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Cyrus Sutton's Van Life (Part 1)

By Evan Kahn on May 5, 2016

I met Cyrus while we were working on our book Tiny Homes on the Move. He is a talented filmmaker, surfer, traveler, van hacker and an all-around awesome person. He is in the midst of a new van build using a dually diesel Dodge Sprinter van and chronicling the journey for Reef.



I first moved into a van 10 years ago. It was a practical decision. I’d been commissioned to make a 16mm surf documentary and failed to negotiate a living wage for myself during the three years it took to make it. This oversight had me surviving on cans of kidney beans and needing a rent-free place to sleep while I traveled between Australia and Los Angeles shooting and editing…

Categories: Carpentry, Nomadic Homes, Vans  Tags: ,
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Driftwood Shelter

By Lloyd Kahn on April 19, 2016
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Photo by Lloyd Kahn

This is a shack that I built on a remote beach about 5 years ago. (It’s such a long hike that I’ve never seen anyone at this spot.) I used hammer and nails. I kept a tarp stashed behind some bushes on the bank that I’d stretch over the top. Cook a pigeon or chicken on a fire, foil-wrapped potato and onions in coals. Sit around dying embers and watch stars. Flask of brandy. Sleep with waves hitting beach 50 feet away.

It blew down last year, and I’ll probably rebuild it later this year.

Categories: Natural Building  Tags:
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55 Tiny Apartments in New NYC Building

By Evan Kahn on April 14, 2016

In a city of big dreams and an ever-growing population trying to squeeze into a tight space, New York is hoping the solution to its housing problems is to go small — micro, in fact.

This spring marks the opening of Carmel Place, the city’s first apartment building made up entirely of micro apartments. Ranging in size from 260 to 360 square feet, the units were built to find space for the growing number of single-person households moving to the city.

Categories: Architecture, Tiny Homes  Tags:
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Low-cost, Off-grid, Low-impact Living in Southwest UK

By Lloyd Kahn on April 12, 2016
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Hi, Lloyd,

I thought you might be interested in a photo story I created from a visit to an amazing off-grid community in southwest UK called Tinkers Bubble. It’s the most inspiring example of low-impact living I’ve seen here (and I’ve visited a lot!). Hope you enjoy.Š

Best wishes,
–The Bimbler

Categories: Carpentry, Natural Building  Tags: ,
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Sunray Kelley's Treehouse

By Evan Kahn on April 11, 2016
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In August of 2014, eight months after I had graduated with my B.A. in Cultural Anthropology, I traveled from California to Northwest Washington to begin my first build of many. For five weeks I worked alongside natural builder Sunray Kelley as we built a two-story studio-sized cedar treehouse with nothing but our bare hands, a drill, and a chainsaw…

Categories: Carpentry, Natural Building  Tags:
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Model of Tiny Home

By Lloyd Kahn on April 4, 2016
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We’ll be selling our books at The Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif., in May, and we decided to build a model tiny home for display. Our friend Tom agreed to make the model. It turned out that he got into it and spent over a month (not full time) on the project. He said he could have built the full-size building in the same amount of time. It’s put together with glue. Window shutters and doors open on hinges.

The full size building is 10′ × 16′, scale here is 1 inch = 1 foot, so this is 10″ wide, 16″ long. Single wall construction (no studs).

Materials:

Siding: redwood; bats: oak
Shakes: cedar
Ridge beam and shutters: redwood
Door: walnut
Door and window trim: oak

It’s a little beauty.

Categories: Carpentry, Tiny Homes  Tags: ,
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