I live in a house now, that I grew up in. Ever since I was little I wanted to move, I wanted a different house, a different home. Two years ago, as a 16 year old, I saved up 4,000 dollars and bought a smaller trailer to convert into a “Tiny House”. This was a quick way to realize how hard it is to make what your dreaming of come true. I had no experience building, and was doing it all alone. But I am better at building now, than I was, and now I have a little home, that I dreamed and made a reality.
Although I built myself a little trailer that was every I wanted, it is not set up to live in long term. The main issue being the poor insulation, and little plug in space heater that heats up the air in only the top half of the trailer, and away from the walls. And of course you can just bundle up, which is what I did for most of the winter, but I was getting sick a lot, so decided to stay in my dads house again, where there is good insulation and a wood stove. Living in my trailer made me appreciate things like big windows, and waking up with sunshine filling the room. Or sleeping in a warm room even in the winter. Mainly having electricity at my disposal, to charge my phone or laptop. But even though I appreciate and enjoy these luxury’s more now, many of them I’d still rather live without.
Last fall, even though I could easily use my dads bathroom and shower, because it wasn’t my home, I would bathe in the river. I had bathed in the river as a child, playing in the water, or on camping trips, but never as a part of my lifestyle. When I think about building a home for myself, I think of eliminating things like electricity, and running water, because I know it forces me to engage with nature to meet my needs. I also have felt the challenges of living without those luxury’s, and how incompatible that way of living is with being a full time student and working a lot, and needing electricity and time. This incapability is why I see other people struggling to live more simply as well. Shifting the lifestyle of oneself, while the community remains the same is even more challenging than doing it together.
When dreaming of building a biophilic, sustainable home, it is more than just making walls that are thick, and 4 layer glass windows, the most efficient wood stove,and solar panels on your entire roof. I think that building a home is a balance between seeing what you already have and working to obtain the dream. Maybe building a biophilic home doesn’t start in the research of sustainable products, and blueprints, but walking outside. There are amazing buildings now, that are amazingly energy efficient, and spacious and filled with light and landscape views and lots of solar electricity. Costing lots and lots to build, and allowing people to live in a “biophilic ” home, with the same comforts of a typical american home. Maybe this is the answer for some, but I want to start with less. To start in the woods, alone, and go from there.
The specifics of what the finished product looks like is less important than the process. Although it is of course important. But we are already good at that. That is how we build house now, focused on the final picture. But what about the why? Should we be examining the process of building a home, and asking why we are doing things the way we are? Thinking of how the building choices will impact the way we view life and move through the space. Maybe we need to think about how we want to live, and then what home supports that lifestyle, rather than thinking of the home first.
When I was little I thought that just moving to a different, better, closer to perfect house would make it a better home. I can see now that what what makes something a home is more than just what the walls are made of. What makes it a biophilic home for me is the process, and the motivation behind the choices made during the building and design. Choices that come from love. Life Loving.
pondering sustainability 