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Informationen zum Autor "I started building almost 50 years ago, and have lived in a self-built home ever since. If I’d been able to buy a wonderful old good-feeling house, I might have never started building. But it was always cheaper to build than to buy, and by building myself, I could design what I wanted and use materials I wanted to live with. I set off to learn the art of building in 1960. I liked the whole process immensely. Hammering nails. Framing ? delineating space. Nailing down the sub-floor, the roof decking. It’s a thrill when you first step on the floor you’ve just created. Ideally I’d have worked with a master carpenter long enough to learn the basics, but there was never time. I learned from friends and books and by blundering my way into a process that required a certain amount of competence. My perspective was that of a novice, a homeowner ? rather than a pro. As I learned, I felt that I could tell others how to build, or at least get them started on the path to creating their own homes. Through the years I’ve personally gone from post and beam to geodesic domes to stud frame construction. It’s been a constant learning process, and this has led me into investigating many methods of construction ? I’m interested in them all. For five years, the late ’60s to early ’70s, I built geodesic domes. I got into being a publisher by producing Domebook One in 1970 and Domebook 2 in 1971. I then gave up on domes (as homes) and published our namesake Shelter in 1973. We’ve published books on a variety of subjects over the years, and returned to our roots with Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter in 2004, Builders of the Pacific Coast , and The Barefoot Architect in 2008. Building is my favorite subject. Even in this day and age, building a house with your own hands can save you a ton of money (I’ve never had a mortgage) and ? if you follow it through ? you can get what you want in a home." ? Lloyd Kahn Klappentext Homeowners! designers! architects (no less)! road gypsies! water dwellers! dreamers! people of all ages! all over the world are making do creatively with under-500 sq. ft. shelters. This graphic-heavy book will document the current tiny house movement! showing people who have chosen to scale back in the 21st century. Leseprobe RETHINKING NORMAL Tammy Strobel Tammy Strobel is an author (Simply Car-free and Smalltopia), website designer, and media consultant living in Sacramento, California with Logan. Here she describes the downsizing of their possessions and the difference it made in their lives. Five years ago, we lived the ?normal middle class” suburban lifestyle. We were newlyweds with flashy rings, living in a two-bedroom apartment, driving two cars, commuting long distances to work and living well beyond our means. We were living in Davis, California, which is notorious for expensive real estate and a negative vacancy rating (more people than rooms). In reflection, we had a life with too much stuff and stress. Initially, we resisted the idea of moving into a smaller one bedroom apartment because we were more concerned about appearances and space for guests than for our financial well being. Realizing the source of our stress was our financial situation, we decided something needed to change. This ?change” began by defining our values and prioritizing our needs over those of potential future guests. After creating many long pro/con lists, the scaling down process began. We sold one car and moved into a one-bedroom apartment near the train station, the grocery store and downtown amenities. Driving everywhere was still a big part of our lives, but with lower rent we began chipping away at our debt. Our lives began to change for the better. It wasn’t until last year that we stumbled across Dee Williams’s tiny ...
