a little house of my own: 47 grand designs for 47 tiny houses

a little house of my own: 47 grand designs for 47 tiny houses

By: Lester Walker

Publisher and Date of Publication: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc. 2000

ISBN: 1-57912-151-9

SYNOPSIS

Lester Walker brings viewers a compilation of creative entities from past designs where a mere collection of works that dated from as early as 17 years ago evolved into a historical compilation of over forty houses, showing spatial usage and detailing within compact housing. The overall aesthetics and goal of his works in this documentary was to offer inspiration to individuals who have notions and desires of attaining a do-it-yourself home within a short time span. The book also offers great ideas that explain how easy it is to design a house that offers full functionality within limited space restrictions. Photographs, plans and elevations are provided to better illustrate the designs and their intensions.

RELEVANCE

The intent of this book was to provide the reader with plans, sections and details of inexpensive small dwelling projects that would take on average of up to two weeks to construct. One of the thrills in life is to inhabit in a dwelling that has been made by oneself and by doing so, breaks free from the norms of standard housing construction and allows you to incorporate ideas and features that will reduce any negative impact directed towards the environment. The illustrated ideas in some of the designs were quite intriguing, for instance the 224 sqft. Frontier Cabin (Figure 1), which compressed all family functions (living, dining, kitchen and sleeping) into a compact shared space. Proposals such as these offer sustainable opportunities by creating a multi-functional space that reduces the amount of material usage.

Rating (1-5 = useless to relevant): 3

OPINION

Upon completion of a little house of my own: 47 grand designs for 47 tiny houses, I became fascinated by the vast number of variable design solutions that were covered. But in terms of sustainable design, the discussed works were rather Americanized, offering no opportunities to showcase ideas from other parts of the world. As well the works that were presented were outdated and irrelevant to the direction that today’s sustainable motives are heading towards. Some of the materials used in creating these houses involved taking from the natural environment, whereas temporary homes and offices built today offer much more sustainable solutions such as reusing recycled materials. What’s more, the rationales behind some of these designs do not fit well with the simplistic demands of our current urban society. This book offers a historical approach towards temporary housing solutions, but I would not recommend it if you are a person living in the present.

Rating (1-5 = awful to fabulous): 3