Truly Trullo

[Warm Worm]

Sweet:

[Warm Worm]

First link's correction from previous post:

[RicodJour]

They're commonly known as trulli - the plural. It's funny, but when I read Trullo I had no idea at all what your post was about. What a difference a letter makes.

I've been to Italy a bunch of times, but never visited Puglia. Next time I will make the effort.

R

[Warm Worm]

It makes me recall the catenary dome stuff you'd mentioned. A different technique I suppose, but maybe some similarities. I've never been to Europe yet, but would love to visit Italy especially... ideally before we run out of cheap oil/flights. See you in Puglia.

[RicodJour]

WTF are you waiting for? Hie thee to Europa, man!

R

[Warm Worm]

I'll try I'll try!

[Warm Worm]

Looks ok, but I've been approaching architecture more with a build-it- yourself with local natural materials bent. These buildings tend to be, by my eye, generally the most beautiful. Even when they're ugly, there's still something that can be said beautiful about them. Like most women, I suppose, (and how those 6 trullis in a row look like 3-- tatooed, sunbathing and with very skimpy tops ;) For example, I wonder about those domes' embodied energy (how much fuel/energy was used to produce/ship them), their material sources (polyester resin? Oil?) as well as shipping and repair costs/ dependencies and so forth.

"It really is quite difficult to build an ugly wooden boat"

-- Unknown (read on Wooden Boat magazine I think)

(short- not too long to download) LOL

"Trulli are now considered Unesco World Heritage sites..."

How about that!

[Warm Worm]

Well ok. :) ...Maybe I can insert a simple reciprocal rafter system inside to help buy me some time to get out before being squished. I'd hate to get squished alive.

But apparently they're old, and thus have survived for quite some time already (although maybe they've been rebuilt many times?). They're also round (plan/wall), which may be one of the better shapes to resist lateral forces, for example, and have very thick non- mortared walls (up to 6 feet thick!), which may help to introduce some sliding flexibility (although again, I'm unsure this is necessarily a good thing). But, sure, they may collapse, but they're supposed to be easy to rebuild. And since AFAIK, they're usually one floor and small, they should be easy and fast to evacuate, should an earthquake arrive.

Of course, in the final analysis, you build for local, so if earthquakes are of particular issue there, then you don't build what's going to collapse easily! or adapt your structures for them and either forget about building a trullo or retrofit one if feasible.

[Warm Worm]

You help keep me round and warm, Ken.

Unsure if an earthquake would wake me up, but I imagine that one that would destroy my trullo would.

I'm not that smitten with Trulli's, at least out of the context in which they are, but who knows. If the context changes in their favour, I'll certainly consider it. Unsure this is true, though, or if it was misread, but I think I just read that Italy legally forbids building new Trulli... which isn't to say I couldn't build one elsewhere.

I sure am finding a lot of ways to build one's own house relatively easily and cheaply. Thank goodness for the natural way.

[RicodJour]

:

I'm thinking a yurt. Portable, shippable, your home...errr...at home. It's a camping spot, temporary lodging/storage/work space, earthquake proof, chicks dig 'em, and you can channel your inner ancestor while schtupping and shvitzing. It's semi-camouflaged, easy modifiable for local climate conditions, could easily be made modular with a whole range of materials.

This is up Ken's alley. He'd be able to put the house wherever he need to put it on his lot. Don't like the neighbors? Move away...another 50' should do it. ;)

R

[Warm Worm]

te:

I've not been too pumped about yurts, maybe in part because of their temporary/camping/tent-like quality about them, but I'll try to get around to properly looking into what they're all about, especially if you think I should. Do you have one, BTW, and if so, how do you find it? Or have you ever tried one?

[creative1986]

e:

rote:

Did I ever tell you about my pneumatic tent? Double walled (insulation), self inflating, lightweight, waterproof, energy efficient and inexpensive. Its inflated with one of those hand held battery (solar?) powered vacuums. Because it is lightweight it must be anchored to the ground. Yes, even the floor is filled with air.

[Warm Worm]

te:

Yay! =3D)

Sort of, in a few locales. Even Mexico and overseas. I have my work cut out for me.