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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.
>
>
>
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