Earth USA 2026 - Preliminary Conference & Podium Presentation Schedule

Last Updated August 7, 2026

Friday, September 18, 2026


9:00 - Conference Check-in
9:00 - 9:45am - Morning Coffee in Scottish Rite Ballroom & Courtyard
9:45 - 10:00am - Podium Welcome by Ben Loescher & Quentin Wilson (Adobe in Action Board Members)

10:00 – 10:30am (Slot #1)
Authors: Eric Liefeld, Dr. David Rockstraw, Pat Taylor (Mesilla, NM, USA)
Podium Presentation: TRACKING AND MODELING MOISTURE AND SALTS IN UNSTABLIZED ADOBE
Institutional Affiliation: Mesilla Valley Preservation

10:30 – 11:00am (Slot #2)
Authors: Robin Elkin, Francisco Uviña-Contreras (Bernalillo, NM, USA)
Podium Presentation: ADOBE AND HEMPCRETE: TRADITIONAL MATERIAL IMPROVED WITH LIME BIO-COMPOSITE
Institutional Affiliation: University of New Mexico

11:00 – 11:30am (Slot #3)
Author: Xin Gao (New York, NY, USA)
Podium Presentation: BIO-BASED ADDITIVES IN TIBETAN EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE: MATERIAL PRACTICES AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Institutional Affiliation: Columbia University

11:30 – 12:00noon (Slot #4)
Authors: Steve Goodhew, Kevin Owen, Matthew Fox (Plymouth, UK)
Podium Presentation: LOW CARBON STABILISERS FOR THE INCREASED USE OF ON-SITE SUBSOILS
Institutional Affiliation: University of Plymouth

12:00 - 1:30pm - Lunch Break

1:30 – 2:00pm (Slot #5)
Author: Stefania Puntaroli (Firenze, Italy)
Podium Presentation: ITALIAN EARTH HOUSE: CREATIVITY, SELF-BUILDING, AND MATERIAL EXPERIMENTATION FOR AN ARTIST’S STUDIO
Institutional Affiliation: Academy of Fine Arts Lecce

2:00 – 2:30pm (Slot #6)
Author: Michael Schuldt (Taos, NM, USA)
Podium Presentation: PROGRESS TOWARDS EFFICIENT OWNER-BUILDER CEB CONSTRUCTION

2:30 – 3:00pm (Slot #7)
Author: Angeles Hevia (Santiago, Chile)
Podium Presentation: CASA FRAGMENTOS: A METALLIC, LIGHTWEIGHT QUINCHA HOUSE DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THERMAL COMFORT IN CHILE
Institutional Affiliation:: Archinergia

3:00 – 3:30pm (Slot #8)
Authors: Mateo Salinas Clarke & Laura Clarke (Taos, NM, USA)
Podium Presentation: COMMUNITY AS A CONSTRUCTION DETAIL: OWNER BUILDER CASE STUDY FROM TAOS
Institutional Affiliation:: Student at SFCC & UNM-Taos

3:30 - 4:30 - Poster Presentation Session #1 + Coffee Break in Scottish Rite Ballroom & Courtyard

4:30 – 5:00pm (Slot #9)
Author: Bruce King (San Rafael, CA, USA)
Podium Presentation: EARTHEN CONCRETE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Institutional Affiliation:: Ecological Building Network

5:00 – 6:00pm
Panel Discussion #1: Earthen R & D - Fire & Design
Moderator: Ben Loescher

Participants:

Authors: Lucy Lloyd, Adam Ballard (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Panel Contribution: REIMAGINING ADOBE DESIGN: MATERIAL, PROCESS, AND PLACE IN MODERN CALIFORNIA
Institutional Affiliation: Terrain, Adobeisnotsoftware

Authors: Anthony Dente, PE, K. Ben Loescher, AIA (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Panel Contribution: FROM FIRE TO EARTH: RESILIENT REBUILDING AFTER THE EATON FIRE
Institutional Affiliation: Terrain, Adobeisnotsoftware

Author: Miguel Arambula (Fresno, CA, USA)
Panel Contribution: USING PREAPPROVED PLANS TO JUMPSTART ADOBE PRODUCTION AND CONSTRUCTION
Institutional Affiliation: Valley Adobe

6:00 - 8:00pm - Friday Evening Reception in Scottish Rite Ballroom & Courtyard for all registered attendees presented by The Earthbuilders' Guild

 

Saturday, September 19, 2026


9:00 - Conference Check-in
9:00 - 10:00am – Poster Presentation Session #2 + Morning Coffee in Scottish Rite Ballroom & Courtyard

10:00 – 10:30am (Slot #10)
Authors: Tyler Survant, Anna Leshnick (Bozeman, MT, USA)
Podium Presentation: TIGER TRACK CONSERVATION LODGE: EARTH ARCHITECTURE AND COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE IN BARDIYA, NEPAL
Institutional Affiliation:: Building Bureau + Montana State University School of Architecture

10:30 – 11:00am (Slot #11)
Author: Mark Chalom (Santa Fe, NM, USA)
Podium Presentation: CASE STUDY, SUSAN NEILSEN HOME

11:00 – 11:30am (Slot #12)
Authors: Lianxu Zhou, Prakash S Badal, Nitin Kumar, Michele Barbato (Davis, CA, USA)
Podium Presentation: SIMULATED WILDFIRE TEST OF A FIRE-RESISTANT EARTHEN SHED
Institutional Affiliation:: University of California, Davis

11:30 – 12:30pm
Panel Discussion #2: Earthen R & D - Seismic
Moderator: Anthony Dente

Participants:

Author: Camila Cassundé (West Lafayette, IN, USA)
Panel Contribution: LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF RAMMED EARTH FOR DISASTER HOUSING RECONSTRUCTION: AN APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY FRAMEWORK TO ENHANCE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY NATURAL DISASTERS
Institutional Affiliation: Purdue University

Authors: Carlo Citto, PE (Lafayette, CO, USA), Douglas Porter, Ronald Anthony
Panel Contribution: METHODOLOGIES FOR THE SEISMIC EVALUATION OF HISTORIC ADOBE STRUCTURES
Institutional Affiliation: Atkinson-Noland & Associates, University of Vermont, Anthony & Associates

Authors: Rachel Tove-White, Rachel Cohen, Francisco Ordenes, Anthony Dente (Berkeley, CA, USA)
Panel Contribution: ADOBE AND CEB IN HIGH SEISMIC REGIONS: A CURRENT CODEBASED APPROACH AND ASSOCIATED TESTING USED FOR PERMIT ACQUISITION
Institutional Affiliation: Verdant Structural Engineers

12:30 - 2:00pm - Lunch Break

2:00pm – 2:30pm (Slot #13 / Tentative)
Author: Francisco Hernández Spínola (Mexico City, Mexico)
Podium Presentation: LEARNING SCENARIOS AROUND CONSTRUCTION WITH EARTH IN HUAVE CULTURE
Institutional Affiliation:: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM Faculty of Architecture

2:30 – 3:00pm (Slot #14 / Tentative)
Authors: Cinthia Gimenez, Lucia Otero, Francisca Sepulveda (Santa Cruz, Bolivia)
Podium Presentation: A SHARED LEARNING EXPERIENCE BASED ON TRAINING IN THE RESTORATION OF HERITAGE HOUSING IN LASANA, CHILE
Institutional Affiliation: Fundación Altiplano

3:00 – 3:30pm (Slot #15)
Author: Bob Estrin (Alpine, TX, USA)
Podium Presentation: THE SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTIVE ARTS - EARTH, EDUCATION, AND COMMUNITY
Institutional Affiliation: School of Constructive Arts

3:30 – 4:00pm (Slot #16)
Author: Juan Manuel Casillas Pintor (Mexico City, Mexico)
Podium Presentation: EARTH AS PEDAGOGY: DESIGN–BUILD EDUCATION AND SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL ACTION THROUGH EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE
Institutional Affiliation: Universidad Iberoamericana CdMx

4:00 - 5:00pm - Poster Presentation Session #3 + Coffee Break in Scottish Rite Ballroom & Courtyard

5:00 – 6:00pm
Keynote Presentation: Panel Discussion #3: Building Community through Earth
Moderator: Ethan Novikoff

Author: Ethan Novikoff (Silver City, NM, USA)
Panel Contribution: FREEDOM IN THE MUD: HOW EARTHEN CONSTRUCTION SUPPORTS DE-CENTRALIZATION AND SELF-DETERMINATION

Author: Robert Gregorio (Aztec, NM, USA)
Panel Contribution: DIY COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCK HOME

Authors: Mateo Salinas Clarke & Laura Clarke (Taos, NM, USA)
Panel Contribution: COMMUNITY AS A CONSTRUCTION DETAIL: OWNER BUILDER CASE STUDY FROM TAOS
Institutional Affiliation:: Student at SFCC & UNM-Taos

Authors: Tonia Sing Chi, José Galarza (Dennehotso, AZ, USA)
Panel Contribution: EARTHEN MATERIAL PRACTICE IN “SLOW” HOUSING ON NAVAJO NATION
Institutional Affiliation: Nááts'íilid Initiative | University of California, Berkeley | Maryland Institute College of Art

 

Sunday, September 20, 2026


9:00 - Conference Check-in
9:00 – 10:00am – Poster Presentation Session #4 + Morning Coffee in Scottish Rite Ballroom & Courtyard

10:00 – 11:00pm
Panel Discussion #4: The Multidisciplinary Future of Earth Materials
Moderator: Lola Ben Alon

Participants:

Lola Ben-Alon, Columbia University (New York, NY, USA)
Shiho Kawashima, Columbia University (New York, NY, USA)
Wil V. Srubar, University of Colorado Boulder (Boulder, CO, USA)
Mahan Motalebi, Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA, USA)
Eda Begum Birol, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

Authors: Lola Ben-Alon, Wil V. Srubar, Shiho Kawashima (New York, NY, USA)
Panel Contribution: THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY FUTURE OF EARTH MATERIALS
Institutional Affiliation: Columbia University

Authors: Mahan Motalebi, Marcus Shaffer (State College, PA, USA)
Panel Contribution: DEVELOPING A DURABILITY–VULNERABILITY SPECTRUM IN EARTHEN CONSTRUCTION: A CONTEXT-BASED ASSESSMENT INFORMED BY VERNACULAR, SELF-TAUGHT, AND STANDARDIZED PRACTICES
Institutional Affiliation: Pennsylvania State University

Authors: Eda Begum Birol, Siqi Zhao, Phoebe Anagnos, Sophia Wang, Laia Mogas-Soldevila (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Panel Contribution: MATERIAL CONVERGENCES: BIOMATERIAL STABILIZED EARTHEN COMPOSITES
Institutional Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania

11:00 – 11:30am (Slot #17)
Authors: Marcus Shaffer, Mahan Motalebi, Tiffanie Leung (State College, PA, USA)
Podium Presentation: TWO DECADES OF EARTHEN CONSTRUCTION EDUCATION AND RESEARCH AT PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
Institutional Affiliation: Pennsylvania State University

11:30 – 12:00noon (Slot #18)
Authors: Chenxiao Li, Kristof Crolla, Garvin Goepel, Nripal Adhikary (Hong Kong)
Podium Presentation: AUGMENTED-REALITY–GUIDED COB MASONRY FOR NON-STANDARD EARTHEN CONSTRUCTION: A 1:1 STUPA DEMONSTRATOR IN NEPAL

12:00 – 12:30pm (Slot #19)
Authors: Devendra N. Contractor, Deirdre E. Harris (Santa Fe, NM, USA)
Podium Presentation: THE GEORGIA O'KEEFFE MUSEUM: A CASE STUDY IN THE USE OF ADOBE IN COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION
Institutional Affiliation: DNCA Architects

12:30 – 1:00pm (Slot #20)
Award Presentation: 2026 Fred Webster Prize
Conference Closing / Final Wrap: Ben Loescher & Quentin Wilson

1:00 - 3:00pm - Lunch Break

 

Monday, September 21, 2026


8:00am - 8:00pm - Full Day Monday Bus Tour to Taos Adobe Sites