The Barefoot Architect

[jraabe]

This information from Lloyd Kahn's blog:

"This is a wonderful book and the timing couldn't be better. The world has discovered what our book Shelter was advocating 34 years ago: we had a large section on what are now being called "natural materials: wood, stone, adobe, rammed earth, bamboo, thatch, and baled straw.) The building approach I and friends had in the 60s is now called green building. Along with the sudden shift in mass consciousness about global warming and environmental destruction, there's a concomitant movement to use building materials that utilize the earth's resources as efficiently as possible. This book is by a Danish architect running a building school in the jungles of Brazil, and it is to the green building movement what Ken Kern's The Owner-Built Home was to owner-builders in the '60s. How to build with adobe, bamboo, thatch, how to use concrete effectively. A blending of the vernacular with the new for people building in a way that respects the earth and its materials - low-cost, resource efficient handmade homemade housing. Site planning, weather considerations, how to build water systems, natural cooling, septic systems, solar energy, detailed construction procedures, all communicated with over 1000 simple pen-and-ink drawings.

Side note: author Johan called me (via Skype) from the jungle yesterday to talk about cover design. I asked how things were going and he said they had just found two (very poisonous) snakes in their compound and picked them up, and talking to them, released them on the other side of the river. "We kill nothing," he said. A gentle man. You can check out his school in Brazil (great for eco-minded young people) at: http://www.tibarose.com/ing/home.htm"

[Amanda_931]

If they're in the Brazilian Jungle, some of the cooling information might apply to me too!

Humid here in the summer.  

But another one from Kahn apparently with quite a bit on Sun Ray Kelley, isn't available for pre-order yet.

(Kelley might rank up with the flying concrete guy for amazing)

http://www.sunraykelley.com/index.html

and some pictures by Mark Piepkorn before he got a regular job.

http://www.potkettleblack.com/natbild/sunray.html

[Sassy]

Great link, John - and thanks for posting those other links, Amanda, on Sunray Kelly's works - great ideas!

[fourx]

Hi Amanda. I have to wipe down the interior walls at least once each summer because it gets to around 100% humidity and an average 32C. High ceilings with a top through-flow of air help.

[glenn-k]

Looks cool, fourx.

Hope you don't mind - I played with it a bit to see more.

[fourx]

Yeah, the ceiling shows up far better in the modified version, Glenn. The lining, behind those scissor trusses, is 8 foot long one inch thick hardwood fence palings, backed by sarking.

[glenn-k]

That's what I wanted to see.  It really looks neat, Pete.  I hadn't heard of sarking before.

Sark´ing
n.      1.      (Carp.) Thin boards for sheathing, as above the rafters, and under the shingles or slates, and for similar purposes.

[MountainDon]

Nice looking. That rug in front of the sofa has a pattern very similar to one on the floor in front of me.   :-?

[fourx]

You obviously have excellet taste in rugs, Don
The big plus in inch thick hardwood is the insulation factor in a hot climate.The downside is working with hardwood is so much harder in every way.
The verandah, 50x 8 feet, has the same ceiling minus the trusses, which makes if very comfortable even on the hottest days.

[jraabe]

Very handsome project Fourx. Is the cabin about 16' wide and with an 8' sidewall? And the trusses, did you build them yourself?

All in all a first cabin space.

[fourx]

Hi John- let me first say that the degree of information here, and the level of interaction and support is quite remarkable, and what is even more refreshing is to find no one tripping over their ego..something all too common when building a home involves something away from the suburban norm and it's values, I think you will agree.
The cabin is 15 feet wide, 50 feet long with a 8 foot wide verandah in front, a 15x 8 foot deck on the western end, and a covered back porch the same size, and runs on four solar panels. The walls are 8 feet high and the roof is pitched at 45 degrees. French doors with shutters and a heat sink of a slate-covered brick fireplace sited to get the winter sun from noon to sunset means no fans are required and almost no heating.
I built the trusses myself on the ground, and my friends helped stand them. The timber is Tallowood, an oily and very dense aussie hardwood which is termite-resistant.