Synopses & Reviews
A brief introduction to the construction and history of basic shelters. Shelter is one of our most basic needs, and throughout history mankind has been highly inventive in meeting it. Simple Shelters introduces the principal types of wooden and stick-frame structures built around the world, examining how their shape and form reflect cultural and cosmological considerations as well as climatic and utilitarian needs. Charting the gradual shift from the circular homes of the nomads to the rectangular ones favored by settled people, Jonathan Horning explores materials and construction principles over millennia, including the geodesic experiments of the twentieth century.
Synopsis
The need for shelter is one of mankind's most basic, and mankind has been inventive in creating homes to fill this need. This book looks at the principal types of wooden and stick frame structures built around the world, and examines how their shape and form reflect cultural and cosmological considerations as well as climatic and utilitarian ones. The book charts the gradual shift from the circular homes of nomads to the rectangular ones favored by settled people, and examines the new geodesic experiments of the 20th Century.
- Explore simple home materials: grasses, woven panels, bamboo, canvas, skin and bark
- Learn the characteristics of Native American tipis, yurts and their variations, and Bedouin tents
- Discover construction principles that make simple homes sound: "squared timber" and pegged mortise and tenon joints, geodesic domes, and triangularity
About the Author
Jonathan Horning has taught geometry and workshop skills at the Princes School of Traditional Arts in London for over 15 years. Also an experienced carpenter and joiner, he lives in Devon, UK, with his wife and children.