26th Jul
2012
2012
Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter by Lloyd Kahn
Filed in Green Studies, Muckraking
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On Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 7:00 P.M., Lloyd Khan stopped by City Lights Bookstore to discuss his new book, Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter (Shelter Publications).
There’s a grassroots movement in tiny homes these days. The real estate collapse, the economic downturn, burning out on 12-hour workdays – many people are rethinking their ideas about shelter – seeking an alternative to high rents, or a lifelong mortgage debt to a bank on an overpriced home.Tiny Homes presents some 150 builders who have taken things into their own hands, creating tiny homes (under 500 sq. ft.). Homes on land, homes on wheels, homes on the road, homes on water, even homes in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.There are 1,300 photos, showing a rich variety of small homemade shelters, and there are stories (and thoughts and inspirations) of the owner-builders who are on the forefront of this new trend in downsizing and self-sufficiency.
At the heart of Lloyd Kahn’s 1973 book Shelter were drawings of 5 small buildings, which he recommended as a starting point in providing one’s own home. Now, almost 40 years later, there’s a growing tiny house movement all over the world – which we’ve been tracking over the past two years.
Many people have decided to scale back, to get by with less stuff, to live in smaller homes. You can buy a ready-made tiny home, build your own, get a kit or pre-fab, or live in a bus, houseboat, or other movable shelter. Some cities have special ordinances for building “inlaw” or “granny flats” in the back yard. There are innovative solutions in cities, such as the “capsules” in Tokyo. There are numerous blogs and websites with news, photos, and/or plans for tiny homes, documented here.
If you’re thinking of scaling back, you’ll find plenty of inspiration here. Here’s a different approach, a 180º turn from increasing consumption. Here are builders, designers, architects (no less), dreamers, artists, road gypsies, and water dwellers who’ve achieved a measure of freedom and independence by taking shelter into their own hands.
Lloyd Kahn worked as Shelter editor for the Whole Earth Catalog in 1968. In 1971 he published Domebook 2. His shake-covered geodesic dome was featured inLife magazine. Ultimately disillusioned with domes, he took Domebook 2 out of print and in 1973, published the oversized book Shelter, which went on to sell over 250,0000 copies. In 2004, Kahn published HomeWork: Handbuilt Shelter – in many ways the sequel to Shelter – and Builders of the Pacific Coast in 2008.Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter is the 4th book in this series. Kahn and his wife Lesley live and work in a small coastal town in Northern California.
