small houses 03

location: 325 w154th ave., san leandro, ca
so this was my own "small house" project. back about five years ago when i was out of work, i was looking for something to do and i read this article in my wife's martha stewart magazine about these guys who build fishing sheds in minnesota. they pride themselves in keeping the price on these projects to a minimum by using a lot of found materials and then completing the look to reflect their taste. before i lost my job i came across this pile of lumber next door to where i worked. they were setting up a wine storage facility and had unloaded crates and crates of storage lockers outside. i asked what they planned to do with all the lumber and they said they were going to get a dumpster and toss it all. so, enter me with a work truck. that pile of lumber sat outside my house all winter, but when summer came along i put it to good use. i wanted to build a little house. a space defined by the constraints of budget and resource and skill. and i wanted it to be a space for nothing other than sitting in. like the little hut toshiro mifune bides his time in, in yojimbo. i've done some construction work before, but this was more like an art project. the only tools i used were a skilsaw and cordless drill. i was also inspired by the book wabi-sabi by leonard koren. he studied architecture, but the only thing he ever built was an eclectic tea house. all total i spent around forty bucks on this thing. and now i know when the chips are down, with a little time and patience i can afford shelter.