Viga (architecture)

Vigas are wooden beams used in the traditional adobe architecture of the American Southwest, especially in New Mexico.

In this type of construction, the vigas are the main structural members carrying the weight of the roof to the load-bearing exterior walls.

In traditional buildings, the vigas support latillas[1] (laths) which are placed crosswise and upon which the adobe roof is laid, often with intermediate layers of brush or soil.

Since the popularization of the modern Pueblo Revival style in the 1920s and 1930s, vigas are typically used for ornamental rather than structural purposes.

Noted Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem (1894-1983) incorporated ornamental vigas into many of his designs.

[6] Pinyon (Pinus edulis) and Ponderosa Pine were the most common wood species used for vigas during the 17th century.

The use of traditional rounded vigas changed with the arrival of the railroad in the 1880s, which brought dimensioned lumber, and immigrants who used different construction methods, from the east coast.

Large labor crews were involved, and vigas were transported from the mountains by teams of oxen.

This practice did not interfere with the use of vigas for mostly decorative purposes in the Pueblo Revival Style architecture between the 1920s and 1930s.

Vigas were usually installed with the smaller ends to one side of the roof to facilitate good drainage.