Terra 2022 Gathered the International Earthen Architecture Community

Terra 2022—the 13th World Congress on Earthen Architectural Heritage—was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 7–10, 2022, at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

The conference was organized by the Getty Conservation Institute, the US National Park Service’s Vanishing Treasures Program, and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, under the aegis of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage. It marked the 50th anniversary of the convening of international meetings on the conservation of earthen heritage and was the first time since 1990 that it was held in the southwestern United States, just over 30 years after Adobe 90, also organized by the GCI and partners. This was the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that this international group was able to meet in person and remotely, with meaningful exchanges of information, connections, and knowledge sharing.

260 professionals and practitioners in person and 80 virtual attendees from around the world attended the conference. With support from the Getty Foundation, the Chamiza Foundation, and Cornerstones Community Partnerships, 50 Native Americans received funding to attend; through the ICCROMATHAR program, 15 participants from the Middle East and Africa were funded to attend.

The program included keynote and plenary presentations, roundtables, and parallel sessions with more than 60 oral presentations, posters, and videos on archaeological sites, historic buildings and structures, risk and vulnerability, education, care by and for communities, cultural routes and cultural landscapes, and advances in research. The program included visits to earthen sites in and around Santa Fe, giving participants a deeper understanding of the wealth of earthen heritage in the area.

In conjunction with Terra 2022, three laboratory and field workshops were organized by the GCI, the National Park Service, and partners. These workshops provided hands-on training in the materials, construction, and conservation of earthen architecture. 120 individuals from around the world participated.