It's a good thing Jake Barrow has a soft spot for old buildings.
"I love really good modern architecture, but I appreciate that we can save some of the older buildings," he tells the Albuquerque Journal.
"To me, some of the older buildings are better built."
Barrow is the program director for Cornerstones Community Partnerships, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that partners with communities "to restore historic structures, preserve cultural landscapes, encourage traditional building practices and conserve natural resources."
One way to do that is through the organization's Bricks on the Plaza program, which teaches people how to make adobe bricks.
"We help people learn how to make good bricks, so we usually don't have many rejects," Barrow says.
Bricks on the Plaza is popular in Santa Fe, where Cornerstones has been doing it for about 15 years, but this is the first time it has been offered in Albuquerque.
"We help people learn how to make good bricks, so we usually don't have many rejects," Barrow says.
Cornerstones works only on publicly owned or publicly used structures, but the group has worked on more than 380 architectural and historic sites in New Mexico and has helped restore more than 380, according to its website.
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