Fire Mesa is a community cooking pavilion in the rural desert town of Bluff, Utah. It is a space for gathering, cooking, music, and recreation. A public refuge from the sun during the day and a comfortable space for stargazing at night. Rammed earth walls shield the building from intense sun and strong winds and temper the interior of the commercial kitchen. At the same time, they are a backdrop on the open site which reflect the character and textures of the surrounding landscape.

The labor-intensive construction process of the rammed earth walls was an opportunity to use local and inexpensive materials, to tap into volunteer labor, and to introduce a new building technology to the community. The walls tell the story of their assembly. Each layer, or lift, is distinguishable and the visual and tangible textures were directly affected through process of slow and manual construction.

Fire Mesa is a DesignBuildBLUFF project. Solstice’s Shay Myers led the design and construction of rammed earth on the project.

Featured on Archdaily and Designboom.