Lloyd has a lifelong fascination with shelter, and this conversation, we trace the steps of how an insurance broker in San Francisco built his own home and slowly transitioned to publishing internationally about Geodesic Domes, Tiny Houses, Mobile Houses, Driftwood Shelters and more. DIY building. While many thousands of the homes that Lloyd has documented over the years are small or tiny, he’s got a healthy amount of skepticism about the tiny home movement.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about Lloyds books, his original influences of the counter culture of the 1960’s, and how the concept of shelter has changed over the years.

In This Episode:

How did Lloyd’s fascination with shelter begin?

Why Lloyd’s 1973 book Shelter is the most important of his work

Why Lloyd decided to pull his Dome Books off the shelves even though they were selling

Why Lloyd says that Builders of the Pacific Coast is Lloyds favorite book

Lloyd tells the story of meeting and building with Derek ‘Deek’ Diedricksen

Why Dome homes have fallen out of favor (and Lloyd is more than okay with that!)

How Lloyd got into publishing in the first place

What is causing the current fascination with tiny houses?

Lloyds advice for first-time DIY home builders

Lloyds two favorite houses of all times

Lloyd’s take on aging well (He’s 83!)

Lloyds new book coming soon: The Half Acre Homestead (it sounds amazing!)

Links and Resources:

Lloyd Kahn's Building Books (Direct) (Amazon)

Dave Sellers

Yestermorrow School

Stretching by Bob Andersen

Getting Back in Shape by Bill Pearl

Galloway’s Book on Running

West With the Night

The Owner Built Home – Ken Kern

Your Engineered House – Rex Roberts

Hand Made: The Half-Acre Homestead