DIY Nomadic Living

A few days ago I got remembered of Ken Isaacs’ classic book ‘How To Build Your Own Living Structures’ (which you can find in our online library) when I came across the website of Jeff and Arlene, a married couple who decided to build a tiny, sustainable house. On wheels. They started a blog to report about how their ambitions turned into reality, and to share their experiences with the small house scene and just anyone who is interested.

Jeff and Arlene’s cottage is 8.5’ wide and 24’ long, and contains different recycling systems, such as a composting toilet and re-use of water. The two built their tiny house on wheels with VOC free, high quality materials. “It will be very energy efficient with minimal material usage or solid waste going into a landfill. Interesting is their intention to live a nomadic life with the house, which is possible, as the size of their creation makes it possible to live on a surface as small as a parking place. “Without a mortgage we will have more freedom and options. This is our solution to help with environmental concerns and sustainability while lowering our living expenses.” If more people would do such a thing, we would come a step closer to modular neighborhoods in which people could plug in and plug out their homes. Recently Jeff and Arlene moved their house into Seattle.

Check out their photoset on Picasa if you want to see more of the building process. If you’re interested in the tiny house movement, you should definitely look at the list of links on their blog. I was pretty amazed by this true ecological subculture. For instance, give this blog a look. Very nice for flexible and parasite architecture enthusiasts.