Hi- I'm looking for some plans to build a small Japanese pole house (14x14) :)
Pronto
Here is a link to some plans that seem to be what you are talking about. I don't know if they will suit your needs or not.
Glenn
http://www.haikuhouses.com/extended.htm
Found this in the wayback. Good stuff, thanks. If anybody has anything else on this please post.
I remember something but I don't remember what it was or where it was --- it was here somewhere-- a structure in the air on 4 poles and guyed by cables --- as soon as I grow a new brain and remember where it was I'll post it. Or someone else will remember and post it. :-/
You might be remembering this guy with his tropical treehouse - "The Hooch"
(http://tropical-treehouse.com/thumbeugenehooch.jpg)
http://tropical-treehouse.com/morehoochpics.html
There is a discussion on the forum about this thing many moons ago but I would have to search on?? "Hooch"?
It's a good thing someone still has a brain around here. At least I still remembered enough to describe it--- but "Hooch" wasn't coming out---no matter what. :-/
Here's a link to some home designs for building with bamboo - some of these would be nice for a tea house.
http://www.bambooliving.com/homes.html
There are some good ideas on this site altho it may not be exactly what you are looking for:
http://www.tonysthouse.com/
Jim
More to the point of the initial request - A Japanese tea house was built with a special type of construction system developed with different tools and materials than you find available today. Far more difficult to learn, but, If you want to do an authentic Japanese structure, a good place to start is with Edward Morse's "Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings" originally published in 1886 when there were still many good examples of traditional building. It is now easily found as a Dover reprint.
The tea house was where the really good craftsmen showed off their fancy work and is not an American do-it-yourself project. :D
However, Morse has much information on farmhouses which could be built with something closer to our level of attention span and with machine detailing using today's tools.
Those bamboo houses are neat. Even here, something that had a bigger porch than inside would be feasible.
I've been reading about Japanese house design recently. The book in front of me is The Japanese Home Style Book by Saburo Yamagata. Great if you are at the stage of wanting to look at 25 different patterns for your ceiling. Or what a floor for the verandah surrounding your house could look like with alternating bamboo and logs with an adzed pattern. Amazing how some of those patterns also turn out to be sashiko patterns.
Not so good for basic design. Even worse for the timber framing. But there a book on measured Japanese houses that I'm trying to look up now, that does have some of the timber frame details in addition to many many patterns for tatami mats. Some of which are considered unlucky or just suitable for funeral homes or something like that.
This one, but seems like it is more available through Amazon Canada than Amazon U.S.--looks like Alibris has a handful of copies scattered around the various people who sell through them--note that the new price seems to be less than the used one.
Measure and Construction of the Japanese House
by Heino Engel
Amazon Canada--but they have look inside pages:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/reader/0804814929/ref=sib_rdr_ex/702-1956007-3702439?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00J&j=0#reader-page
Alibris
http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=4254676&wauth=Engel%2C%20Heino&ptit=Measure%20and%20Construction%20of%20the%20Japanese%20House&pauth=Engel%2C%20Heinrich%2C%20and%20Engel%2C%20Heino&pisbn=0804814929&pqty=10&pqtynew=7&pbest=17%2E13&pbestnew=17%2E13&matches=10&qsort=p&cm_re=works*listing*buyused
If this is supposed to be a very small house rather than a tea house, might take a look at some of Azby Brown's books.
Here are some files I've collected:
http://www.kinnik.com/chado.pdf
http://www.kinnik.com/japwaitinghouse.txt
http://www.kinnik.com/thebookoftea.pdf
http://www.kinnik.com/fenceexample1.jpg
I might have one or two more, I'll look deeper.
This site has some interesting ideas http://www.timmerhusinc.com/portfolio/huts/examples.html
Judy
Judy, I saved that to my favorites - some really beautiful & unique projects! Thanks for the link. Kathy
There are at least two styles of timber framing, including a couple of traditional ones.
But there's also cheating--building up a timber frame with dimensional lumber. somewhere on the web there is information on this. I think it was once posted here. With pictures, and it looked pretty nice.
(at the other extreme there is round-wood building, and kruk framing the way Ben Law did his house--maybe the wrong culture though, he's very British, even has some engineering calculations on round wood in it.:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/woodlandhouse )
I've no idea what the best book on the subject is.
Something close to the real thing in the Timmerhus looks neat.
QuoteJudy, I saved that to my favorites - some really beautiful & unique projects! Thanks for the link. Kathy
I found these from an ad in the back of Natural Home magazine. They are beautifularen't they?
And don't you think everyone needs "A Room of One's Own"? I had a studio and loved it. Probably similar to a "garage" or "workshop" in male parlance. I could go out there and close the door and do whatever moved me at the moment. Didn't have to clean up if I was in the middle of something and had to leave, could sit and read, or just sit. The inside was earthen plaster and I had done a lot of sculpting on the walls, trying things out.
There's a guy down the street from us who has a big comfy chair and 27" TV in his garage. I see him out there often.
Judy
Judy, that sounds real good to me. :) Your studio must have been really nice, kept you cool with the earthen walls - do you have any pics of the sculptures? I'm anxious to get more of our place done - get it weathered in better - right now the heat is killing us even though we are underground - we have a swamp cooler & fans which really help, though. What I'd like is a room of my own with an "endless pool" so I could exercise, an area for sewing so I don't have to clean up my mess, a nice comfy chair to read or take a nap in... ::) :), ahhhh, am I dreaming?
Kathy
Home made AC anyone?
http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/%7Egmilburn/ac/pete_ac.html