Hi Lloyd, here are some photos and text of the truck camper build.

The camper is built on a 2005 Mazda B2500 with a custom tipper bed, handy for parking on slopes and being able to level the camper. The framing is all 2×2 Douglas fir from a local sawmill here is southwest Scotland. I wanted to keep it fairly simple with no added complications such as electricity or plumbing, bare bones, and functional.

There is a single bed/sofa in the back that folds out to a double, and that’s it. Storage is under the bed and above the cab. The exterior cladding is tongue-and-groove which has been stained and distressed, then sealed up with three coats of yacht varnish. The trims are all Douglas fir. The frame is insulated with 25mm of rigid insulation. The roof is EPDM rubber, which is cheap, easy to install, and very lightweight. All in all, I estimate it to weigh roughly 150 kilos. Build time was roughly 80 hours and materials came in at just under £1000.

This sort of camper was inspired by my time in Canada and the Rolling Homes book by Lloyd. They are unusual over here in Scotland so it’s quite a head-turner and I get a lot of interest when I’m out in it. It is helpful that it also doubles as a spare room for visitors when it is not on the truck.

Instagram: @snugg_fit

Many thanks for the inspiration.
All the best
Lewis

A few of the photos from wonderful FREE PDF book by photographer Richard Blair, Inverness, California:
Signs by Richard Blair (Click to view entire book.)

Hi Lloyd,

I wrote to you years ago about a Japanese inspired tiny house caboose that I was building. You encouraged me to send photos and you might post it. Well, the Tansu caboose has been done for a number of years and I am moving to Peru so she is up for sale. Would you consider putting on your site and social media? If so, it would be very much appreciated! I really want it to find the right home. I have poured my heart and soul into it and I want it to go to someone who knows what it is.

I have been a maker of fine bows for stringed instruments for 22 years. The Tansu caboose has been my home and bow shop since it’s launch. You can check out my work here.
www.robertmorrowbowmaker.com

I hope this note finds you well!

All the best,
Robert Morrow
360-301-2137

Here is the link for the sale listing:
seattle.craigslist.org/see/tro/d/quilcene-tiny-house-japanese-inspired/7584954611.html

The seller adds this request: “The asking price is $119,000 OBO. Please contact me only if you are a potential buyer. If you know that this caboose is out of your price range or if you simply are curious about the construction I would prefer that you not contact me.”

Article and video of exhibition of our books, Domebook One, Domebook 2, and Shelter in Berlin (translated from the German). This is the same exhibit, that was at the Biennale Architettura in Venice in 2021, titled “There Are Walls that Want to Prowl” (a line from a poem by Richard Brautigan that was in Shelter.) The exhibit runs in Berlin until January 15, 2023.

For my adventures in Venice last year, see: lloydkahn.com/?s=venice

Actually, Lloyd Kahn is not an architect. Nevertheless, he builds houses himself and writes about how people can live in harmony with nature. A new exhibition at the German Architecture Center in Berlin shows its utopian power.

How would we like to live?

“In the early 1970s he was already dealing with the questions that still concern us today,” says critic Laura Helena Wurth: How do we want to live together, in small families, large communities and what can that look like? Do we want to live in homes treated as commodities, or more in tune with nature?

His first experiments with building forms and typologies resulted in “domes,” round tents. At the opening of the exhibition in Berlin, Kahn admitted his mistake from back then: “Domes don’t work.” One cannot add to these round, closed constructions. According to Wurth, we can learn from him for the way we build today, that we need flexible architecture that can adapt.

Kahn’s life consists of mistakes, he told the curators, and back then he made a mistake that he had to correct. So Kahn stopped printing his book Domebook 2 and published Shelter.

Don’t build for eternity

According to Wurth, Kahn’s architecture is one that also breaks down. And then evolves. The builder recedes behind it and the people who live in it come to the fore. “Sustainable does not mean that something has to last forever. If we build a house out of concrete today, the CO₂ emissions will go through the roof.” A house made of wood could break down, but would have a much better ecological balance.

According to Wurth, however, this idea is difficult to implement in an urban environment like Berlin. It’s also about space. Nevertheless, there is an “uncanny utopian power” in these works by Lloyd Kahn.

The exhibition “There Are Walls that Want to Prowl” can be seen until January 15, 2023 at the German Architecture Center in Berlin.

• From: www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/there-are-walls-that-want-to-prowl-ausstellung-100.html
• Another link: Lukas and Leopold talking about the exhibit: www.resite.org/stories/venice-architecture-biennale-there-are-walls-that-want-to-prowl-lukas-feireiss-l

From David Wills