New Adobe Home, The
t h e  n e w a d o b e h o m e Michael Byrne and Dottie Larson photography by Amy Haskell Michael G. Byrne and Dottie Larson photography by Amy HaskellThe New Adobe Home presents the sophisticated, unusual use of adobe through a variety of exceptionally elegant homes in New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Mexico. Once considered a simple, utilitarian material suitable for only humble dwellings, adobe has the potential to be much more: it can be easily shaped into dramatic architectural features such as archways, niches, and fireplaces, and its natural color and texture can serve as a backdrop for sumptuous furnishings and art. Here, the notion of the "new adobe home" comprises a combination of furnishings, art, and interior and exterior spaces with adobe construction, adobe style, or detailing. Throughout the book are wonderful examples of sophisticated adobe or adobe-style homes, including a centuries-old renovated hacienda, once the home of a past president of Mexico; a mid-century Cliff May masterpiece; a luxurious estate that pairs Southwestern style with Asian influences; a contemporary dwelling that sits like a sculpture in the Sonoran Desert; and many others. Stunning photographs of each home are accompanied by an exploration of what makes the home special, unique, and worthy of the term "the new adobe home."With a love of adobe buildings and design in general, Michael Byrne designed an adobe home for Dottie Larson and himself, creating a wonderful backdrop for her art as well as for other artists. Byrne graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in architecture, and from the University of Arizona with a master's in city planning. He is a principal with the WLB Group, Inc., a Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Las Vegas, Nevada, firm offering planning, landscape architecture, and engineering services. Dottie Larson earned a B.S. in psychology, University of Dayton, and completed an art major at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Her love of interior spaces and art has driven her to launch a new career in interior design with her own consulting business after almost thirty years as graphic design and graphic standards director at the University of Arizona, where she art-directed and designed publications, including award-winning posters, museum catalogues, and banners. Along with interior design, Larson is an artist and paints non-objective art, acrylic on canvas, large format.ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHE R Amy Haskell dreamed of becoming a designer, but it was not until college that her focus changed from design to photography. Now she has been able to marry her two passions in a career of architectural photography. A long-time adobe devotee, Haskell lives in a seventy-five-year-old adobe home with her husband, Jim, and her dog, Elvis.