Jake and Kiva have produced a YouTube series of construction videos documenting a tiny home build on Vancouver Island. The videos follow their tiny house project, from early design to completion and beyond showing materials, tools, and construction techniques. A 3D Google Sketchup plan is also available as a free download.
Check out their videos below:
In this episode, we introduce ourselves and catch you up on what we’ve done so far.
In this episode, we talk about the trailer that we have acquired for the project, why we chose it, and the process we went through to get it.
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Art Rogers Family Album, November 6, 2014 | The Point Reyes Light
Lloyd Kahn and his greenhouse built from recycled windows and handmade bricks made from local clay. Photo by Art Rogers
Lloyd, who was born and raised in San Francisco, began building things in the late 1940s when, at age 12, he helped his father construct their family home in Colusa. After building a large timber home for himself from recycled materials in Big Sur in 1967, he became interested in domes and began his publishing career with a series of publications titled Dome Book 1 and Dome Book 2; he became the “Shelter” editor in 1969 for the Whole Earth Catalogue. He moved to Bolinas in 1971, built a dome, tore it down and replaced it with a stud-framed house and became a pioneer of owner-built simple structures using recycled materials. He has since published over 20 books on the subject, including Shelter, and The Septic System Owners Manual, Builders of the Pacific Coast, and Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter.
He will be giving a slide presentation and book signing this Friday, November 7, 2014, 7:30 p.m., at the Point Reyes Presbyterian Church for his latest book about living in small structures, titled Tiny Homes on the Move: Wheels and Water.
For more information, visit www.pointreyesbooks.com.
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Portland-based design firm Von Tundra did the conversion of a 1969 Dodge Chinook into a mobile juice and cocktail bar. Their client wanted something a little different to serve street food to the city’s public as well as host guests inside. It went from a bland old white truck to Sip Mobile Lodge, a stylish vehicle that feels right for the American Northwest with its heavy use of wood and comfortable interior.
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In Tiny Homes, we did two pages (pp. 110-111) on Ziggy Liloia’s cob cottage. In this excerpt from his website, TheYearOfMud.com, he explains how he built his reciprocal framed roof.
A reciprocal roof is a beautiful and simple self-supporting structure that can be composed of as few as three rafters, and up to any imaginable quantity (within reason, of course). Reciprocal roofs require no center support, they are quick to construct, and they can be built using round poles or dimensional lumber (perhaps with some creative notching). They are extremely strong, perfect for round buildings, and very appropriate for living roofs, as well. The reciprocal roof design was developed by Graham Brown in 1987. Read More …
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At long last a book documenting the art of Godfrey Stephens has been published, and it’s stunning. Godfrey has been painting, drawing, carving, and assembling all his life (he’s now 70), and his niece Gurdeep Stephens has performed a Herculean task of sifting through a blizzard of Godfrey’s art to assemble this collection. Oh yes, he’s also built over a dozen sailboats.
I’m hardly an objective observer: I’ve known Godfrey and his art since meeting him on a Mexican beach in 1964, and he’s a dear friend. I’ve never been able to figure out why he isn’t world-famous. The quantity and quality of his output is staggering. And his energy: there are almost 800 emails in my “Stephens” mailbox, over 600 photos in my “Stephens” photo folder. How Gurdeep ever prevailed to assemble this excellent collection is beyond me. High five! Read More …
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The owners of this magnificent new barn still under construction wish to remain anonymous, so I won’t be specific about location.
It was one of those serendipitous finds: I ran into a cabinet maker while out photographing barns and he asked if I’d like to see a large timber frame barn. Did I! I followed him for about 20 miles into the hills until we arrived at the barn.
It was starting to get dark when I was there, so I had about 20 minutes to shoot these photos.
It is 70′ by 100′.
The timbers were cut by Collin Beggs Timber Framing in Northern Idaho. The posts and beams were salvaged from Douglas Fir trees that had been killed by timber beetles in Idaho and Montana. The curved wind braces were not cut out of dimensional lumber, but follow the natural curves of timber (from a certified forest) not suitable for milling.
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A barn lover in Oregon told me about this book. and what a find! Timber frame lovers and barn lovers, this is a rare and beautiful book, now out of print, but available used from Abe Books.
Photographer Malcolm Kirk documents this unique form of construction, often called “aisle and bay divided,” from pre-medieval Europe to Colonial America. (See pp. 30-32 of Shelter.) Terrific photos.
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I did 3 posts on Jonny Briggs’ timber framing on my blog here: www.lloydkahn.com/?s=briggs
Jonny is a 26-year-old carpenter from North Yorkshire who learned his craft at the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community (that’s Prince of Wales — traditional carpentry is just one of Charlie’s many earth-sensitive endeavors).
“…The building craft apprenticeship allows students who have a genuine interest in traditional building, sustainability and design to learn from master craftspeople around the UK.
Jonny now specializes in the design and build of traditional timber frames, structural timber work and bespoke furniture.”
Jonny wrote us today:
Hi Lloyd,
I have finally got a website together which shows the larger structures I have built over the last few years. It’s www.jonny-briggs.com
Thanks,
Jonny
I tell ya, the 20-year-olds these days are really something! A whole new octave.
See also:
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Foster Huntington’s 6-speed 6 cylinder Toyota 4×4 pickup truck camper is featured in Tiny Homes on the Move (pp. 22-23). He stopped by our studio on his way north from Baja last year and we shot photos for the book. It’s an beautiful rig, the best I’ve ever seen for off-road/surfing travel. He was heading up the coast, looking for new adventures.
Well, he sure found some; yesterday he emailed us:
Hey Lloyd,
Hope things are going well in for you. I’ve been working on a project building tree houses and a skatebowl on in the Columbia River Gorge. Check it out here: www.thecindercone.com
–Foster
Check out Foster and friends building, skating, jumping into waterfalls, hot-tubbing. Are these guys having fun? I wanna be there! (and 40 years younger).
www.instagram.com/fosterhunting
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This building is sitting on a vacant lot in Gualala, Calif. I believe it’s some kind of historic building in the town. Nice proportions. Photo taken last week.
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Floating home on the Amazon
I recently got home from a two-week trip to Peru with my wife Chelsea. We flew into Lima and hung there for a day. From there we flew to Cusco for two days then took a train to Aguas Calientes where we stayed for three nights and visited Machu Picchu. We then went back to Cusco for a night and then onto Iquitos which sits directly on the Amazon, Iquitos is the largest city in the world not reachable by a car. Everything must come in by boat or plane, we stayed at an eco lodge for three nights. One of the best parts of the trip was seeing all of the different building techniques which are employed from the Andes to the Amazon. Hope you enjoy.
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Hey Folks,
We have been working on some fun Rocket Heater projects. You might have seen the 8″ with a big cob bench that heats our 1600 sq. ft. uninsulated barn apartment even though our renter managed to blow the cleanout caps and crack the barrel seal by trying to start it with gasoline — I think it would have killed him if it had been a regular woodstove. I had been told that an autoclaved concrete core would disintegrate but its holding up pretty well in year two. Read More …
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We featured these cabins about a month ago and have repeatedly had requests for some more photos including interior shots. Here are some more shots as well as some info on the builder.
Massey Burke is a designer, builder, and advocate for natural building.
She has also taught natural building and design with various educational institutions, including the University of San Francisco, Swarthmore College, and the Solar Living Institute. Other current projects include permitting a load-bearing cob studio in Berkeley and a natural remodel in El Sobrante. Current work can be found at masseyburke.carbonmade.com.
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Dear Shelter,
I’ve been really inspired by your books. These are a few cabins I’ve been helping to build over the last year. Looking forward to the next book.
Thanks,
Jesse (Mikolon)
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