“…Two of the more remarkable things about the Harris’s home and studio are that there are no blueprints other than a sketch on a piece of paper, and J.D. built most of it by himself, with little help.
‘It’s all in his head,’ Cathy said. ‘He just sketched it to show me what my new home would look like. Every cut and nail is in his head.’
‘It’s all two-by-fours and one-by-twelves,’ J.D. said. ‘I can see this so clearly in my mind, and it stays. It doesn’t just come and go.…’
Others have constructed sloped roofs, J.D. said, but he came up with a way to do it without steaming the wood, which would be impossible for some of the lengths he’s using in his roofs. He figured out a way to put two 2x4s together, put pressure on them and then nail the joints with nails at different angles so the planks hold their curvature.
How did he get 40 feet in the air to do this?
By building the walls from the ground up and making a hand- and foothold “ladder” out of pieces of 2×4 nailed to each vertical section. ‘He hung upside down by his toes from these to do some of the work,’ Cathy said. ‘I couldn’t watch.'”
https://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1641288.html
Sent us by Fred W. Weisenborn
“Birch bark has been used in Finland for centuries as a construction material and as material for making small objects like baskets and shoes. One of birch bark’s features is good thermal insulation. The surface is water repellent and it can be gently washed with water. Some components of birch bark also protect it from decomposing.
Finnish architects Teija Losoi, Anne Varsamäki and Ilari Pirttilahti used the technique to build a lightweight sauna – basically a huge traditional birch bark basket turned upside down. The light walls are supported by a wooden structure that is hidden inside two layers of braided birch bark.…”
https://tuohisauna.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/saunakonsepti/
https://tuohisauna.wordpress.com/valokuvat/
https://www.arquitecturaymadera.es/blog/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=850&Itemid=132&idth=95
SunRay Kelley (featured in Builders of the Pacific Coast) just finished this stove in a strawbale house in Lake County, California. The design is the result of many stoves built over many years. The outer facing is soapstone. There are copper coils that heat water and as well, run hot water through pipes in the floor for radiant heating. At the top is a bread/pizza oven. This one unit heats the house (the air as well as the floor), provides hot water, and is an oven for cooking. SunRay says the soapstone “…takes on deep heat.” The floor is a “…heat battery” that stores heat. He calls it the Goddess of Contentment stove. He says it works really well, the floor is toasty warm and the pizza gets perfectly cooked.
SunRay and his girlfriend Bonnie were here last night, on their way to Santa Barbara, LA, then Mexico for 6 weeks, in their soon-to-be solar-powered camper.
Next up for SunRay in the stove department is in a new house he’s building on his own property in Washington: the same configuration stove, but with the addition of a steam boiler to run a turbine that produces electricity. We are into new territory here!
Photo by Bonnie
Here they used an old tried-and-true design, with recycled corrugated steel roofing, and it’s a great effect. (Another place this kind of rusty roofing has been used effectively is The House of Blues, on Sunset Blvd, in L.A.). This barn fits in nicely. Farmer architecture. (If a real architect designed this building, hats off to him for something so straight-forward and non-egomaniacal.)
The Napa Valley has got a few nice buildings, but there’s an overlaying layer of nouveau riche tastelessness in all the buildings (wineries and homes) that you can see. This building however, is always a pleasure to come upon. Why can’t there be more architecture like this?
Much of the fun I have driving is hunting the surrounding landscape for buildings. You can learn a lot from the simplicity and practicality of farm buildings. The proportions look perfect here.
The unique natural materials temple built by SunRay Kelley in the northern Californai hills 3 years ago (and featured in Builders of the Pacific Coast) is holding up beautifully. I checked it out yesterday. The cob walls are still smoothly sculptured and unpitted. Everyone who goes into this building feels good. It’s a masterpiece.
The first Cliff House was built at Ocean Beach in San Francisco in 1863. On Christmas day, 1894, it burned to the ground. Mayor Adolph Sutro had it redesigned by architects (as a “…large and pretty chateau”) and it was rebuilt in 1895 in its above reincarnation. This building lasted until 1907, when it burned to the ground. In 1909 a 3rd, much plainer version was built. This was remodeled several times, the latest in 2003, and the present version is disappointingly soulless and has none of the character or charm of its predecessors.
Hundreds of photos are at: https://www.cliffhouseproject.com/introduction.htm
“…Two of the more remarkable things about the Harris’s home and studio are that there are no blueprints other than a sketch on a piece of paper, and J.D. built most of it by himself, with little help.
