Yucca Valley Material Lab

Yucca Valley, CA

Yucca Valley Material Lab (YVML)  is a site of hands-on learning, transformative residencies, and community engagement located in the Mojave Desert. YVML supports underserved artists through fully funded residencies, scholarships, and teaching opportunities while offering public workshops in specialized techniques often missing from traditional education. YVML nurtures an arts ecosystem in the Mojave Desert where artists develop their craft, expand their professional networks, and contribute to a diverse creative community.

YVML’s “Sustainable Studio” is an ADA-accessible communal workspace dedicated to material experimentation, alternative learning, habitat restoration, and community engagement. In collaboration with Loescher Meachem Architects (LMA). Sustainable Studio will develop and certify a site-specific, non-toxic adobe material which will be used in the studio’s construction. The proposed building is made with locally available, low-carbon and inherently fire-resistant earthen materials and builds on previous work which shows that the materials can be permitted under the California Building Code. YVML will seek approval from the town of Yucca Valley to use LMA-designed, non-toxic, fire-resistant adobe bricks as building materials. YVML will also incorporate adobe brick making into its public workshops so that participants can learn how to make this sustainable material for their own building projects. The Sustainable Studio will be the region’s first ADA and wheelchair accessible artist studio of its kind.

Milestones

• Develop and certify a site-specific, non-toxic adobe material

• Construct new studio building permitted under the California Building Code