This wheelchair-accessible treehouse for students at the Yestermorrow Design-Build School in the Green Mountains, Vermont was designed by John Connell.
This is 10′ by 10′. Rafters made of four 1″ by 4″ by ⅜″ redwood bender board, 16′ long, bent, glued and clamped together. Roof sheathing is 1 × 6 redwood fence boards from Home Depot. Siding is ⅜″ rough-sawn exterior DF plywood. Eventually I’ll panel the inside with used fence boards. Flooring is used yellow pine T&G from Heritage Salvage in Petaluma. Windows (used) from Urban Ore in Berkeley.
Billy Cummings has done most of the work here, including cutting and fitting double-wall polycarbonate greenhouse glazing under the curved eaves.
Next step is to build a sliding door for one half of the end wall shown here so a bed can be rolled out onto the deck for nighttime star gazing. Jay Nelson built a sliding door for his shop that gave me the idea.
Note: A curved roof is infinitely more time-consuming (in many ways) as compared with, say, a shed roof or a gable roof. BUT the space underneath is wonderful and something I highly recommend for tiny homes. If you take the time to build a roof like this, it will give you a feeling of spaciousness and avoid the claustrophobia of small spaces. Curved roofs are the secret to the good feeling in Gypsy wagons (vardos).
Shelter Publications had a visit from Steve Pezman, the co-creator and recently-retired editor of Surfer’s Journal, and his long-time surfing buddy, photographer Leo Hetzel. Steve interviewed @lloyd.kahn and Leo shot photos for an article in the magazine. This was the cover of a scrapbook Lloyd made of a surfing trip to Costa Rica in 1990. It shows Kurt Van Dyke on the balcony of his hotel for surfers in Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean coast southeast of Puerto Limón. When he saw Lloyd about to take a picture, Kurt said, “Classic, eh?”
Ward Hensill builds these unique tiny buildings in Bodega, Calif. He uses 1⅛″ plywood, and it is screwed together — no nails. The pop-out windows give them a much bigger feel than you’d expect with only 120 sq. ft. of floor space.
More info: www.bodegaportablebuildings.com
This little cabin was built almost entirely from a cedar tree that had been lying nearby. Framing, flooring, shakes. Maybe that’s what makes the building so harmonious. Jan had told me this and, as I was climbing around inside and out shooting photos, I had a vision of a tree, a solid chunk of wood, cut up rearranged, and expanded to make this cozy place…
One of those buildings that just took my breath away. Talk abut cathedrals…
Collage of 2 photos; taken in 2005…
Photo by Lloyd Kahn, 2003.
“The treehouse was designed as a collaborative effort between Green Line Architects’ principal, Stephen A. Novy, AIA, and David of David Rasmussen Design.” (p. 150)
Photo by Lloyd Kahn
A cleverly built windbreak beach shelter captured by @lloyd.kahn.
This home was built by Marlin Hanson (@hanson_land_and_sea) with Douglas fir logs from adjacent land that were milled onsite. Marlin is a marine construction carpenter and he utilized the strong construction methods used in building piers for framing this home.
This home is featured in our book Small Homes: The Right Size on page 36.
With over 1,000 photographs, Shelter is a classic celebrating the imagination, resourcefulness, and exuberance of human habitat. It includes a history of shelter and the evolution of building types: tents, yurts, timber buildings, barns, small homes, domes, etc.
There is a section on building materials, including heavy timber construction and stud framing, as well as stone, straw bale, adobe, plaster, and bamboo. The spirit of the ’60s counterculture is evident, and the emphasis is on creating your own shelter (or space) with your own hands. A joyful, inspiring book.
To purchase go to www.shelterpub.com/….
By Lloyd Kahn and Bob Easton
This is the upper of two treehouses, connected to the lower one by a swaying catwalk. I slept up here one night. Check out @fosterhunting on Instagram.
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