Casa Wabi Sabi

Some thoughts from the architect—

Dear friends and family,

Poco a poco—little by little—a wonderful Mexican phrase that so deeply oversimplifies this culture. On the surface one would see this as getting something done slowly. Yesterday Nancy and I were returning to San Miguel after ordering appliances at a Home Depot in a nearby city named Celaya. Imagine driving along in the states on a narrow highway at 50 or 60 miles per hour and all of a sudden you come to a line of cars crawling forward slower than you might walk from a parking lot to a dentist appointment.

El Arquitecto

All through Mexico there are speed bumps called topes, with a long “O”. Where there are many pedestrians they certainly help to keep the traffic at a safer, slower pace. In this case there are no less than ten steep little topes that while driving at a crawl I feel like I just stepped off a curb without realizing it was there. Once through the first gauntlet of topes we’re greeted with several young smiling faces standing on the pavement in the hot sun holding their fireman hats upside down hoping to receive a donation. Ya gotta reach into your pocket and give them something. Another series of topes until we’re free to continue on our path back home. All told, maybe five minutes that felt like an hour. Why not? What’s the hurry…will I ever get it?

Back at the job, the crew keeps on working and poco a poco Casa Wabi Sabi is taking shape. We’re now at a real turning point as the bóvedas and the wood beam ceilings are installed. Let’s start with bóvedas—this marvelous art form is centuries old and to our delight the art form is not being forgotten. The people who learn this art form are called bovederos, they’re highly respected and are able to earn a higher wage by installing bóvedas by the square meter. The bovederos don’t use any forms, they simply pull a few strings as a guide when necessary. In most cases where there are four sides they start in each corner and eventually fill in a final brick as a key to lock the whole bóveda in place. Be sure and watch this little video…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnuwP-fFbiI

Outdoor sala with domed bóveda

Human Perspective: Nancy in Hallway with Bóveda

Our wood beam ceilings are another old style from Colonial Mexico called tejamanil, the Mexican Spanish name of setting hand split shingles on the top of the beams to be visible from below. The pattern from below is similar to a herringbone pattern. These split shingles are environmentally wasteful today with diminished forests and is frowned upon for new construction. Our shingles came about by accident, while out sourcing materials I met a man that had bundles of shingles stored in a bodega for many years. I couldn’t resist the application as a further ingredient to our fusion recipe of architecture.

Living room with beams and tejamanil

Living room: View from future sofa

No matter how many times a day I remind myself to settle down and allow the construction to advance in the Mexican way…breath Barry, breathe… I can’t resist, I go to our storage, forage around until I find my compressor, miter saw and fancy portable stand, drive over to a lumber company in town called Tres Amigos who has a large assortment of tools for sale, bingo they have an industrial pneumatic staple gun and staples made in the good old US. Sold American! Back out on the job I set up the saw, the compressor etc., and am assigned one of my favorite albanils, Juan Carlos, and his helper Remedio. With my up-to-date job site lingo, mixed in with a great deal of laughing and amazed eyes I show them how we are going to cut all the shingles at the same angle on each side and ka-bang the staple is in and the shingle is fastened in less than a second. I’ll put this in perspective… Many times I watch a man pull out a nail from a used form board and spend time to straighten the nail to use once again, or wiggle a piece of wire back and forth that was captured in a concrete pour until it breaks. This is of course, is part of my schooling in letting go. This is sustainability in a real life cultural experience. These men really care and will certainly not waste a perfectly good material. Knowing this, I still spin from the inside out, while smiling.

I’m so grateful for our builder Pepe when he comes for a site visit. His knowledge and experience offers solutions to problems and an overall feeling of being cared for. Thank you, Pepe!

Juan Carlos using the pneumatic staple gun

Marciano checking beams being set in the guest room

The large beam (gualdra) that goes over the kitchen counter that divides the kitchen from the dining room

Barry's artistic eye shows up on the job...

In a week or two we’ll be bringing back the cement truck for the last time to pour the losa (concrete slab on the roof). This is a milestone and for me, it’s downhill from this point on—the structure is built. Crews will be reassigned to the areas around the house to build garden walls, patio table and benches, stone patios etc. Another group will install chicken wire on the exterior walls and start applying stucco, and installing windows and doors. While this exterior group is working on the outside the finishers start applying gesso to the interior walls and putting in the stone flooring.

Stay tuned as Wabi Sabi takes on its final shapes and finishes. Warmest regards, Barry

A taste of what the view will be from Barry's second floor studio

Hola from the other pair of Casa Wabi Sabi eyes:

My dear architect keeps forgetting about his studio…the magnificent second floor structure above the master bedroom that will have a large barrel bóveda, with an L-shaped covered deck that will have almost a 180 degree view toward the Santa Rosa mountains. It will be constructed after the thin concrete losa (roof) is poured. The stairway up to Barry’s studio will follow the curve of the adobe wall that encloses the private garden outside the master bath, my ’secret garden’ entry into my writing studio. Yesterday watching Manuel and his helper carefully place the adobe blocks in the sensual curve where a Barry-designed fountain will sing to me as I sit in my studio, my eyes filled with tears of gratitude and amazement. The amount of care, time, strength, sweat, and craftsmanship that is going into the creation of Casa Wabi Sabi washed over me, and I did my best in my insufficient Spanish to say thank you.

Curved garden wall

Manuel placing carved-out adobe blocks around castille forms. The garden wall won't be plastered, just like the large street-front wall, so concrete will be poured down the steel-enforced holes on these castilles, giving the wall hidden strength and structural integrity, yet allowing the raw beauty of the adobe to shine.

Other parts of the project have been progressing: the carport steel structure has been painted a rich rust color. We’ve decided to paint the metal supports of the house overhang the same color—this gives me one more luscious piece to the color scheme puzzle. The storage/mechanical systems building (bodega) is almost finished. The wiring and plumbing has been taken to the next level. The concrete foundation is in place for the driveway gate. I’ve now chosen the appliances—next is choosing the stone and tile for the kitchen and bathrooms, and the lighting fixtures.

We’re still in search of a quarry with stone for the interior floors and outside patios…this week Barry and Pepe went to find this beautiful charcoal gray stone that Pepe had seen; I’d been eying the one sample piece that was at the house as part of the color scheme…it had the same modulations as the mesquite trees’ bark. After an hour’s rough Jeep ride up into the mountains behind San Luis de la Paz, they found a stack of twelve pieces of rock on a hillside. Turns out the stone was on ejido land, farming and grazing land, and a village that is held in the communal Indian tradition; land is passed down to family heirs only.  It would have taken months to get the amount of stone we needed; first an ejido meeting would be called, an agreement reached by everyone, the stone quarried, and some miraculous transporting of the stones over nearly impassable roads…yet another adventure on the wabi sabi road. Our neighbor has given us a phone number that will hopefully lead to a quarry on the other side of the lake…the stone is a lighter gray. Colors shift every hour, every day in nature. As do the colors for the house…

View from carport/woodshop

Utilities trench from bodega to house

View of house from bodega showing curve of hallway bóveda

Casa Wabi Sabi is, as I wrote on the last post, emerging at its own wonderful pace. I scrolled down to our first entry last week—time has been going by quickly in this land known to slow time down. Our first visitors, Erin and Chowning, were here the week before the project officially began and we all played a lot at being tourists.

Chowning and Erin in Pozos

Sightseeing in San Miguel

Brent and Anna visited in the middle of June, and pursuing beautiful photo ops took the front seat for a couple of days.

Brent, Anna and Barry with photo gear in Guanajuato

This week the Kalmar family is coming for a visit…they will, while being tourists and taking beautiful photos, become a part of Casa Wabi Sabi’s unfolding story. Thank you all for being part of this story. Que tenga un buen día. Have a good day—a wabi sabi day. I’m reading another book about wabi sabi…it is like love, homeopathy, Photoshop, raising kids, the universe, and life…one will never know all there is about it. A big hug to you all, Nancy