My life’s goal has always been to live in the country with my personal observatory just outside my door. The fulfillment of that dream is our property in Arizona Sky Village, which has very dark skies and, as an added bonus, a community of fellow astronomers. We bought the four-acre property in 2004. I more or less single-handedly built a garage and then a house out of compressed earth block (CEB) starting in 2014. The building permit on the house was closed in 2026, but it is still a work in progress.
My principle thoughts were: no loans, and make something sustainable including all-solar powered. But why adobe? Adobe has many advantages. In no particular order: traditional to the area, great thermal properties for the high desert (4,800 ft.), forgiving of amateur builders, customizable, no termites or rot in the walls at least (‘though there’s a bunch of wood on top), if hit by a tornado unlikely to imitate Dorothy’s house from the Wizard of Oz, Earth-friendly because less energy used in materials manufacture (although I used Portland cement in places and it is the opposite), low cost theoretically, and aesthetically pleasing if not fudged up. But adobe requires on-site labor, and there was just me. So I built it mainly by myself.
Building at Arizona Sky Village
Future Plans
