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As the largest city in New Mexico, Albuquerque is one of the fastest-growing high-tech centers in the U.S. Yet you rarely see skyscrapers here. Instead you will find small, dirt-walled houses everywhere. With flat roofs — often with projecting beams — stepped levels and round-edged walls, they are called adobe houses, and they are one of Albuquerque's defining characteristics. Quentin Wilson, director of the Adobe Construction Program at Northern New Mexico College, said that "in the desert parts of the world, adobe is the wonderful material that everyone wants to choose. Because of the big thick walls, they work very well with the desert climate. It will store coolness, or they will store heat." Adobe means a building material mix of earth and straw. American Indians started building houses with adobe in the 1400s. Spanish elements were added when the Spanish conquered the region in the 1600s. Northern Europeans took over later. Yet, Wilson said, all three groups of people saw the beauty of adobe. "Everybody embraced it and saw it as a valuable material, and they didn't come in and tear it down and try some other kind of construction," he said. The big massive walls are important in New Mexico's desert climate. During the summer, people open the doors at night to let the walls store coolness and close the doors during daytime. That keeps the indoor temperature cool, as if the rooms were air-conditioned. | 
