I actually started building in 1960 (above is my first building in 1961, in Mill Valley, California, a studio with what is now called a “living roof”) and soon thereafter started shooting photos and interviewing builders for our series of books on handmade housing. In those days we didn’t call it “natural building,” but that’s what it was. In our book Shelter in 1973, a section of the book was devoted to these materials: wood, adobe, stone, straw bale, thatch, and bamboo. I guess we were natural before it was called “natural.”
A month or so ago, Cheryl Long, the editor at The Mother Earth News, asked me if I could do a talk on natural building at the TMEN fair in Albany, Oregon (near Corvallis) on the first weekend in June. As I was getting the materials together, the MakerFaire asked if I could do a presentation at their annual event in San Mateo California, which is coming up this weekend.
I have selected photos from our five major building books, and will be doing a presentation at noon this Saturday (May 16, 2015) on the Maker Square stage in the Homegrown Village section of the fair.
Here are links to the fair and to my presentation:
https://makerfaire.com/maker/entry/51460/
https://makerfaire.com/bay-area-2015/schedule/
Read More …
Last week, Yuichi Takeuchi, treehouse builder and kindred spirit from Japan, visited us in our studio.
He’s doing wonderful work and says that Shelter has been a big influence on his work.
His website: https://www.treeheads.com
His photos sorted by projects:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/treeheads/sets/
If you’re a Northern California builder, I highly recommend you stop in at Heritage Salvage in Petaluma. They have tons of used wood, hardwood slabs, and all manner of recycled and soulful building materials.
Shown here is a walnut slab that is 8′ 3″ long, and 60″ at one end and 43″ at the other. Think of the walnut tree that this came from.
Chris McClellan,AKA Uncle Mud, is a prolific builder, designer, teacher, dad, photographer, and computer wonk who seems to get a superhuman amount of things accomplished every year. Here’s an e-mail from him on April 11, 2015:
Hey Lloyd, On my way to get kids muddy at the Asheville Mother Earth News Fair I stopped by these guys to discuss the rocket heater we’re building as a workshop in their new strawbale octagon in September. I went from Cleveland where we had snow last week to 80 degrees sleeping on the porch of their old cabin. The stream roaring by a few feet away kept me away pleasantly through the night. A couple weeks ago I made it down to Greenville, AL to teach a cob oven building class. My friends James and Gert are living in a military tent in one of the poorest counties in the US surrounded by an amazing array of free and almost free building supplies–cob, pecan slabs, small diameter cedar and pine posts, $1 pallets. This summer they are collecting materials for a building workshop in the fall. Great fun. My daughter Sarah and I hop on a plane the day after she graduates in June to head for the Mother Earth News Fair in Oregon then visit Breitenbush and Ianto and SunRay before we take the train back. Will we see you there? Building another strawclay cottage in Cleveland in July. Great fun.
Chris
From my Facebook Author page: (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lloyd-Kahn/110048295717073?v=wall) Note, I don’t do Facebook actively; I just have my blog posts put up automatically. There’s just not enough time in my day to be a full Facebook participant.
Hey Lloyd Kahn, Thanks again for all your hard work, you inspire us! I have noticed a lot of articles in the tiny home archives over the years mentioning such statements as “Man builds tiny home for $500…” what about his total labor time, and those often overlooked overhead costs… do you find such a statement at all misleading? I am a licensed builder myself, running a company in Portland, OR and feel as tho I often have to re-educate clients as to what the “actual costs” of construction really are (mostly the cost of my Time.) This conversation inevitably arises when during design phase we discuss the option of reclaimed materials… which almost always ends up costing more $ (sourcing, milling, install.) Hooray for folks who are living their dreams building a place of their own with their “free time”, but let’s also paint a realistic picture by including the price of time, and thus value the craft appropriately. As a builder yourself, any of your thoughts would be appreciated.
-Kiel Kellow
Kiel, You’re absolutely right, the costs (as here) are way more than $500 if you consider labor. Time is precious.
-Lloyd
In late February these 10 students and their teacher Andrew Gaertner toured our office and homestead as part of their class “Buildings and Structures.”
Photo: Evan Kahn
https://mmsjuniorhigh.blogspot.com/2015/03/visit-to-lloyd-kahn-in-bolinas.html?m=1
“‘La Piedra Del Peñol (Spanish for ‘The Rock of Guatapé’), is a monolithic formation located at the town of Guatapé, Antioquia, Colombia.The wide Antioquian rock base, called ‘batlolito antioqueño’, and the ‘Peñón’ were formed millions of years ago.
The Tahamies Indians, former inhabitants of this region, worshiped the rock and called it on their language ‘mojarrá’ or ‘mujará’ (rock or stone). This rock is located in the country area called ‘La Piedra, just 5 minutes from Guatapé Town, and can be reached by road.”
https://www.wherecoolthingshappen.com/the-amazing-rock-of-guatape-in-colombia/
Came on this morning as I was here working on a big shift in Shelter Publications’ future output on building.
Nutshell: from country to city,
i.e. from Walden to Detroit
Small Houses in Cities
Stay tuned…
This is such a perfect song:
Tired of Being Alone by Al Green on Grooveshark
A lot of young people who visit our half-acre compound are inspired by what we’ve got going here. Handmade home, garden, chickens, workshop, office/work studio. How can they get something like this going, they want to know.
Well, it was sure easier 40 years ago. Our land was $6500, building permit $200, I drew up my own plans, was my own architect and engineer, building and health department officials were reasonable, there was no coastal commission…
Since then, the bureaucrats have weighted things heavily in their own favor (bureaucrats beget ever more bureaucracy) and building permits in Marin County (Calif.) are something like $50,000 (more than my entire house cost). Building and health departments do not get their funding from the county, but from fees paid by homeowners (or builders), so guess what? Fees are ever higher, now to the point of absurdity. Regulations also have grown to have their absurdities (having to install sprinklers in single family homes is one such absurd requirement). And to the point of it being just about impossible for an owner-builder without a trust fund to build around here now.
So I tell young people, if they’re looking for land to build upon, they have to get a couple of hours away from any of our great cities.
Tomorrow, I’ll post a few ideas of what I might do now were I starting nowadays. It’s a challenge!
I actually started building in 1960 (above is my first building in 1961, in Mill Valley, California, a studio with what is now called a “living roof”) and soon thereafter started shooting photos and interviewing builders for our series of books on handmade housing. In those days we didn’t call it “natural building,” but that’s what it was. In our book Shelter in 1973, a section of the book was devoted to these materials: wood, adobe, stone, straw bale, thatch, and bamboo. I guess we were natural before it was called “natural.”
