Master builder Louie Frazier's Japanese-style pole house in Northern California, reachable on a 500" cable across a river / Ian MacLeod's handbuilt stone house in South Africa, where baboons jump on the roof at night / Ma Page's bottle house in the Nevada desert / artist Michael Kahn's semi-subterranean sculptural ivillage in Arizona / Bill and Athena Steen's strawbale houses / Ianto Evans' cob houses in Oregon / the Archlibre group of countercultural builders in the French Pyrenees / Bill Coperthwaite's spectacular 3-story yurt in the Maine woods / Bill Castle's finely-crafted log home and...

A continuation of Lloyd Kahn s journeys into the creative processes of owner-built homestheir innovative techniques, use of sustainable materials, and essential dedication to the natural elements surrounding their designs Builders of the Pacific Coast explores the aesthetics and skills of three master builders in California, Washington state, and the rugged terrain of British Columbia. The three featured craftsmen Lloyd House, Bruce Atkey, and Sun Ray Kelley combine imaginative architecture with innovative contexts: everything from unusual house-boats to sculptural dwellings made of...

There's a grassroots movement in tiny homes these days. The real estate collapse, the economic downturn, burning out on 12-hour workdays - many people are rethinking their ideas about shelter - seeking an alternative to high rents, or a lifelong mortgage debt to a bank on an overpriced home. Homes on land, homes on wheels, homes on the road, homes on water, even homes in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.
There are 1,300 photos, showing a rich variety of small homemade shelters, and there are stories (and thoughts and inspirations) of the...