One of my very favourite books ever, is Lloyd Kahn’s 1973 Shelter. A large format book on shelter. It’s an architecture book with no grandiose temples or palaces or mansions. Simply, shelters. Houses. Everything from stone age caves to bronze age huts to nomadic tents to tree-houses to pioneer log cabins to settlers adobe huts to gypsy caravans to late 60’s, early 70’s hippy, back to the land experiments with domes and the like. Some of them have stood the test of time, existing for thousands of years, and some were merely shelter for a time until something sturdier could be erected or explorations of what was possible. But the connecting link for every example is using materials in harmony with the surrounding environment. Hugely inspiring.
I’m currently LOVING his Tiny Homes: Simple Shelters. A beautiful, full colour photographic (over 1300 pictures) book about small houses. Simple homes, under 500 square feet. Mobile homes, shacks, converted garages, re-purposed shipping containers, campers, boat houses, tree houses, yachts, etc. I’m likely an oddball, but I don’t dream about being beholden to a bank for decades, or impressing my neighbours with a 4000 square foot, three bathroom, two car garage, frankly, soulless house. Not only can I (and if a lot of other people out there were honest) not afford it, I’m not sure our planet can afford ludicrous McMansions. I would love to build a simple structure, fine for my needs, and maybe add on to it organically as my budget and time allows and my needs increase. Once again, a hugely inspirational book.
Nice little video about Lloyd. (He’s in his 70s and still longboards!). His publishing company has many other fantastic books about the subject of shelter.
His blog has loads of good stuff too.
http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.ca/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment