Dennis Holloway, An Architect in Northern New Mexico

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Artist Studio / Residence for Mag Dimond
& Charles Strong
(traditional pueblo adobe),
Talpa (Taos County), New Mexico, 1991

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West facing side of VR model for the project features multiple buttresses.

Northeast side of Strong-Dimond Studio-Residence photographed in 1997. The large buttress is a hollow "nicho" bed alcove for the guest quarters inside. The upper floor roof deck (on the right) features a small outdoor fireplace. The ladder was added by the owners to access a roof sun deck.
The house has a spectacular view of the whole Taos Valley and Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico.
The house nestled in the pinon forest of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain foothills in Talpa, NM.

The artist-clients requested a design reminiscent of the old church in Ranchos de Taos, St. Francis de Asis. The program called for a personal residence, main painting studio, guest quarters, and guest painting studio--a complex program in a small space.

The resulting design is 3000 square feet on two levels, with double adobe walls insulted with an inner layer of loose pumice (indigenous lava beads). The buttresses are hollowed out and are used for seveal interior and exterior storage spaces, a bed alcove in the guest quarters (end of east wing), a love-making dome (left side of south wing), and a doghouse (right side of south wing). See House Plan.

There are no right angles or parallel lines in the building, which was designed on a Macintosh computer without any pencil or manual tool drawing whatsoever.

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