yurt - Part 5

Exotik Innovations

Exotik’s founders, Michel Labadie and Debra Lamothe, founded each of their projects and prototypes on their personal values. Their primary concern was to achieve and surpass their own quality standards. With a mysterious mixture of creativity, meticulous detail and cultural sensitivity, Exotik Innovations stages a high quality product, combined with charm, rusticity, and durability.

Their combined professional experience counts almost 30 years with the Cirque du Soleil, as Project managers and event planners. They put to profit this experience, by betting on their own dreams and building a high quality product as innovative and original, based on values as enterprising as their past employer.

Tiny House in a Landscape

by Kent Griswold

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape is of a yurt set in a valley somewhere in Colorado. I am a big fan of yurts as I love there simplicity and ease of setting up. They seem perfect for a wilderness hideaway such as this one. Yurts are also used … Read more

Laurel Nest Yurts Workshop

by Kent Griswold

Laurel Nest Yurts is offering a workshop in the beautiful mountains outside of Santa Cruz, California and you are invited to join them to get some hands on experience in building a yurt. Laurel Nest Yurts is offering a “Complete Yurt Building Experience” and a DIY Yurt Building Workshop. Laurel … Read more

The circHouse Yurt

by Kent Griswold

Sarah one of my readers brought this new yurt to my attention. It is very unique and I think has some real possibilities. A company based in Colorado called circHouse has designed this visionary shelter that could be used for many activities, but I see the potential of a tiny house and a very modern take on the old fashioned yurt.

One of the issues with yurts that sends many people away is the fact that they are made of canvas or wood and usually have a lattice skeleton which blocks your view. A serious concern if you are in a beautiful area. circHouse has taken the age old shape of the yurt and put technology to work creating an innovative new structure. By utilizing polycabonate and acrylic wall structures, a recycled steel frame and natural wood paneling they have created a modern looking structure that is compact for shipping and that can be assembled in a few short hours.

Yurt Lady: Living in the Round

by Christina Nellemann

Happy Independence Day! With summer fully upon most of the country, let’s celebrate one of the best tiny houses for enjoying the outdoors. We’ve covered numerous yurts in the past, but Becky Kemery a.k.a.”The Yurt Lady” and her book, Yurts: Living in the Round, shows how these structures can be comfortable and elegant while still letting in the outdoors.

Becky has lived in yurts for many years in the mountains of the American Northwest. Her book was completed a few years ago while living in her own portable fabric yurt on a permaculture homestead in Idaho. She has also created an educational website called Yurt Info, a newsletter and a Facebook page for other yurt owners and fans of the wood and fabric buildings. The Yurt Info site offers information on how to buy or build a yurt, and includes a forum and links to numerous yurt videos and photo albums.

Pacific Domes

by Christina Nellemann

A friend of mine recently purchased a 20-foot Pacific Dome to be used as a meditation and yoga space for her and her husband’s spiritual group. I was surprised at how light and airy it looked, yet it’s sturdy enough to withstand our winter winds. I thought it might make a great tiny house.

Their Pacific Dome is attached to a temporary insulated foundation and the entire structure took about four days to erect. Currently the dome does not have insulation, but they plan to order a special cover to be used in the winter. A solar fan is attached to the outside to provide air circulation during the summer. So far the structure has been very sturdy…even in our area’s notorious winds and heavy snows. Unfortunately, a few neighbors reported the dome to the local building department and the department now wants a set of structural calculations about the dome which will be supplied by the engineer at Pacific Domes.