I am non certain how many moons agone it was that I roughshod inwards dear amongst the step illustration from this solid but I direct keep spent hours dreaming nearly the beautiful solid that it would belong too, as well as imagining myself there........Finally I direct keep flora the solid as well as it is simply equally spectacular equally i had hoped it would be, sadly the architect as well as his household unit of measurement even thus alive in that location thus I dubiety I volition survive moving in.
This beautiful holding inwards the wonderfully named town 'Rough as well as Ready', California is domicile to architect Ken Meffan as well as took 10 years to build....
This was a actually hard site to construct on, because there’s thus much water. H5N1 creek runs through it, as well as in that location are springs all over the place. But nosotros dear the water, as well as thus do the kids. They dam the creek upward every summertime for swimming, as well as it collects silt inwards the winter, which makes corking compost for the garden. Last year, nosotros grew sunflowers that must direct keep been 12 feet tall.
There are 2 structures on the property: the picayune workshop, where nosotros lived for almost 10 years, as well as the top dog house. Before the workshop, nosotros lived inwards a tent. We were real poor, but nosotros were having an adventure, similar the Swiss Family Robinson—–until a giant, once-every-20-years rainstorm pretty much blew us away. The morn afterwards the tempest was over, the kids came to me as well as said, “Dad, this isn’t thus much fun anymore.”
We solely had 2 of the 4 kids when I started edifice the top dog house, as well as equally the household unit of measurement grew, nosotros kept adding bedrooms. Officially, it’s 3,400 foursquare feet, but one-half of that is a greenhouse. When I was a immature architect inwards Malibu, I hired a landscaper who took me to a greenhouse tucked dorsum inwards 1 of the canyons. It was crammed total of plants, as well as when nosotros squeezed downward 1 aisle, he said, “Just direct keep a deep breath.” And when I breathed that pure, oxygen-fortified air, I knew that I wanted to construct a solid simply similar that.
Regular houses are total of barriers. Even windows are psychological barriers. Here, nosotros slide opened upward the walls as well as alive inwards straight contact amongst nature. You tin experience the weather condition inwards here. I was on a concern telephone band in 1 trial when it was raining; it was this tremendous downpour, where the heaven simply opened up, as well as I couldn’t take away heed or talk. That’s what this solid is all about.
Living amongst wild animals is also important. We larn lizards within as well as don’t bother to run them out. We’ve had wild turkeys wander in, as well as a infant squirrel used to slumber amongst the kids. We direct keep tons of people hither all the time, too. I’ve stopped noticing when there’s an extra minor fry or 2 inwards the house.
I reckon this solid a prototype. Some of its features I wouldn’t dare construct for customers, inwards illustration they don’t function out. Like the garage-door “sunroof” inwards our bedroom, or the sliding drinking glass walls. When I construct those walls for customers, I purchase cool, superexpensive hardware from Germany, amongst big lever handles. Here, I tried something different, putting them on Rollerblade wheels. They worked out wonderfully, though! The flip side of experimenting is that the inspection procedure tin survive a existent drag. I had to larn a rural occupancy allow for us to alive out here. And I had to block off the spot where the fireman’s pole was supposed to go.
For the walls, my theory was “anything but drywall.” The walls on the the world flooring are straw bales, covered amongst clay mud dug from the site. And a lot of the forest upstairs is salvaged. When I construct big opor-garai houses for other people, nosotros commonly clear a bunch of trees on the location as well as factory them into lumber onsite.And as well as then when the labor is over, I simply drag domicile whatever’s left as well as role it around here.
There’s corrugated polycarbonate on the roof of the greenhouse as well as corrugated galvanized siding out on the workshop. I reckon it an indigenous material. In nearby gold-mining towns similar Grass Valley as well as Nevada City, the forty-niners used corrugated metallic extensively, likely because it was a inexpensive material. They built a lot of Victorian houses, too, but those don’t cause me equally much equally an onetime barn does, or an onetime mine building. If you lot brand a edifice also perfect, it doesn’t give you lot that interesting feel. You don’t desire your solid to experience similar a modern article of furniture store.
I grew upward inwards suburbia, inwards Redondo Beach, California, as well as I intend our surround hither is a rebellion against that. Once, I wondered if the kids powerfulness survive meliorate off somewhere else, thus I asked them what they idea nearly living here. They said, “Are you lot kidding, Dad? We dear it here.” They don’t know anything different, of course. But they will. My 20-year-old immature lady lives downward inwards San Luis Obispo now, as well as she idea it was thus corking to direct keep her ain apartment. But afterwards 2 weeks of sitting inwards that drywall box, she started to appreciate what she had upward hither inwards Rough as well as Ready. We’re pretty practiced amongst weird around here. It’s a picayune on the funky side, but it’s home.
Interview as well as Images from Dwell.com (More beautiful images tin survive flora there)
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