We’re officially counting down the last couple of days before the yurt shipment arrives next week.

In the meanwhile, check out this article from Mother Earth News about a man who realized his dreams by building a yurt:

Greetings everyone!

Apologies for my small winter sabbatical that was unannounced and unplanned – but, hey, such is life!

Anyways, now that we’re rolling into spring I’m excited to write about a new project that’s on hand and in motion: a yurt studio being built on my family’s farm in New Jersey!

In this project we get to not only embrace a modern rendition of ancient Mongolian architecture, but we also get an opportunity to incorporate  other natural building elements, such as creatively up-cycling objects, applying principles of  passive solar design, natural plasters, and my ultimate favorite, building interior partitions with cob.

We chose to buy a pre-fabricated yurt from Pacific Yurts instead of constructing one completely from scratch. There are several reasons for this. One major factor in our decision was our current lifestyle and time constraints. Both my husband and I work full-time which would greatly inhibit the time we could expend on designing, building and sourcing materials for a completely homemade yurt. Most weeks we only have one day off together, which means a project that will take several weeks with a pre-fab yurt, would take several months with a homemade yurt.

The most persuasive aspect however, was the availability of statistics for pre-fab yurts. In order to get township approval in our area, we needed guaranteed quality and to present engineering studies of our yurt structure that could satisfy ‘the standards’ our building officials demand. In the backwoods of Oregon this type of township approval wouldn’t feel so urgent, but in dense, over-developed New Jersey, this is simply the reality we have to contend with.

Yurt living is an exciting and unique building option for several reasons:

• What’s a yurt? A yurt is essentially a circular tent that is strong, lightweight, and durable. The wooden skeleton is covered with a skin of thin canvas.
• Indoor/Outdoor Paradox. The outside feels very much inside – there’s a paradox of being both protected, safe, and cozy and also feeling completely exposed to the outdoor elements.
• Morning Light. For example, in the morning you will wake up with the sun because it streams right through the canvas. The morning light slowly glowing through the cloth and space is really magical image for me.
• Outdoor Awareness. The non-existent auditory insulation means that you are constantly exposed to all outside sounds – the birds, the cars, the wind, the trees, the animals on their nighttime prowl. This invites an immediacy and intimate awareness to the outside world that you simply don’t appreciate in any other type of structure.
• Natural Sounds. This could be both positive or negative – it really depends on the site. If you can choose a spot with an enjoyable natural soundscape, there’s no reason why you’re wouldn’t appreciate this ‘exposure’.
• Circular Spaces. There’s something very primordial and comfortable about a circular space. Our modern lives are played out in boxes – our homes (drywall boxes), our cars (metal boxes), and our work cubicles (demoralizing boxes). When a space you inhabit is circular, your whole psyche and way of interacting with other people changes. Physical structures change human emotional structures.
• Open floor plan. A yurt, by default, has an open floor plan.The value of dynamic open space is vast. It embraces human activity played out in  daily life more than formal spaces that too often become underused – dead and obsolete spaces.
• Ultimate mobility. The Mongolian tribes, who lived out in barren tundra, designed their traditional yurt (ger) structures to be easily assembled and disassembled within a few days, making it ideal for people who are inherently nomadic, or for those who truly want a sacred space to call home without needing to make long term commitments to specific place.

This video speaks to my personal life philosophy so deeply and accurately. It’s like Jandai pulled the words right out of me. Not only does he speak of simplicity in terms of self-acceptance and non-consumerism (i.e. – minimalism) but also in terms of natural building and healing. I’m ecstatic to have found this video and this man’s voice – always reminding us that life is as simple or as complicated as we choose for it to be. YES!

I recently discovered a brilliant thinker – one that is courageous and eloquent with his words. This is a three-hour interview with Chris Hedges about his works and books:

The Untold Beauty of Plywood

the untold beauty of plywood - via design crisis

I recently discovered a new trend – both in the green building movement and in more posh, design circles – that plywood is ‘fair game.’ Plywood is generally considered a very unfinished, unsightly you could say, building material. But new creative use of plywood has allowed it to disown its ugly mold and to adapt a new paradigm as a cheaper, greener and even beautiful form of wood material.

So this in many ways is very good news, for people who want to maybe have the benefit of hardwood floors without having to pay for labor intensive installation or the very expensive wood with which to do that installation.

So plywood has many advantages – perhaps the most obvious is its large dimensions paired with cheap cost. It’s easy to install on the floor so any diy-er can do this without worrying  about the joints. The joints are fewer and farther between and since plywood is large, properly aligning the pieces is not difficult to do – nor is cutting it when you need to.

Checking out different types of plywood spaces on Google I discovered a lot of beautiful spaces that have really capitalized on plywood’s untold potential. So that’s really amazing and interesting to me…

I think that as plywood is more and more known, people will feel increasingly comfortable using it by looking beyond its original unfinished quality. Now there are plenty of examples of polished, well-designed spaces that are maximizing on the positive qualities of plywood. People can visually connect with such images and spaces, and so they’re much more willing to make that translation to their own building decisions and choices.

So let’s look at plywood’s anatomy: It’s basically a thin conglomeration of cheaper quality wood that independently couldn’t be used for any sort of structural purpose. Plywood is a manufactured result of that, with layers that are fused together, and because the layers are so thin they run in alternating grain direction. Its an odd number too, standard of five, sandwiched layers that effectively locks the plywood together as a way of counteracting plywood’s natural tendency to warp, which being a cheaper and flexible material, does have legitimate concerns.

There are three grades of plywood – so you must properly match the purpose of the plywood with the grade of the plywood. Grade A is the smoothest, you could walk barefoot on it, ‘splinter free’ and with very few if any surface flaws in the wood – no bulges, no easy chipping, etc. It’s as close to flawless as plywood gets. So then there’s the middle grade B, which is not so smooth but could still be sanded down in most cases.  And then grade C should be reserved for sub-surface functions in a floor, patio, furniture, etc. – any area that is not to be visible or directly touched. Also beware that plywood is a jackal and hyde kinda material : one side is ‘presentable’ – the other side is rough and flawed.

Four types of plywood that I’ve discovered:

Pine – a very soft wood, which makes it less than ideal to become plywood – because its so soft and because plywood in its own right is flexible and soft, it’s probably not a good idea unless its used for something that won’t be exposed to a lot of wear and tear – for example wall paneling or shelves. Pine on the floor or deck? Not so good.

Birch – a hard wood, a light wood, can be very pretty whether stained or not.

Oak – is more expensive than birch and pine but it’s also more difficult to fabricate and join. The source I read said that with joining oak plywood, nailing the plywood always requires drilling a pilot hole, and easily chip with over-working, but if done properly the finish on oak plywood can be considered superb, esp. considering its price point – the ‘happy medium’ with good results.

Eucalyptus – another one that is a bit more exotic to us in North American dwellers. The advantage of this tree is that it grows at a much faster rate than other hardwood trees. But keep in mind that eucalyptus is an import. It is considered a semi-tropical, exotic wood, so along with mahogany, I would think very carefully about where this wood is sourced from and whether or not I feel ethically aligned with that source. Also an interesting fact is that eucalyptus apears and behaves a lot like cherry wood, which is a very warm wood.

Check out this site to compare different types of plywood….

Anyways – if you’re ever in a pinch for wood floors, just dare to consider plywood!

When and why did art get so serious?

In many ‘first-world’ countries, dance, music, and the arts have been unfairly thrown into a glass cage of exclusive, elitist culture. Those with a financial cushion can attend expensive arts schools that then funnel them into industry positions and spotlights. Of course, a sparkling talent can still rise above financial limitations, but this is much too rare, compared to all the untapped talent out that has been snuffed. Professional musicianship, dancing etc, have been elevated to a place of celebrity gawking. This behavior overshadows the role of amateurs, who make up a much larger piece of Art’s pie, and whose role and works are undervalued in society. Because most commercial arts are carefully crafted when and how to be injected into the mainstream for the most profitable bang, the professional presence can be overpowering.

This has crippled our ability to appreciate amateur presence in the arts. Even the word “amateur” is often stained in disdain.

But humans need to have access to the arts all the time. But not just with concert tickets to the Metropolitan or a new CD album or a glitzy gallery outing. In daily life – like food. It needs to be on the streets, in our homes, in our families and friends and community-structures. The reason why this type of direct access is so critical is that it asks us to participate ourselves in the act of artistic creation and expression (versus sitting quietly, trying not to cough, throughout a three-hour concert.) So we participate not because we’re clambering the onerous ascent to professional accomplishment, but just because it feels good to tap your toes, clap your hands, sing and dance. I believe it is a most basic human need. Yet many forget that the arts are first pure enjoyment, and second an industry under the microscope. Sadly many are too clouded with embarrassment ever to participate in something they do not believe they already excel in.

Despite this rant, I’m not tearing down the shimmering talents amongst us. I just think there is a place for every soul around the table, and wish that modern life could re-construct a national mood that heightens the pure joy of artistic expression within every community. Traditional cultures use art, music, and dance not as a way to define superiority, success, or exclusivity, but as the glue of community, celebration, tradition, and communication. No judgement, no scouting for the next big talent, no fear of not having anything valuable to say or share. Such traditional cultures have been continually noted for having a high level of happiness and generosity. Here’s what Pattern Language says on the subject:

Why is it that people don’t dance in the streets today?

All over the earth, people once danced in the streets; in theater, song, and natural speech, “dancing in the street” is an image of supreme joy. Many cultures still have some version of this activity. There are the Balinese dancers who fall into a trance whirling around in the street; the mariachi bands in Mexico – every town has several squares where the bands play and the neighborhood comes out to dance; there is the European and American tradition of bandstands and jubilees in the park; there is the bon odori festival in Japan, when everybody claps and dances in the streets.

But in those parts of the world that have become “modern” and technically sophisticated, this experience has died. Communities are fragmented; people are uncomfortable in the streets, afraid with one another; not many people play the right kind of music, people are embarrassed.

Certainly there is no way in which a change in the environment, as simple as the one which we propose, can remedy these circumstances. But we detect a change in mood. The embarrassment and the alienation are recent developments, blocking a more basic need. And as we get in touch with these needs, things start to happen. People remember how to dance; everyone takes up an instrument; many hundreds form little bands. At this writing, in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland there is a controversy over “street musicians” — bands that have spontaneously begun playing in streets and plazas whenever the weather is good — where should they be allowed to play, do they obstruct traffic, shall people dance?

Along promenades, in squares and evening centers, make a slightly raised platform to form a bandstand, where street musicians and local bands can play. Cover it, and perhaps build in at ground level tiny stalls for refreshment. Surround the bandstand with paved surface for dancing – no admission charge.

 

Baby it’s cold outside…

Notes on the nature and influence of heat.

• Humans are pretty damn fickle about thermal comfort. We’re not comfortable below 65 degrees F or above 80 degrees F. That’s only a 15 degree range of physical ease – which through an evolutionary lens, is pretty pathetic!
• On average, a sedentary human body generates as much heat as a 100 watt incandescent light bulb. The problem is that we continuously lose that heat. Clothing therefore is not warm in and of itself – it traps in our own radiating heat, which is then repeatedly bounced back to us. The ‘warmth factor’ of fabrics is determined by how long a fabric can keep heat from seeping out.
• On contact, heat always runs from hot objects to cold objects. “Cold” does not exist, “heat” does! Nothing in nature can “generate cold” but there can be a “lack of heat.”
• Convection = when hot fluids (gasses or liquids) rises in relation to cold ones.
• Radiation heat transfers..
  • in all directions equally.
  • in proportional speeds to how cold vs hot the receiving and radiating bodies are.
  • increases to the 4th power of the original temperature (=16 times as much! Almost nothing else does that!)
• All rooms have convection cycles! Gain a daily awareness as to how they work in your own living space.
• The more you understand the behavior of heat, the more accurately you can visualize the invisible air currents to use in design.
• Interesting tip: glass will let short radiation from the sun in, but not allow long radiation out. Ultraviolet radiation = high frequency = short wavelengths. Infrared radiation = low frequency = long wavelengths. So glass will let ultraviolet light into the home, but won’t let infrared light out of the home.
• If designing a home – ask yourself how does the heat rise into the second story? How does it get up there? How fast? How much? How long?
• Stagnant indoor activity dulls your brain – air circulation, temperature, lighting, textures, coloration, smells, sounds, visual cues should always enhance one’s peace of mind and space functions.
• Always remember! In cold conditions, heat your feet. In hot conditions, cool your head.
• The human body absorbs heat best by direct contact, not through air or radiation. This makes an excellent case for installing heating through the floor, or through built-in furniture (like cob benches, counter tops, or even beds!)
• Central heating is a great leveler - people don’t get drawn together for heat and comfort. BUILDINGS NEED HOT SPOTS. Central heating destroys the heart of the home, by eliminating the physical and psychological need for one. Heating should not be as easy as tapping a button or turning a dial. This type of constant thermal comfort insulates human environments from the natural world, which is a) a convenient and ego-boosting illusion and b) irreparably detrimental to the human psyche and community.

how can you get emotionally attached to a central heating vent?

Who doesn’t love a tree house?

The stuff childhood memories are made from!

Check out these images from the superb book Tree House Living: 50 Innovative Designs by Alain Laurens, Daniel Dufour, Ghislan Andre, and La Cabane Penche with photography by Vincent Thfoin.

tree house living - 50 innovative designs

intricate spiral staircase that hugs tree trunk

incorporating tree anatomy into structure

basket contraption used to transport goods from below

perfect sleeping nook in treehouse!

another treehouse drawing

windowsill and wooden treatments

Pattern Language: Old People Everywhere

I discovered this pattern a few days after writing “Disease of Greece – Polikatikia,” where it’s briefly mentioned how high density housing units split traditional households into generational pockets, that can be both isolating and unproductive for everyone of every age.

So much can be understood about any given society by the amount of respect that it still upholds towards older generations:

Some degree of prestige for the aged seems to have been practically universal in all known societies. This is so general, in fact, that is cuts across many cultural factors that have appeared to determine trends in other topics related to age. (The Role of Aged in Primitive Society, Leo W. Simmons, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1945, p.69)

The dissolution of this universal prestige might have a root cause in modern and industrial building paradigms and urban planning. Segregating older generations from younger ones robs young people of the personal contact they need with older, wiser people. These older role models help in childhood development, maturity, and accepting death as the underlying reality of our human lives. Younger people must confront and accept the fact that aging is as much a part of life as being a healthy and fit 25 year old. American society, as a whole, cannot accept this fact. This is visible through isolating elderly care centers, the immense interest in anti-aging, and even in anti-aging elements in building materials and designs (i.e. creepy “age-proof” vinyl siding!)

If society subconsciously builds walls between different generations, members of the younger generation begin to feel that aged people are unsightly and unnecessary parts of society (since they are no longer economically productive). If younger people do not have enough personal contact with their ‘elders’ as children or teens, they may not be able to later understand the value of such individuals.

And on the other side of the relationship – older people are already experiencing an emotionally intense period of their ending lives, so imagine how much stronger that experience is when they’re ripped out of the family fabric. Older people want to help young people avoid the same costly mistakes, glean from their remarkable stories invaluable life lessons, etc. They must share their hard-won wisdom with someone, so as not to be wasted only on themselves. This sharing is also a universal need, it helps alleviate the pain of departure, and it helps highlight the cyclical nature of life and society..

Below is Pattern Language’s spin on the topic:

PATTERN 40: OLD PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

Old people need old people, but they also need the young, and young people need contact with the old.

There is a natural tendency for old people to gather together in clusters or communities. But when these elderly communities are too isolated or too large, they damage young and old alike. The young in other parts of town, have no chance of the benefit of older company, and the old people themselves are far too isolated. Treated like outsiders, the aged have increasingly clustered together for mutual support or simple to enjoy themselves. A now familiar but still amazing phenomenon has sprung up in the past decade: dozens of good-sized new towns that exclude people under 65. Built on cheap, outlying land, such communities offer two-bedroom

“…Another family relationship of great significance for the aged has been the commonly observed intimate association between the very young and the very old. Frequently they have been left together at home while the able-bodied have gone forth to earn the family living. These oldsters, in their wisdom and experience, have protected and instructed the little ones, while the children, in turn, have acted as the “eyes, ears, hands, and feet” of their feeble old friends. Care of the young has thus very generally provided the aged with a useful occupation and a vivid interest in life during the long dull days of senescence. (Ibid. p. 199.)”

Clearly, old people cannot be integrated socially as in traditional cultures unless they are first integrated physically –unless they share the same streets, shops, services, and common land with everyone else. But, at the same time, they obviously need other old people around them; and some old people who are infirm need special services.

Create dwellings for some 50 old people in every neighborhood. Place these dwellings in three rings…

1. A central core with cooking and nursing provided.

2. Cottages near the core.

3. Cottages further out from the core, mixed among the other houses of the neighborhood, but never more than 200 yards from the core.

…in such a way that the 50 houses together form a single coherent swarm, with its own clear center, but interlocked at its periphery with other ordinary houses of the neighborhood.

The  Barn

Silent Spaces

A common building sprinkled across farmlands, often overlooked for its architectural value. Today the best fate an old barn can have is residential renovation, although a more common fate is under a bulldozer. Before authentic barns become extinct, visit one! How many barns have you visited so far in your travels?

What truly amazes me about barns is how intricate the woodwork and roofing systems often are, despite the fact that these humble buildings were for utilitarian purposes, and by no means show case structures.

Take a peak at these few pictures from Malcom Kirk’s “The Barn, Silent Spaces” and you will quickly appreciate the beauty of these humble spaces. These photographs were all taken (to my knowledge) of barns and agricultural buildings in France. Obviously, there are differences between a French barn and an American red-sided, rooster-guided barn. Both have unique elements and traditions. They were built in different time periods, with different materials, and for different purposes. For now, let’s jump to old agrarian France…

The Barn Book Cover

Superb mortarless stonework. People just don't know how to build like this anymore!

Intricate barn roofing - multiple-sided crown post

intricate barrel-vaulted roofing - cathedral ceiling effect

heavy beams create sturdy loft space above used for grain/livestock storage

small living quarters within barns

i love the "wood-burning stove" - what high technology!

just one last gorgeous roof for the road...