"The old adobe towns of the San Luis Valley and Purgatory Valleys are not, like the mining boom towns to the west and north, moral embrassments. Most Spanish-American settlers came to Colorado without the limitless greed that passed in some quarters of the american dream.

They were farmers and ranchers who were content to work on a small scale. Hispanic pioneers build modestly and effectively. Their attention never strayed for long from a functional concern, the geography. From the land they extracted their prime building materials at little cost; then, because construction did not require highly specialized skills, they were at liberty, independent of banks and commercial builders, to shape their homes to the imperatives they actually experienced, those of the weather and social patterns.

The beauty of functional architecture is mysterious. Why, one wonders, is practicality so graceful?

The answer, I think, is that the builder is actually freed by a commitment to obey the climate and materials and the simple needs of the people. One does not, having selected these priorities, need to be self assertive, which is inevitably grotesque (never more so in the vast western landscape). As he commits to remaining subordinate, the building takes on an easy power."


- Robert Adams, The Architecture and Art of Early Hispanic Colorado.





Our work belongs to the work by people all over the world, to restore ecological systems and protect human rights so everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy life in a healthy world.

Our contribution to this global movement deals with the design and construction of our homes and gardens, workplaces, neighborhoods and cities, here on the Front Range of Colorado. A philosophy of simplicity guides our design process which is driven by our sunny climate, native materials, local skilled labor and active culture.

We believe most current zoning policies prohibit sustainable towns and cities from occurring naturally, and therefore support the transformation of low density single use suburban and office single use zones to higher density, mixed use transit oriented developments in existing neighborhoods to provide integrated affordable housing, local workplaces, local economies, and local agriculture.

We seek to harmonize the latest modern industrial systems of "green" construction with older natural building technologies such as straw bale wall systems so that our buildings can be either recycled without harm to people or the planet in the industrial system, or composted biologically. Our buildings are both resource efficient as well as high performance, effective environments for living. We strive first for the local, natural technology that requires little petroleum to manufacture or deliver to the site.

We promote a healthy, simple lifestyle and strive to create homes which reflect these values. We seek to create affordable, simple shelter which celebrates a deep sense of purpose, the value of community, the local economy, and the ecological systems in which we participate.

"most of all however, there is a need for a wider understanding of the values that brought nineteenth century Spanish-American pioneers to Colorado.

Many people's views are not very far from those of an Anglo-American in Trinidad who in 1870 wrote Spanish-American pioneers 'lived in miserable-looking mud houses with poor crops. I believe they are content if they can keep the life in without attempting more. A few sheep and goats, sometimes a few cows, and stock cattle, and we have the sum of the Mexican wealth.'

But what was the wealth of people living by undisturbed mountains and praries?

If we can begin to accurately assess it, we may hope, in grace, to save ourselves. "

- Robert Adams
The Architecture and Art of Early Hispanic Colorado.