have natural insulation that helps them withstand heat. Guyot-Sutherland, who lives in Altadena, has years of practice with these clay-based building materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While made of similar ingredients, earthen materials differ from one other in small nuances. Adobe is similar to cob, both being primarily made of the same clay as May\u2019s father-in-law\u2019s pottery. The difference between the two is their construction. Adobe attains its brick shape by mixing soil into water and using straw to form the structural paste. Cob, on the other hand, is made to be more mouldable and free-flowing in shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Guyot-Sutherland points to light straw clay, straw bale and hempcrete as recognized practices approved by the International Residential Code (IRC) and California amendments. Aside from fire resistance, these materials offer other pros, including sustainability and non-toxicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe heat takes so long to move towards the inside that the houses stay fresh during the day,\u201d said Guyot-Sutherland. \u201cAnd then, when it\u2019s getting colder outside, that heat has now made it to the inside and is able to keep you warm at night\u2026It\u2019s not just insulation as a barrier. It actually functions more like a battery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The first step in making adobe bricks involves combining clay and water until it becomes a milkshake-like substance. (Photo by David Sosa<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But fire resistance is only part of the equation in Southern California. One caveat to adobe structures is their vulnerability to earthquakes. Due to their large mass, high school-level physics is these clay-based buildings\u2019 greatest enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More specifically, Newton’s Second Law of Motion: Force = Mass \u00d7 Acceleration<\/em>. In other words, the density of earthen structures means there\u2019s more damage to be dealt. Wood is also subject to F = ma, but its ductility allows it to flex in the face of an earthquake. Adobe, on the other hand, collapses like a house of cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost and speed also shape rebuilding decisions. Anthony Dente, vice president at the Cob Research Institute, is involved in ongoing conversations to allow adobe, cob and similar materials to be used for construction at the county level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dente, who was the lead engineer in the United States\u2019 first monolithic adobe building approved by the IRC, says most county officials are reluctant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are not going to budge on their existing bar for seismic compliance,\u201d said Dente. \u201cThis material is non-proprietary, and there are just a few of us who are passionate about adobe\u2026Alternative materials attract alternative people, and their projects die for alternative reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that within the small, somewhat underground world of professionals and hobbyists interested in earthen materials, there\u2019s a saying when it comes to adobe: \u201cIt’s for the very rich and the very poor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The material\u2019s niche popularity is not the only thing holding back its potential. IRC regulations can also get in the way of homeowners hoping to prevent another fire from destroying their homes. Traditional building materials like plywood are the standard because they’re fast and inexpensive to use \u2013 especially after a devastating wildfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California is taking measures to expand wildfire hazard zones and make fire-resistant materials required in some areas. But pressure from local and national officials leaves homes outside of the immediate fire-risk zone more prone to speedy construction efforts rather than careful construction with wildfire in mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Participants shape adobe into bricks from K. Ben Loescher’s Adobe Is Not Software class.<\/em> (Photo by David Sosa)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

K. Ben Loescher is the founding principal of Terrain, an architecture firm with experience using adobe. Like Dente, Loescher is currently working with the LA County Department of Public Works and the City of LA Department of Building and Safety, the two departments responsible for planning and issuing permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His interest in adobe emerged in 2008 during time spent in New Mexico. After working on what would become Google’s Mountain View headquarters, he enrolled in an adobe construction program and fell in love with the material. As a proponent and champion of adobe who offers classes open to the public, Loescher believes, \u201cIf you can prove that it can be done in California, then that should be significant evidence that it can be used in other parts of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Audio element about how to make adobe bricks]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to adobe is limited by county officials who are open to the material and public awareness of the materials\u2019 enduring quality in the face of natural phenomena like wildfires. Echoing Dente\u2019s experience, Loescher often comes across a specific type of contractor when it comes to earthen-based projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot to generalize, but I’ll generalize. A white dude in an $80,000 pickup truck that’s spotless is the person that you’re talking to to get the bid or the quote,\u201d said Loescher. \u201cHe’s like, \u2018Well, I don’t know, adobe’s really hard to work with. It’s going to be really expensive.\u2019 I would say about half the time it turns out that they’ve got somebody on their crew who grew up in Jalisco or Oaxaca, [Mexico] that can say, \u2018Oh yeah, I grew up in an adobe house.\u2019 Or, \u2018I helped my uncle build his adobe.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These materials are not unique to Mexico. If anything, they are proven solutions integral to LA\u2019s development. The Tongva people, Southern California\u2019s primary Native American tribe, used similar methods. But it was the Californios who built adobe houses in and around what would become downtown LA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s history and growth can be traced through streets named after Californios like Sepulveda Boulevard and Los Feliz Boulevard, named after Francisco Sep\u00falveda and Jos\u00e9 Vicente Feliz. In fact, the longest-standing building in LA is the Avila Adobe, which was built in 1818 by Francisco \u00c1vila, the alcalde or mayor of LA when it was El Pueblo de los \u00c1ngeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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