The theme of this year’s Burning Man had a few people scratching their heads. However, the idea of fertility taken to the next level describes the burgeoning annual event very well. Burning Man is a completely fertile location where spontaneous creativity and ideas are allowed to naturally flourish without any kind of expectations. The Burning Man website described it, and the community of Black Rock City, as a kind of giant petri dish. This year, out of that petri dish sprang a nice new crop of tiny structures and shelters that various Burners took with them out to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to live in for a week.
There were several actual “tiny houses” out there this year, including this one across the street from our own camp.
This hexayurt had a nice brick-sided addition added to it.
Some of my favorite camps usually include an interesting and upgraded trailer or camper. This truck included a dark place for sleeping away the morning.
This truck had a simple and wonderful yellow tent for sleeping.
This colorful trailer belonged to a lovely woman and was the base for her Black Rock City clothing boutique, The Naked Zebra.
Various forms of geodesic domes are popular in Black Rock City. Buckminster Fuller would be proud of this gauzy rendition.
This other white tent was made from a carport and was a semi-private sanctuary for its occupants.
TOGA! TOGA! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
This pink and orange confection was part of the popular Comfort & Joy camp.
This unusual structure was also across from our own camp and was made of scrap metal. The upstairs held a small bedroom.
This lighthouse was actually a piece of art rather than a camp or shelter, but I loved the way it looked. If it was a bit bigger, you could live in it quite comfortably in Black Rock City.
This was also an art piece on the playa called The Third Space. What looked like a comfortable place to lounge in the shade was actually made of thousands of zip ties.
The Black Rock City French Quarter made another appearance this year and I’m still amazed how the builders of this structure are able to get it out to the Nevada desert. The French Quarter contains a bakery, a gumbo shop, a bar and even a small version of the Café du Monde called the Café el Fin du Monde.
Photos by Christina Nellemann
By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]
blog is loading extremely slowly today.
Great pics. Thanks for sharing.
For more BM structures see Philippe Glade’s blog (and book) on the subject http://thisisblackrockcity.blogspot.com.es/
Thank You for fixing the blog it’s alot faster today……great pic’s to
“The Third Space” was my favorite, kind of a cocoon, but maybe not that comfortable being made of plastic ties. If it were made of tules, it would be indigineous.
Hi Susan. Actually the seating zip ties were curved under so they didn’t poke you. They were surprisingly bouncy and comfortable. Tules would be really comfy. 🙂
Thinking about a “drowning man” jamboree on the waters of lake Maurepas in Louisiana. A little trickier containing waste on the water. Not too hard to come up with floating stuff to support a bunch of folks, like the hydroplane races in lake Washington all based around a string of logs. Similar size to the dry lake bed where Black rock City springs up. Mud lump city? Not to be held in the summer, hurricane season.. November would work, water’s still warm.. May might work.. the man would be steel, standing in a big steel pan which would spring a “leak” on the day and sink, toppling the man, who would also slowly sink.. (water depth around ten feet) and get salvaged and stood back up in the anchored pan each successive year. or some such – to bring awareness to the plight of watery coastal marshes here abouts.