Lloyd Kahn

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lloyd Kahn
green architecture
green architecture movements. His book Shelter (1973) about DIY architecture, has sold more than 250,000 copies.[3][4]

He lives and works in Bolinas, Marin County, California.[5]

Early life

Kahn became interested in construction at age 12 when working on his family's house in Central Valley.[5] He earned a B.A. degree (1957) from Stanford University.[6]

During the late 1950s, while serving in the United States Air Force in Germany, Kahn ran the USAF newspaper for two years. He returned to California in 1960 to work as an insurance broker and in 1965 quit his insurance job and began work as a carpenter, eventually building four houses.[7]

Career in carpentry and construction

Kahn's first project was a sod-roof studio in Mill Valley, with succulents planted on the roof.[when?][citation needed] The second project was a used-wood, timber-frame Japanese and Bernard Maybeck-influenced design: a post-and-beam frame, with several 10-foot (3.0 m)-high poured concrete walls.[when?][citation needed]

Before these two jobs, he'd had little building experience, but quickly learned on the job.[citation needed] This is where he discovered the owner/builder perspective in learning to build. He tried to maintain this outlook throughout his publishing career, so he could explain building techniques to novice builders. He next got a job in Big Sur as foreman building a large post and beam house out of bridge timbers from a dismantled bridge; the main structural members were 30' long, 8' X 22" redwood beams. He then built his own home out of used lumber and hand-split shakes in Big Sur, developed a water supply, and terraced a hillside for small-scale farming.

Influenced by

geodesic domes.[2] This resulted in a job coordinating with Jay Baldwin the building of 17 domes at Pacific High School, an alternative school in the Santa Cruz mountains.[8] Experimenting with geodesic domes made from plywood, aluminum, sprayed foam, and vinyl, the children built their own domes and lived in them.[8]
Jay Baldwin built a dome covered with vinyl pillows. When Buckminster Fuller visited the school in 1970, he commissioned Baldwin to build a replica of the dome on his property in Maine. The school received media attention.

Work in editing and publishing

Kahn next worked for

Bolinas, California, and built a shake-covered geodesic dome (later featured in Life magazine). After living in his dome for a year, Kahn decided domes did not work well: he stopped the printing of Domebook 2 and disassembled and sold his dome.[7] He then went in search of other (non-dome) ways to build – across the U.S.A., Ireland, and England, and the book Shelter (1973) was the result.[9]

During the next two decades, Shelter Publications produced a series of fitness books, including Bob Anderson's Stretching (which has sold three million copies and is in 31 languages), Galloway's Book on Running by Olympian Jeff Galloway, and Getting Stronger by legendary bodybuilder Bill Pearl. From 1997 to 2015, Shelter Publishing also produced StretchWare, software by Bob Anderson that reminds you to stretch at your computer.[10]

In 2004, Kahn published Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter.

Johan van Lengen's The Barefoot Architect: A Manual on Green Building. Also in 2008, Kahn authored Builders of the Pacific Coast. Kahn authored a photo book about tiny houses, titled Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter published January 2012. Kahn's newest book is Tiny Homes on the Move published in April, 2014.[11]

In keeping with his fitness theme, Kahn, at the age of 76, continued to surf, paddle board, and skateboard (longboard).[12]

Photography

In 2016, Kahn had a solo exhibition of his photography, Lloyd Kahn: Driftwood Shelters, curated by Jennifer Gately at the Bolinas Museum.[13]

Publications

As author

As editor

As publisher

  • Stretching (publisher, 1980)
  • Galloway's Book on Running (publisher, 1984)
  • Getting Stronger (publisher, 1985)
  • Getting in Shape (publisher, 1995)
  • Marathon: You Can Do It! (publisher, 2001)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kahn, Lloyd, 1935-". LC Name Authority File (LCNAF), The Library of Congress.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-3-030-34766-6
    .
  3. ^ Green, Penelope (2020-04-29). "Lloyd Kahn, the king of DIY dwellings". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  4. ^ a b c d Gellner, Arrol (2004-07-28). "From haughty to humble among America's homes". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  5. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  6. ^ a b "Shelf Life". Stanford Magazine. 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  7. ^ a b Solomon, Avi (July 31, 2016). "Making Shelter Simple: An Interview with Lloyd Kahn". Medium.
  8. ^ a b Gordon, Alastair (2018-04-12). "Remembering Jay Baldwin, experimental geodesic dome champion". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  9. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  10. ^ "Lloyd Kahn, DIY Building Expert". Mother Earth News. 2013-03-05. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  11. ^ Publishers Group West Online Catalog
  12. ^ Whiting, Sam (2011-05-23). "Skateboarding keeps 76-year-old rider on his toes". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  13. ^ "Lloyd Kahn: Driftwood Shelters". Bolinas Museum. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  14. ^ "Book recommendations from Point Reyes Books". SFGATE. 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2022-05-03.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lloyd_Kahn&oldid=1198998766"