The Tiny Houses of Black Rock City: Rites of Passage

This year’s Burning Man was a rite of passage for two of our good friends who decided to come along with my husband and me to this popular event. It was their first time attending, and many of our discussions revolved around how impressed they were with the organization and creativity of the event…especially the building of Black Rock City. I agreed that the ingenuity of the camps and shelters that make up the city grows each year.

The art, the shows, the dancing, the fires and fireworks are all wonderful, but personally, my favorite part of Burning Man is visiting the camps and admiring the multitude of styles and designs of shelters. These shelters (most of them specific to Burning Man) are built to create shade from the blistering sun, as blocks against the wind that sweeps across the desert, and to protect Burners from the ubiquitous dust that gets over everything. Each year I’m in awe with how the artists transport these structures across the country and erect them in this stark desert, only to take them down again a week later.

This year the weather couldn’t have been better. The dust was minimal, the winds were mellow and the temperatures were fairly low. In fact, you needed a shelter warm enough for the very cold nights that affected most Burners this year. Here are a few of my favorite tiny houses of Black Rock City 2011.

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Sir James

At this year’s Burning Man, I was thrilled to find this modified gypsy caravan right next door to my camp. The builders of this unique rig are Christy Horne and Michel Olson, and they were kind enough to give me more information about their comfortable, tiny house which they named Sir James.

Sir James started his life as an 8×12 dual axel car trailer from California Custom Trailers. The trailer came licensed with brakes and everything for $1,700. The house was made with a welded iron “cage” and then wood, tarpaper and plywood layers were all bolted into the cage. It’s 7 feet wide by 12 feet long and it took 4 months to build. Sir James is Michel’s second of four original designs.

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The Tiny “Houses” of Black Rock City

For only a week out of each year, Black Rock City, the home of Burning Man, is the fourth largest city in the state of Nevada. While the festival participants’ camps are only temporary, a lot of work goes into creating a comfortable, beautiful tiny shelter. These tiny “houses” have … Read more