Traditional stilt house in the lagoon of Messolongi, Western Greece. Until 1700, Messolonghi was under the control of Venice. Its inhabitants were mostly fishermen who lived in cabins called “pelades, “made of a kind of waterproof straw and reed and standing on stilts above the water.
Made of willow branches and tule leaves, these were the dwellings of the Acjachemen Indians in the San Juan Capistrano area in California (south Orange County). In front are “gossip rocks,’ where women pounded acorns.
I’m still amazed and amused that our simple handbuilt home got on the CBS Sunday morning show in May. It’s being rerun this Sunday (Aug. 21), 9 AM East Coast time, 6 AM (ulp!) West Coast time.
Link to show: https://is.gd/gCPiw
In the mail this week:
Mr Lloyd Khan
A girlfriend gave me your Shelter book a few years ago and it was instrumental in helping me think that it was OK to build what I wanted to build, and still conform to all the rules I had to face.
My story (short version): After a summer of river rafting I was pretty much homeless and headed for the land I had bought for $4000 a few years earlier. I built a shack (with a lot of help from my parents) in the fall, early winter; out of found materials – except the 8 by 8 hand-hewn Basswood posts i traded for a video about a local Arborist company – and 2 by 6 plywood floor which I bought. All else, foam, tin, windows, were from the garbage or very cheap.
I met Bill Castle in Costa Rica about 20 years ago. He and his wife Barb were running a B&B just south of Puerto Limón on the Caribbean. Bill was a real builder, had built bridges before dropping out and creating a village in the woods of downstate New York called Pollywogg Holler. He ended up being one of the 3 featured builders in HomeWork: Handbuilt Shelter.
He’s an extraordinary builder. Chris McvClellan wrote an article for The Mother Earth News last year on his $10,000 house, anf I got reminded of it by Lew on his Shelterpub Facebook page. Article here: https://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Timber-Frame-Homes.aspx
Christopher Chilcote is a designer/builder in Anderson Valley, Northern California. He uses salvaged lumber when possible. Note way clear story is extension of one side of curved roof. Nice!
Pics of his arched barn at: https://millkat.com/MILLKAT/Portfolio.html
Discovered by Lew Lewandowski
Outdoor classroom at Sustainability Centre in South Downs National Park, U.KOn 5/13/10, I got this email:
Dear Lloyd,
My name is Jack I’m 28 and a carpenter, I live in a town called Bridport in the south west coast of England. I’ve been a fan of your building books ever since a friend showed me a copy of Shelter in Spain when I was helping him build a cob house. I had never seen or heard of such structures before I went to help in 2003, He was using your book as a guide to build his house (which has been extremely successful); since then your other books have been and still are a true inspiration to my love of natural earth born structures. I have been working for a conservation building company for the last 5 years and want a change, something that will lead me to constructing unique and innovative buildings.
Artist/architect John Connell designed and built this house in a played-out gravel pit near Warren, Vermont. It was built over 16 years with input from about 65 students from John’s six-week Deign/Build sessions at Yestermorrow School in Warren, Vermont.
John: “The idea was to show that intelligent land development could actually help repair land as opposed to its usual role in degrading it. I purchased this played-out gravel pit which was then subdivided into four lots with a common area. In the common area we built Vermont’s first licensed engineered wetland specifically designed to treat waste. It was sized to accommodate four 3-bedroom homes. This house was the first to be built (proof of concept). Sadly, the people who purchased the house also purchased the remaining lots and closed down the project. So we successfully refurbished the gravel pit (maybe a bit too well) but failed to create the neighborhood we had hoped for. Had we sold the lots separately, it would have become this fabulous little neighborhood of four hi-performance homes and a green house on ten acres along the Mad River. That was the vision.
As it was designed and built (over those 16 years), that house was meant to reflect the very latest in sustainable thinking. It is super insulated, is heated by less than 500 gallons of propane each winter with a super hi-eff boiler (93%+), the wood was mostly local, the materials were recycled whenever possible, non-toxic glues and sealers were used (after 1991), etc. etc.”
I noticed these stairs across from my brother’s house a few days ago. Concrete stringers on sides, railroad tie steps
John Connell’s home