Sugar Shack, A 20th Century Yurt

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Three years ago, my husband and I bought a four-acre lot, on the outskirts of Tucson, with the intention of building "someday". The mobile home we lived in at the time was too large for us (since our children were grown and had left home), and besides, we wanted to try our hand at constructing a "real" house.

We knew that taking on such a project would be—to say the least—ambitious I had only a little relevant experience, having helped my first husband and my father erect a house on a five-acre homestead in the late 50's. And Jerome, my spouse, had had no house-building background at all. However, his job involved doing a bit of plumbing ... and as a young man on a farm, he'd learned something about rough carpentry and wiring.

Also, we had a few good do-it-yourself books at our disposal ... one son who's a skilled carpenter, and another in the home maintenance business ... and access to numerous self-help stores and lumberyards near our property. So we felt fairly confident that we could tackle the building project and—if necessary—holler for assistance along the way. Mostly, though, we Simply had a lot of stubborn determination to prove (to ourselves and others) that we could construct something lasting and attractive with our own four hands!

In fact, only one question remained: just what would that "something" be?

LEARNING ABOUT YURTS

Fortune soon smiled on us, though , and we heard of a course in housing construction being offered by our area's university. We figured it was just what we needed, and hurried to enroll.

The class was taught by Don Schultz, a professor in the Systems and Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Arizona. It was a labor of love on Don's part ... since he's genuinely excited about the idea of people's pitching in and working together to build low-cost housing for themselves. And in the professor's mind, no structure lends itself better to such an end than the yurt: the traditional, dome-shaped dwelling used by the Mongolians for centuries. Don, however, had modified the design slightly, so that—rather than being perfectly round—a home based upon his plan would be polygonal (many-sided).

Such a structure, said Mr. Schultz, can be raised inexpensively.. even by a novice. All the wall sections can be built alike and then lifted into place, using conventional construction materials and techniques. Therefore, if the outside walls are made from standardized 8-foot-square panels, you can vary the size of the home simply by varying the number of outside panels. And since there are no supporting interior walls, posts, or pillars, every inch of inside space is usable

While the professor was conducting his class, he was also creating his own living quarters ... logically enough, a complex of three 14-sided yurts north of Tucson. He started by building a yurt garage, and went on to erect a two-yurt house: a living unit and a bedroom unit joined by an entry hall. We were fortunate in being able to see one of the yurts under construction and-later-to watch the final touches being added to the interior. It was obvious that Don had constructed a very beautiful, efficient, and unusual home... and we knew right then and there that a conventional house just wouldn't do for us. We wanted a yurt.

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