Category

Design

Oct 13
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Japanese Joinery, Animated

By Video, Carpentry, Timber Framing, Design, Woodworking, Resources, Traditional Building
 
 
Japanese craftspeople have the reputation of designing and creating some of the most intricate and complex timber joinery on the planet. The use of timbers in construction has a long and deeply fascinating history, and many of these astonishing joints have their roots in the building of temples. Historically, these techniques were fiercely guarded secrets of the carpentry guilds. (If you’re interested in Japanese joinery history and the current practice of temple restoration, check out the fascinating book The Genius of Japanese Carpentry.)

Check out this collection of beautifully simple animations of Japanese joinery in action. These are great little demonstrations of timber frame joints interlocking together.

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Dec 13
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SunRay’s Magical Treehouse

By Photos, Carpentry, Design
SunRay Kelley Treehouse

A ramp provides access to this funky little treehouse — I love how the underside of the roof catches morning light

SunRay Kelley may be one of the most “mythical” of the natural builders out there. He’s the builder known for saying the forest is his “Super Natural Store”, and his building designs conjure up feelings of the fantastical, magical, funkadelic. I had the privilege of seeing one of his creations in the making at the recent 20th anniversary Natural Building Colloquium at the Black Range Lodge in Kingston, NM — a whimsical treehouse nestled in ponderosa pine trees, featuring some signature SunRay touches. Check out the photos of this wild little building ahead…

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Sep 20
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I Love This Barn

By Timber Framing, Design
Southeast Side of Barn

The Whole Systems Design barn

I love this timber frame barn. Spending time in this building was a big highlight for me during the recent Permaculture Design Course I just attended in Vermont. Most of the “classroom” activity happened in this barn, as well as meals, playing ping pong, and general hanging out. While it’s not so much an agricultural barn (at least not currently), it’s a barn nevertheless, and I think it’s a great example of a well-designed multi-purpose space.

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May 04
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A Man Apart: Inside the World of Bill Coperthwaite

By Book Reviews, Homesteading, Design
Bill Coperthwaite

Coperthwaite striking an iconic pose in his canoe

Bill Coperthwaite is an icon among the likes of the Nearings and Harlan and Anna Hubbard, an individual known for his simple living ethos, yurt design and construction, advocacy of craft and creativity, and his 50 year journey living on a remote homestead on the Maine coast. He lived without a telephone, without road access, without many of the physical things we often deem “necessities” in this era, yet he was a highly influential teacher and role model until his untimely death in 2013 at the age of 83.

In A Man Apart, husband and wife Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow document their two decade relationship with Coperthwaite in his later life, sharing a powerful portrait of a man difficult to categorize. It’s part tribute, part biography, part memoir, and full of meaningful insights and lessons for all of us about what it means to live your life according to your values.

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May 12
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Soak Up the Sun in an Attached Greenhouse

By Design, Greenhouse
Attached Greenhouse

A lively attached greenhouse in the springtime

I’m a big fan of attached greenhouses. We designed our second home Strawtron to include a significant greenhouse on the south side of the house. Benefits of designing this way include the obvious ability to extend your growing season to grow more food, but an attached greenhouse can provide your home with additional heat, and an interesting intermediate living space, too. It’s not quite inside… nor is it outside space, either. Anyway. I love this image of the attached solarium of our dear friends Tim and Jane. Doesn’t it just look so wild and green, but so inviting, too?

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May 02
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Build Yourself Some Decent Sawhorses

By Carpentry, Woodworking, Design
Simple Sawhorse Plans

Build yourself a decent pair of sawhorses this year!

Everyone needs a pair (or two, or three) of sawhorses. It certainly helps if they are not wobbly and can stand on their own, and are beefy enough to support more than a box of matches. There are way too many subpar (or worse) sawhorses out there, and if yours look like they’ve been run over a few times… you deserve better, really.

On DIY and owner-builder construction sites, they are often the primary work surface for all sorts of carpentry work, and they are likely to be used as a ladder, table, a place to sit, a tool table… you get the point. They’re pretty essential, and if they actually work well — heck, you will likely be a more efficient builder.

I am happy to follow an existing design when I can, and these simple sawhorse plans fit the bill for our myriad building projects this summer. It’s nice to follow instructions sometimes, you know?
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Dec 02
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R.I.P. Bill Coperthwaite

By Design
Bill Coperthwaite

Bill Coperthwaite, age 83, died November 26, 2013

Sad news — Bill Coperthwaite, a modern role model for folks striving to live simpler, more handmade, more just lives, died in a car crash on an icy road earlier last week. Bill was best known for his work in promoting the building of yurts and living simply. But that is something of an understatement.

“It’s the best way I know,” Coperthwaite said in a 2003 interview, describing his lifestyle on a 400-acre tract with waterfront along the serene harbor. “Each of us tries to live in the best way we know how. I want to contribute to the problems of the world as little as possible. I really believe we must find simpler ways to live or society will collapse.”

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Jul 31
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You Call That a Roof?

By Design, Recycled Materials
Recycled Boat Roof Shed

A boat for a roof. By Alex Holland.

Rain may not fall on one roof alone, but strangeness just might. I’ve occasionally heard stories and seen images of the, well, unique items that eventually become the recycled roof of a home or shed. I was amused by the above image, a shed built by Alex Holland in Machynlleth, Wales, which features an upturned 100 year old boat as a rooftop, as one great example.

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Apr 02
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3 Reasons To Build Your Own Attached Greenhouse

By Design, Winter, Heating, Strawtron
Attached Greenhouse Design

Inside a beautiful attached greenhouse full of life…

Building your own greenhouse is a great idea if you are a gardener and want space to start seedlings, or grow plants that require a longer growing season than your climate can normally provide.

But a standalone greenhouse is one thing — an attached greenhouse design for your house brings in a whole other host of benefits to be considered that extend beyond the conveniences of growing food more easily.

Read on ahead to learn about all the reasons to consider an attached greenhouse design for your home — they include providing additional free heat, extending living space, and supplying space to grow food for a longer period of time.

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