Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] build to last? was: preserving poles

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] build to last? was: preserving poles
  • Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:21:45 -0600

Gene, I think what appeals to me more than the affordability of using local materials is the organic, almost spiritual, qualities of vernacular architecture, the embodiment of one's cultural heritage (not that Americans have a cohesive one, or one that I'd choose to emulate). I'll be the first to admit I like my air conditioner, although we live with a much wider range of interior temperatures than most around us.

I'm really drawn to the idea of building as you go, or are so moved, perhaps by what scavanged materials show up at the right time. There are plenty of folks around here (even some builders) that don't take out permits. I can't imagine trying to draw up, at least in detail, what this structure would look like because I know once I begin the materials will make their own suggestions. I like the extempory quality of what those people did in Home Work. The codes imposed on us don't allow for this kind of soulful building.

So the question for myself is: can I create shelter from the locally abundant rock (somewhat rounded, about the size of a fist, cobbled by some catastrophic water flow eons ago, and virtually unstackable), juniper (mistakenly called cedar here) limbs most appropriately sized for fencing (and purchased locally, so that my acerage does not become entirely denuded as my neighbor's recently did. I could have built a mansion with what he destroyed) and develop my own personal vernacular (based on ?)?

The architecture at the Wildflower Center was quite a wonderful study of vernacular. Mrs. Johnston told the architects she wanted something that would look like it had already been there 100 years, and it did. They artfully melded: crisp quarried white limestone with a boxy style for German influence, naturally shaped brown stone from Lometa in arches and buttresses, and the spiraling tower for Spanish influence, metal grain silos and roofs for Texas settler influence, and a central courtyard water feature with a spring for the nomadic native peoples who had no withstanding architecture but depended on the water. The only thing we staff did not like was inoperable windows.

Yes, I have Shelter and Handbuilt Shelter, both fabulous and inspirational books.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas




On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 05:07:08 -0500
Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
Sage:

I'm reading (so many pictures, if you can actually call it
that) Built by Hand: Vernacular Buildings from Around the
World, and I'm really blown away by the beauty, variety of
forms, and local materials use of ordinary rural people
everywhere.

Yoshio Komatsu's photography is superb. Text is superfluous.

You would also enjoy Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter, by Lloyd Kahn, who earlier brought us Shelter.

They have been doing for centuries what we are
only now talking about doing. How did we get so far away
from this?

Our resident sociologist and your fellow Texan, Jerry, will hopefully weigh in on that question.

In our evolution we have embraced the work of the specialist incrementally. For all the simple utility and beauty of vernacular buildings and living close to the land, only a motley few of us find it fulfilling to retreat to life as a generalist who manually performs most of the tasks associated with maintaining life.

There are basic reasons why the design of shelter has changed: we have become less nomadic; we prefer houses that maintain superior temperature control; we want safety from fire, we want life to be easier. Modern plumbing and electricity gives us machines that clean our clothes and entertain us. Those systems require a sound, stable structure.

There is great power in nostalgia: note the prices of old furniture that is less comfortable than modern stuff. I can now reliably predict that each new friend who visits will ooh and ahh over my handmade cutting block, often eventually hinting that they sure would like to have one. We are drawn to what is organic; it speaks to our longing for authenticity.

Vernacular building styles and materials appeal to independent, self- reliant homesteaders for reasons of cost. We willingly pay great labor costs to avoid great purchased materials cost. Note the genesis of this thread: preserving poles; poles that many of us can cut on our own land.



_______________________________________________
Homestead list and subscription:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
Change your homestead list member options:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/eureka%40hctc.net
View the archives at:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page