YURTS: Living in the Round

and in New York (at Cooper-Hewitt)!

Coming in March...an "art yurt" at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum!

 The Cooper-Hewitt exhibit Fashioning Felt, which runs from March 6 through Sept. 7, 2009, will feature a yurt installation by hand-felter Janice Arnold. Arnold (top right photo) will create a palace yurt, inspired by "the traditional dwelling of the tribal leader," in the museum’s conservatory. The yurt will have a ceremonial entrance; the surrounding glass walls and ceiling of the conservatory will be draped in a soft, felted material of Arnold’s creation. In the photo at left you see Arnold and her assistant in Olympia, Washington, working on a piece for the installation.

The Fashioning Felt exhibit provides a comprehensive overview of the uses of felt, with more than 70 works covering themes from historic examples and handmade felt innovations to contemporary industrial uses in fashion, architecture, product design and home furnishings.

To whet your appetite, here's a photo of felt being "fashioned" into yurt walls on the plains of Mongolia. Notice the man at the back sprinkling water on the wool. From here it will be rolled around a post, tied with fresh animal skins and dragged behind two horses for a number of hours until the wool has enmeshed itself into felt. For more pictures and a complete description, see Chapter 2 of YURTS: Living in the Round.

The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is located on Museum Mile at the corner of 91st Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City (2 East 91st Street).

Plans are being made for the exhibit to travel to various locations after the run in at the Cooper-Hewitt.

Yurts in Paris!

Yurts in Paris?
 In 2003, inspired and organized by renowned French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertand, six directors set off across the world to "interview the inhabitants of the planet" on life's essential questions. Six thousand interviews later they had visited over 65 countries and filmed over 4500 hours of footage.

This month 450 hours of translated interviews will be shared with the world through an exhibit titled "6 Billion Others" at the Grand Palais in Paris. The showing takes place in twenty-five yurts set up as individual theaters. Each yurt theater is dedicated to one of 25 fundamental life questions ranging from money to family, love and happiness. Visitors (including over 140 school classes) will wander from yurt to yurt listening to the subtitled interviews and pondering their own relationship to life's questions.

Colorado Yurt Company created the yurts in a rainbow of colors and says they are "thrilled and honored" to participate. "Our contemporary re-engineering of the traditional yurt appealed to the artist and designers in Paris," said owner Emma Kiger. "The yurt structure is simple and elegant, plus it has the allure of a traditional, nomadic dwelling."

Want to see 25 yurts go up in three minutes? Check out this YouTube Video! You can also learn more about this amazing project and event at the "6 Billion Others" (6 milliards d'autres) website.

The show runs from January 11 through February 12. After it closes in Paris there are plans to take the show to other locations, including  San Francisco. Keep an eye out--those yurts just might show up in your city!

Many congratulations to Colorado Yurt Company for your participation in this great event!

May 2009 be a great year for everyone in the yurt family...

becky

Sierra Magazine yurt story

People often ask me about my own story--how I first got involved with yurts, why I wrote the book, and so on. You'll find part of the story in the "Comfort Zone" column of this month's Sierra Magazine.

And yes, that's my yurt in photo on the left--in north Idaho, in the winter. It's beautiful here!

My yurt is currently on loan to a friend, but I hope to have all the parts back by April so I can get it back up this May. Perhaps some of you can come help me put it up? I think we'll be putting up a smaller yurt at the same time, maybe a tipi or two as well. We'll post the dates at www.themedicinecircle.org. See you there!

Home is where the yurt is...

becky

For Yurt Builders--a Holiday Gift

    I recently received an email from yurt builder Steve Hammond of Moorestown, New Jersey, with a most generous offer. Steve has built a few Mongolian gers over the years and the "four wall" ger you see on the right is his latest.
    Well, as Steve put it, he "just got the bug to write down what I found as aids for my particular path", adding pictures to illustrate. He offered to send me the file so that I could share it with potential yurt builders in the hopes that "readers might find a few insights to their dilemmas in what I have learned from others."
   So here it is, 56 pages of photos and helpful tips for yurt builders, new and experienced. Click here to Download Steve_Hammond_Ger_Instructions.

    If you're in North America and are interested in building your own traditional yurt, you might consider attending a workshop with Alex and Selene Cole of Little Foot Yurts in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (Canada).
    The 2009 workshops are happening January 9-11 and January 16-18. The two and a half day workshop covers the basics of yurt construction and includes coppicing (a sustainable method of timber harvesting common in Europe). You will leave with the practical skills to start building your own yurt, and the cost is only $250. Families are welcome, too! For the full agenda and registration information go to their website at www.lfy.ca.

 Wishing all you builders great success with your projects. Don't forget to look at the resources listed at www,yurtinfo.org and check out the Builders' Discussion on our Forum.

Best of luck with your projects,

becky

Holiday Yurt Greetings

    In lieu of a Christmas Card, I'd like to forward this enchanting winter photo of a Scottish yurt, sent my way by Paul Spencer of Highland Yurts in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Paul can be seen at right peeling a log with a draw knife). Paul tells me he will be offering some yurt making workshops this coming year (check the yurtinfo.org Calendar for a posting of workshop dates) and that he's working on providing yurt camping in the Scottish Highlands.
    One of the delights of this season is hearing from yurt builders in all parts of the world--from Europe to China and New Zealand. It's amazing how broad this yurt phenomenon is. Each place on the planet modifies the design to fit their local climate and lifestyle needs, but all share in that marvelous roundness and sense of uplift.

    I hope you are staying cozy in your yurt (or cool in the Southern Hemisphere). May you enjoy a special Solstice, a Merry Christmas and a joyous Holiday Season.

Yurts,
becky

Modern Green Yurt wins Design Award

     Congratulations to  yurt builder and designer extraordinaire Howie Oakes of Go Yurt Shelters for being First Place Winner of a Portland Spaces Design Award for his Modern Green Yurt.

 The Awards article has this to say about the thirteen foot yurt:
    Inspired by innovations in sailboat design, Oakes has used breathable canvas; curved, linseed-oiled birch; and stainless steel hardware to build a functional and elegant hideaway. The structure can be assembled by one person in an hour, and the heaviest component weighs a mere 30 pounds.

A true family business, you can read the Go Yurt story here or learn more about the award. But don't try to reach Howie over the Christmas holidays. He'll be camping with his family on the beaches of Baja--in a yurt, of course.

Tip of the week--don't forget to pick up an extra hot water bottle at your local drugstore to keep your feet warm this winter! Throw it in your bed 30 minutes before you get in and your bed will be toasty warm.

Home is where the yurt is,

becky

Yurts and Blogs...

One of my favorite publishers is Shelter Publications of Bolinas, California. Remember the book Shelter (left), which inspired so many handmade houses in the 1960's and '70's? Then came Home Work (right), the pictorial record of 35 years of those inspired handbuilt houses--the ultimate dream book.

Now there's a new release, Builders of the Pacific Coast.
Reviewer Mike Litchfield says,
...on every page is something shocking and delightful. A boat with legs. A roof like a leaf. A caravan with eyes. A split-cedar woodshed shaped like a bird. Stair rails so sinuous and snakey they might come to life and grab you. Sculpted earth walls. Round windows and arched doors. Roofs curved like seagull wings. Grottos choked with ferns and flowers...

Check it out for yourself at www.shelterpub.com.

You'll also want to see publisher Lloyd Kahn's blog for more photos of this tapered wall greenhouse (Oct. 31 post), plus wonderful stories of his travels and lots of amazing shelter images.

Yurts and cold climates

      One of the questions I get asked the most is, "Do yurts work in cold climates?"

       Yes they do. All my yurt living has been done in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, and I've found yurts to be very cozy and efficient to heat. Like any home, you have to do some insulating and cover up those drafty spots (I hang recycled theatre curtains over my yurt windows in the winter).

      If you want to get a glimpse of yurt life in a truly cold climate ("Our nighttime temps fall to -25 to -30 F..."), check out the amazing blog Yurts N Dogs, the ongoing story of a yurt family in Alaska. Right now hubby Rick is racing in the Iditarod (dogsled race), so it's an exciting time to check in.

      And there's a nice little piece on Mongolian vacation choices and The Concept of Havuu from a travelers' blog.

      Be warm, be well, and remember...

                        Home is where the yurt is....

And now...a word about Our Sponsors

    Yes folks, I was able to spend this past year traveling the country talking with all of YOU about yurts because I have SPONSORS. These are visionary companies who agreed that it was in everyone's best interests for me to pursue spreading the news and answering your questions about this affordable, accessible, aesthetic and amazing shelter we call the Yurt.

    I went to these companies for sponsorships after my book came out because I knew them and respected their products and business practices. (I've owned yurts from two of the companies.)  And now I'd like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my tour sponsors (drum roll, please):  Colorado Yurt Company, Rainier Yurts and Pacific Yurts. Without them it wouldn't have been remotely possible to do what I did this past year!

    All three companies have also participated as sponsors for my yurtinfo.org website, along with GoYurt Shelters. This has enabled me to completely update and redesign the website, making it easier to navigate and adding information that is useful to everyone. For example, I've added a couple of excerpts from my book on "How to Buy a Yurt" and "Building Codes", plus new pages on Yurt Workshops, Yurt Financing and Yurt Consulting. Coming soon, to a laptop near you...(hopefully by March at the latest)!

Winter Yurt Musings...

Snow is falling, and falling… and falling... here in the mountains of north Idaho. It’s a great time to think, to write, to reflect on what has transpired this past year.

It’s been over a year since my first blog entry.  A year of traveling the country and sharing my slideshow, "YURTS: Big Life, small footprint," with readers, builders and yurt enthusiasts from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine.

In these next blogs I’ll look back at some of the questions you asked me while I was out on the road, and some that have come through on my yurt website and forum.

I’d also like to share some of the new yurt resources I’ve found while updating the website. Like, for example, this YouTube yurt video of a multiplex yurt in the UK all decked out Krygyz-style for a party! And these fun scenes from Simply Yurts, an event rental company in Devon, UK.

Thank you for joining me on my yurt blog, and please do continue to leave your comments and questions. I’ll do my best to answer what I can and find other experts to contribute as well…