For over 30 years Timberline Geodesics in Berkeley California has been providing the plans, materials and expertise for the do-it-yourself homebuilder. The dome shape has been an architectural icon for thousands of years, yet we don’t see it very often in American residential architecture as a structural element. Most of the American residential architecture landscape looks as if a child was asked to draw a house and dimensions were added as an after thought.
Timberline Geodesics is not just for the do-it-yourself type, they are for the architecturally adventurous. This company’s patented bracket and ledger system makes them unique among geodesic domes.
Can Modern Housing Help the Masses?
As this blog begins to explore modern design, some attention should be devoted to those who have little to nothing in the way of decent shelter. It has been said that nearly 3 billion peole in the world live on less that two dollars a day. With such financial hardship, the people who live in poverty can hardly be expected to pull themselves together and spruce up their neighborhoods like a home makeover show. Just surviving is going to be the mission of every day.
Considering we live in an age of mass produced products, why hasn’t a decent and affordable manufactured home product come to fuition? Sure, there are trailer homes and temporary buildings. These kind of structures look bare and try be something more than they can be, thereby never establishing an original design grammar that can be respected.
Surely with all our ability to innovate, someone could come up with a happy medium between cardboard boxes plus scrapwood and a full wood framed traditional house?
So people could avoid living like this:
And possibly look forward to something more like this:
The paper tube home designed by Shigeru Ban.
It may not be obvious but beauty in one’s surroundings does affect one’s outlook on like and self esteem. This picture of some temporary paper tube houses designed by Shigeru Ban gives an idea that simple and modest can be beautiful and more importantly dignifying. It’s not a complete answer to poverty of course but the design is so simple and clean it deserves honorable mention.