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Hiro and I are making progress on the dream home! In addition to the Shoebox House described earlier, we’re exploring another design concept called the Two Box House. Working with Ron Golan of (RGON Architecture), we’ve now have a 3D model of the rough schematic design. Here are the first renderings! (Note the shadows are a little wacky because the walls are made transparent.)

Parallel configuration

Perpendicular configuration

More images and info after the break!

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We have chosen a name for the trailer home Hiro and I are designing with RGON architecture.

“Shoebox House”

We’ve begun the mechanical design phase, one of the more precarious stages of the project.  This is where we take the basic room layout from the “schematic design” phase and figure out how it will actually work mechanically.  As the first-ever collapsible, 2-story mobile home, we face a number of significant technical challenges.  The good news is that I’ve received interest from a number of trailer manufacturers for fabrication of the chassis.

Wish us luck!

Here is a short video RGON made showing a rough concept of the Shoebox House frame!

(click images for larger ver)

We’ve made progress on the mobile home design.  Take a look and help us find a name for the home!

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As design work continues on the mobile home, I’ve recently read a number of books regarding architecture. I have tried to limit myself to information that can be had freely online and from books that can be borrowed from the library. What follows are a few thoughts on the ethics of building a home, and a review of the books and publications I’ve read thus far.

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I started doing a bit of research about the second half of the mobile-dream-home equation — parking the trailer home on an actual lot and tying it into the standard utilities.  The idea is that after spending a number of years in trailer parks getting a sense for the general livability of the house and livability of the town, we’d buy an actual lot and put the trailer home there.  The question is:

Do land-use restrictions make this illegal?

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I’ve been doing some research on trailer parks and I’m excited to learn that they’re a viable option. (more…)

One of my greatest dreams is to build my own home.  Hiro and I have been designing and collecting ideas and photographs for the past 5 or 6 years.  We’ve been using our various apartments as test grounds for different storage and furniture ideas.  And we take monthly overnight trips by bike and train to explore towns along the Metro rail to better know where we might want to live.

But despite all this work, the dream home feels far, far away.  Financially, building a home anywhere near Los Angeles will be a stretch.  Despite experience with basic woodworking and a few welding classes, the skills required to build our home still feel out of my league.  And we still don’t know what’s important to us in picking a place to live.

But two weeks ago, I had a breakthrough!!!

I’m going to build a mobile home!

Trailer home design concept

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