1 INTRODUCTION The migration of workers from states like Sonora, Baja California Sur or Jalisco brought to Mexicali´s first constructions the use of adobe. In the beginning, they were mainly irrigation canal builders for Impe- rial Valley in California and later, crop workers for US companies established in the Mexicali Valley. The indigenous population, which after 400 years of the discovery of America had had very little con- tact with the world brought by the different conquer- ors of the continent, had its own way of living and building. The Cucapa lived adapted to the environ- ment, with one type of construction in the summer and another in the winter-- houses without walls in the summer and open in the winter (Gifford 1933). The houses were built with trunks of mesquite and lined with arrowweed (Pluchea sericea) (Instituto de Cultura de Baja California, 2013) and smeared with mud, a kind of wattle and daub technique common in distant lands where it was normally known as Ta- basco to mention some. The first Mexican customs office in Mexicali was built based on this type of system. This demonstrates what Mexicali was like in the early twentieth century - an unexplored desert with a native population - and indicates that vernacu- lar construction was not used any further. The con- structive traditions of newcomers from different parts of the country, in combination with the new constructive techniques that came by rail from the United States, were developed in the city. The neighboring situation with Calexico, Califor- nia, a “mirror city”-- cities with certain characteris- tics separated only by a national or international ad- ministrative limit, in this case between the United States and Mexico (García Amaral 2008) - was con- sidered one city in its early years since the transit be- tween its inhabitants was free, which resulted in an easy economic and social exchange. The way of liv- ing, including traditions and the physiognomy of the city, was mainly influenced by the Californian life, much of it brought from Los Angeles. Figure 1. Abandoned adobe bungalow house (Olvera 2016). In Mexicali, the lack of knowledge of the origins of the city has caused the population to believe that there is no cultural identity, as explained by Lynch, (1975), the study of the recent past and everyday life must occupy a place in what is done with the inves- tigation. Architecture, with social roots aspects, is an example of what was generated, but over time has been lost by the same citizens who abandon this type of constructions or demolish them (Fig. 1). Adobe vernacular heritage in Mexicali, Mexico D. Olvera & L. Mendoza Universidad de Colima L. Guerrero Universidad Autonóma Metropolitana ABSTRACT: The importance of this paper focuses on the development of architectural assessment of the ty- pology of adobe buildings in Mexicali, Mexico, which has not been documented to this day; these buildings are largely abandoned because users feel unsafe living in an adobe house in a seismic zone. This assessment supports the patrimonial value, absent for this city´s building, which is highly related to the adequate behavior of these buildings in seismic events. The classification of these buildings supports their conservation because of their local singularity, but also in order to identify the components that have allowed adobe structures, with these characteristics, to have an adequate adaptation to local weather and seismic conditions.