The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 7 of 23)
In this hemisphere the most important low cost, owner-built
housing research is being done at the Inter-American
Housing and Planning Center (Bogota, Columbia). Two years
ago this agency built a demonstration soil-cement house at
a cash cost of $375. Designed for the cool climate
prevalent on the Andean plains, the house has a living
room, kitchen, two bedrooms, covered porch, storage room,
shower, and laundry area, apart from an outside latrine.
Roof members were constructed with eucalyptus tree limbs.
Common clay tile was used for the roof, placed with a mud
mixture on a frame of split bamboo. The floor was
constructed of tamped earth, covered with a layer of weak
cement and soil-cement floor tiles.
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My personal approach to housing utilizes technical features
similar to those of the low-cost housing research mentioned
above. In following chapters on the subject, however, I
introduce an evolutional frame of reference. The
sort of house that I propose involves a process of growth
and development for its realization—not only from the
first conception of design and plan to the final nail that
is driven, but also an internal growth and maturation on
the part of the owner-builder. And the end-product is as
different from the reactionary contractor-built,
bank-sponsored, tract house as it is from the revolutionary
architect-designed, owner-financed suburban home.
What distinguishes my proposed evolutionary form of
owner-built home is its fitness for purpose and
pleasantness in use. Volume I of my thesis, under the
heading SITE AND CLIMATE, concerns the ways and means by
which one can relate the house to regional and landscape
conditions—heat and cold. Volume II includes chapters
which evaluate the potential MATERIALS AND SKILLS that go
into the owner-built home. Volume III deals with FORM AND
FUNCTION—the actual room planning aspects of the
owner-built home. Finally, Volume IV has to do with DESIGN
AND STRUCTURE. In this series I discuss at length the
various components of the house itself—from
foundation to roof covering.
In my judgment, a positive philosophical outlook and way of
life must necessarily precede the achievement of a quality
owner-built home. This is to say that a truly satisfying
home must develop from other and more subtle
patterns. The mere technical problems of building a home
are insignificant when compared to an understanding and
interpretation of one's innermost feelings and thoughts
concerning his shelter needs. But if these feelings and
thoughts are not consistently related and released in daily
activity, or if they become life-negative in orientation,
then one might just as well discount the prospect of
creating a satisfying home.
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