I don’t care for most Sea Ranch architecture. Too sterile, and no overhangs, which is just dumb here on the west coast. Landscaping at Sea Ranch, by Laurence Halprin, however, is brilliant; he just left everything as was, coyote bush and all.
This house, however, looked good to my eye.
From www.lloydkahn.com/…
Kirsten Dirksen
Photo by Nicolás Boullosa
Kirsten walked in the first time and within 5 minutes, was shooting. We were comfortable with her. She winged it, seeing what we were doing, following us around. On one of her visits, her two little long-haired girls explored the garden and chickens and Nicolás shot photos.
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One thing I love about this video is that she recognized what Lesley is doing in her life and with her garden, her art, and her attitude towards a home. Often that gets missed in people coming here to see me.
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My first building in 1961, in Mill Valley, California, a studio with what is now called a “living roof”
I actually started building in 1960 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 Maker Faire asked if I could do a presentation at their annual event in San Mateo, California, on May 16.
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Now here’s some carpentry!
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.
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.
Last week, I did a slide show on Tiny Homes on the Move at the –William Morris
And working with our own hands.
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Over the years I’ve made a bunch of tables out of used Douglas Fir. This was made from 3×10s that I got at Caldwell Wrecking in San Francisco.
Jay Nelson is a gifted artist/builder. His mobile designs were featured in Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move: an electric car on bike wheels; an 8′ dinghy that you can sleep inside (and carry a surfboard on the roof); a motor scooter with surfboard rack.
What’s surprising is that his carpentry (and building design) are also outstanding. I especially like the way he uses used wood.
This is a treehouse he built on Kaua‘i. It’s not finished (but close).
I like the way this inexpensive connecting roof provides so much more usable space.
I’ve shot a whole bunch of these simple little frame structures on Kauai, usually with tin roofs and overhangs, usually resting on foundations of pre-cast concrete pads. I’ll get around to posting a bunch more later. They make sense in terms of simplicity, economy, ease of construction, and local climate.
This reminds me of homes designed by Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan during the Arts and Crafts Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1900s. Note the fine lava rock masonry work of the fireplace, the gentle curves at the ends of the rafters. Well designed, well built.
I recently spent three weeks on the island of Kaua‘i. I shot a lot of photographs of small homes that seemed simple, well-designed, and suitable for the climate. In general I thought that construction on Kaua‘i was of pretty good quality: good carpentry. I’m going to put up photographs as I get the time. Some of these are more upscale than others, but overall, the shapes seem functional.
When people ask me what I think they should build, I generally suggest that they look around at what’s been built in the neighborhood (or surroundings). I think this is generally a better place to start than with an architect.
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SunRay Kelley continues to invent, design, and build a plethora of buildings and vehicles. I asked SunRay and Bonnie to send us the latest, and here are videos of his campers and electric reclining bike. I don’t know of any vehicle that combines diesel, solar, and electric power like the RV shown at the right.
SunRay was featured in our books Builders of the Pacific Coast and Tiny Homes.
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