The house itself would be covered in sheets of Corten steel, pre-weathered by their Kansas City fabricator. The roof and other exposed surfaces would also be metal. And the windows would be strong enough to withstand sustained 140-mile-per-hour winds, with gusts up to 200 miles per hour, a requirement in “high velocity hurricane zones” unless … Read more
In a place where most contemporary buildings are constructed of concrete and cooled via standard air conditioning units, Issoufou’s work demonstrates that traditional techniques and site-derived materials are not only better for the environment, but also a high-performance option for the people who will occupy them. Light-Touch Living in New Zealand “Māori, New Zealand’s indigenous … Read more
After several exasperating Zillow searches through Portland, Oregon’s increasingly expensive housing market, Gaby Colón and Daniel Quebral scrapped their plans for a traditional home and embraced the open road, buying a 315-square-foot home on wheels. “Rent is crazy right now, and housing prices are even worse,” Colón says. “We just wanted to get out of … Read more
The pair had already discovered a shared zeal for unusual homes and big projects. In 1982, they impulsively paid $8,000 for the bones of a dilapidated wooden tugboat. “The wood was so rotten, you could grab handfuls of the bulwarks with your bare hands,” Brand wrote in How Buildings Learn. The tugboat, named Mirene, was … Read more