CUBIT?

I was looking for a name for my tiny house, and I spoke to my friend Patty about it. I had explained the project to her, and had commented on the fact that a sensible unit of measure kept popping up: the Cubit. Now I don't have any scholarly knowledge of the use or derivation of the cubit; I know that the Ark that Noah built was some number of cubits wide by some cubits long, etc. But I somehow got a notion that a cubit is the length of my arm when I square it, i.e. from my elbow to the tip of my fingers. And it occurred to me that a workspace should be about that deep. So should a seat. I'm about a cubit wide, and I take up about a square cubit of space, and I sit about a cubit off the ground. So I decided that I would explore the cubit through my design. Patty suggested I call my house Cubit, and so I have.

A Brief History of this Project

I have always been interested in leading a simple life and having a small ecological footprint. A few years back, when I ran across the designs and philosophy of Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House, I was enamored with the idea of a tiny low-impact house. I decided I would build one.

Recent developments in my career path have brought me an opportunity to continue a pursuit of higher education, a path with which I had parted 10 years prior. I became interested in studying design, and during the September '09 semester, I explored various approaches to design, and settled on the area of sustainable residential design. I am developing my own curriculum of studies with the help of my academic mentor, David Wheeler.

Last semester, in a design studio class with David, I decided that I would consider the design of a tiny house that had been in my head for a year. I did sketches, drawings and a model of the tiny house.

As I was developing my concentration of sustainable residential design, an idea coalesced that my tiny house would be a good model for sustainable design, and eventually my project found its place at the center of my studies. Every study that I would undertake would be a lesson which goes into the design of the tiny house, or else a lesson which comes from it. For example, this semester I am undertaking a study of Vernacular Architecture, which will inform my design by considering historical and cultural solutions to energy-efficiency and home construction. I am also doing a study in Energy-Efficient Windows and Doors, in which I will design and build the doors and windows of my house, and learn and process all the lessons that come from that experience.

I have found that Empire State College offers unique freedom in developing independent studies, which I have taken advantage of in my curriculum, developing a template of studies which will follow each stage of the construction of my tiny house.

Plans & Elevations

Here are the plan and elevations that I developed over the course of last semester. They are not complete, but rather progress drawings. I have a difficult time completing anything or calling anything complete, because it is all a changing process. There are some fully formed ideas here, though, and anyway what I build will resemble this.

Design and Building of a Tiny House

Welcome to my blog. I will be documenting an educational project that I have undertaken: the design and building of a tiny energy efficient home.

This project is the basis of my undergraduate studies at Empire State College in Saratoga Springs, NY. I am pursuing my Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Residential Design. Working with my academic mentor, David Wheeler, I have designed a degree program which is based on the practical lessons which derive from the experience of designing and building this project, and any successes or failures within the project.

I will be posting weekly (approximately) updates on my progress, thoughts and lessons learned.