Traditional adobe building and preservation uses clay, sand, water, and straw to construct and restore adobe buildings almost entirely the way our ancestors were doing centuries ago (using no modern materials such as concrete). Traditional adobe houses stand the test of time, their material regulates extreme heat and cold in a process called thermal lag, and the material sourcing of clay and sand is widely available and accessible. It is in this way that Querencia Mi Mesilla draws from the historical past and prepares for the shifting hotter and drier climate of the future.
Only a handful people alive today in the southwest grew up learning traditional adobe building/preservation practices from their parents, grandparents, or community members and are able to share this knowledge with younger generations. Started by internationally renowned Pat Taylor, Querencia Mi Mesilla is distinct in its intergenerational knowledge exchange around traditional adobe building and preservation practices. This knowledge is tied to the cultural heritage of the Southwest and is currently at risk of being lost to the present generation. Pat Taylor is passing down his extensive knowledge and experience to a new generation of U.S-Mexico borderlands people who are eager to take up traditional adobe practices. As paid interns from working class backgrounds without previous building experience, they would otherwise not be able to afford the earthen building workshops growing in popularity and price or similarly be able to volunteer their time.
Querencia interns are from all over the world. Currently they are majority women between the ages of 22 and 40, and all local to the tri-state borderland area of New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua Mexico. Because of Querencia, the younger generation of adobe builders in the borderlands and beyond will be able to mitigate climate change using non-toxic building materials and reintroduce the cultural practice into their communities which have often been overlooked systemically and monetarily.