Adobe?

[scruffy1]

I do enjoy observing the architecture or rather the changes in building materials and style as one walks the Camino - slate roofs or tiles, stone, brick, concrete, the second floor windowed balconies (what are these called in Spanish/Galego?) of Galacia.. There are many villages along the Camino in which the older buildings are built from mud brick or cob - the straw plainly visable in the bricks. There are albergues in Calzadilla de la Cueza and in El Burgo Ranero built entirely of mud brick, finished off nicely inside with plaster to a height of several meters but the brick continues upward until the roof. In the American South West and Mexico this is called adobe. Is this the proper term for Spainish buildings as well?

 

[Pelegrin]

I do enjoy observing the architecture or rather the changes in building materials and style as one walks the Camino - slate roofs or tiles, stone, brick, concrete, the second floor windowed balconies (what are these called in Spanish/Galego?) of Galacia.. There are many villages along the Camino in which the older buildings are built from mud brick or cob - the straw plainly visable in the bricks. There are albergues in Calzadilla de la Cueza and in El Burgo Ranero built entirely of mud brick, finished off nicely inside with plaster to a height of several meters but the brick continues upward until the roof. In the American South West and Mexico this is called adobe. Is this the proper term for Spainish buildings as well?

Yes, in Spain there are many different styles for old buildings depending on the materials available in the past.
"the second floor windowed balconies (what are these called in Spanish/Galego?) of Galacia" are called "Galerías", same name in Galego/Spanish. Galerias are used in Galicia to let the sun enter the house as much as possible.
And yes "adobe" is the proper term for mud brick in Spanish buildings as well.

 

[scruffy1]

Yes, in Spain there are many different styles for old buildings depending on the materials available in the past.
"the second floor windowed balconies (what are these called in Spanish/Galego?) of Galacia" are called "Galerías", same name in Galego/Spanish. Galerias are used in Galicia to let the sun enter the house as much as possible.
And yes "adobe" is the proper term for mud brick in Spanish buildings as well.

Thanks!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

the bricks are "adobes," The straw/mud render on the outside (often used as fill between timbers) is "tapial."
Most of the older houses and just about all the barns and farm structures between Fromista and Astorga are made of adobe or tapial, or combinations thereof -- most of them rendered on the outside with concrete and painted. They are glorious structures, and they are vanishing fast.

 

[annakappa]

Our old (Over 150 years) house here in Costa Rica is also made of adobe. The "mud bricks" are slightly larger than the ones found on the Meseta, but the method is the same.

 

[Anniesantiago]

the bricks are "adobes," The straw/mud render on the outside (often used as fill between timbers) is "tapial."
Most of the older houses and just about all the barns and farm structures between Fromista and Astorga are made of adobe or tapial, or combinations thereof -- most of them rendered on the outside with concrete and painted. They are glorious structures, and they are vanishing fast.

One reason they are vanishing is because of the coating the outside with concrete, which holds in the moisture when it rains and causes the adobe to disintegrate. This was discovered some years ago in Arizona. I lived in an old adobe house built by the Buffalo Soldiers who were fighting Poncho Villa and did quite a bit of research on this in concert with restoration of that and other buildings on the properties.

Those adobe buildings should NOT be covered in concrete.