81 and looking…

Charles Bello

This past weekend my wife and I had the privilege to spend a lot of time with Charles. His choices are not the obvious ones. But at 81, if he can go up and down a hill multiple times a day, carve wood and build his own furniture, build a gallery for his work, have no dietary restrictions, wear no glasses, axe a perfectly solid log into two for firewood and grow his own food, then it will be unfair to not respect his choices. He nailed this one thing, Life.

45 years ago, he decided to go all in, dropped out, and bought a 400 acre landscape deep in Mendocino Redwoods. I learnt about the path that brought him there. Working as an architect in the Los Angeles and San Francisco area had not been fulfilling. Upon returning after living 2 years in New Zealand, he and his 6 months pregnant wife decided to do a “creative holiday resort in a remote location in the redwoods” rather than returning to urban life. They sought out the owner of this land and made the purchase without real estate broker or title company. Having no capital to build, they decided to grow a plantation of 10,000 plus Christmas trees for an income until they could save enough for the dream, which came into being 19 years later.

He and his late wife (unfortunately she passed away 3 years ago) built their own houses, their own water system from fresh water springs, bridges, trails and grew their own food and stayed deep into the Redwoods. That is unusual(for us) by any standards for a man who had a respectable college degree and great living back in 1960s. In the hindsight, his story is an inspiration for people who have had a chance to get a piece of him. His story is an opportunity for us to revisit our worldview. He is now a visiting lecturer at Kansas University. Architects from all over the globe have visited him to learn and get inspired.

20 years ago he and his wife built the Parabolic Glass House all by hand. It has been featured in Newyork Times. The house features ceiling to floor glass all the way around without interruption. It is like being out of doors. Its inspired. Its living sculpture designed to unite you with nature. Its closed. Yet its open.

We stayed in the Parabolic Glass House for 2 nights.

Parabolic Glass House deep in Redwoods

And we loved it. It was pure experience. One with nature, as to how it should be.