The first-ever chronological survey of the greatest examples of log houses designed in Europe and the United States includes photographs, plans, and little-known drawings from such celebrated Modern-era architects as Eliel Saarinen, Adolf Loos, Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, and others.

Master of the cut and paste art technique, Giles Laroche takes readers on a storytelling journey around the world that celebrates the diversity of homes and the people who are shaped by them. Step into unique homes from around the world and discover the many fascinating ways in which people live and have lived. If you lived in the mountains of southern Spain, your bedroom might be carved out of a mountain. If you lived in a village in South Africa, the outside of your house might tell the story of your family. And if you lived in a floating green house in the Netherlands, you could rotate your house to watch both the sunrise and sunset. With intricate bas-relief collages, Giles Laroche uncovers the reason why each home was constructed the way in which it was, then lets us imagine what it would be like to live in homes so different from our own. Showing the tremendous variety of dwellings worldwide—log cabins, houses on stilts, cave dwellings, boathouses, and yurts—this book addresses why each house is build the way that it is. Reasons—such as blending into the landscape, confusing invaders, being able to travel with one's home, using whatever materials are at hand—are as varied as the homes themselves. List of Houses included: Dogtrot log house, based on dogtrots built in the southern U.S. Chalet, based on chalets built in the Austrian Alps. Pueblo, Taos, New Mexico Connected barn, based on connected barns common in northern New England. Cave dwelling, Guadix, Andalucia, Spain Palafitos (house on stilts), Chiloe Island, Chile Palazzo Dario, Venice, Italy Chateau La Brede, Bordeaux, France Tulou, Hangkeng village, Yongding, China Half-timbered houses, Miltenberg am Main, Germany Greek island village houses, Astipalaia Island, Greece Decorated houses of Ndebele, Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa Yurt, based on yurts in Mongolia and other parts of central Asia. Airstream trailer, USA Floating house, Middleburg, the Netherlands Tree house, USA

Durable, esthetically pleasing, and environmentally friendly. These are just some of the features of a handcrafted Northern European log house. And the dovetail is one of the oldest traditional corner notch types used in their construction--even today, builders recommend this fairly easy technique for long-lasting and fully scribed log houses. This is the second book in the Traditional Finnish Log House series. Inside you'll find detailed instructions on how to make the dovetail notch when building a log home's shell, one log at a time. Whether you're are an experienced builder or a novice to the craft of log building, this book is a great way to get started on your own project. The dovetail notch type is an ancient Scandinavian log house building method developed over centuries by masters of the craft. The only changes have been the preferred tools used--like chainsaws and log scribes--primarily adopted for ease of use and speed. As you'll soon see, it's most important to always make sure each log is properly placed before drawing cut lines. But the real secret of the building technique described in this book is its efficiency--each phase has to be done only once avoiding unnecessary steps. But don't be deceived by this fact, there's still plenty of challenge left when building a traditional wooden house using a dovetail notch.

The idea that 'home' is a special place, a separate place, a place where we can be our true selves, is so obvious to us today that we barely pause to think about it. But, as Judith Flanders shows in this revealing book, 'home' is a relatively new concept. When in 1900 Dorothy assured the citizens of Oz that 'There is no place like home', she was expressing a view that was a culmination of 300 years of economic, physical and emotional change. In The Making of Home, Flanders traces the evolution of the house across northern Europe and America from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century, and paints a striking picture of how the homes we know today differ from homes through history. The transformation of houses into homes, she argues, was not a private matter, but an essential ingredient in the rise of capitalism and the birth of the Industrial Revolution. Without 'home', the modern world as we know it would not exist, and as Flanders charts the development of ordinary household objects - from cutlery, chairs and curtains, to fitted kitchens, plumbing and windows - she also peels back the myths that surround some of our most basic assumptions, including our entire notion of what it is that makes a family. As full of fascinating detail as her previous bestsellers, The Making of Home is also a book teeming with original and provocative ideas.

"Waselkov's collection of essays on Native American log cabins in the southeast stems from a session presented for the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) in Athens, Georgia. The essays range in focus from Cherokee domestic space to Seminole architecture to the influence of enslaved Africans in the region"--

For generations, children have loved playing with LINCOLN LOGS building sets and discovering just how inventive they can be. The brainchild of John Lloyd Wright (son of the famous architect), these interlocking logs open up endless possibilities for kids: anything a child can dream up, he or she can build. Plus, every time kids place the logs in position, they’re enhancing their manual dexterity. But there is one thing this wonderful plaything has never had: a detailed manual that explains exactly how to create specific projects. Finally, it’s here, complete with an interactive, easy-to-use CD-ROM that lets children (and probably more than a few grownups with fond memories!) go straight to the directions they need. Blueprints lay out every step that goes into constructing a bank, barn, farmhouse, firehouse, frontier tower, multiple cabins, and much more.

Designed to bring the true spirit of cabin style back to its roots, Robbin Obomsawin's latest book Log Cabin Classics is inspired by nostalgic, old-world cabins and filled with tips for meeting today's current needs. Since place-not space-is what true harmony with nature and cabin living is about, Log Cabin Classics includes practical construction advice, straightforward and creative design, advice on using local materials and choosing a site, architectural details, and handcrafted artistry. These principles are applied to a collection of one-of-a-kind plans you can use as springboards for creating your own "log cabin classic." Log Cabin Classics features 20 classic cabin designs under 1,500 square feet. Robbin Obomsawin is the construction manager and general contractor for Beaver Creek Log Homes. She has served as vice president of the American/Canadian Log Builders Association for Handcrafters. She is the author of Small Log Homes, Best Log Home Plans and The Not So Log Cabin. She lives in Westdale, New York.

Homesteading is a lifestyle that people around the world gravitate toward—and for good reason. In today’s high-stress world, many people dream of heading off to their own cabin in the woods or to their large rural oasis to escape the anxieties and complexities of daily life, to live in a more natural state. Others have embraced the agricultural lifestyle of farming as a career, serving as fundamental contributors to sustaining society. With this classic guide from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), learn about the architecture of rural life and the design elements of these amazing structures. This manual, originally published and distributed in 1972, includes government-issued designs and requirements for log cabins, farmhouses, firepits and barbecues, greenhouses, storage sheds, stables, and more! Black-and-white diagrams and illustrations fill these pages, displaying the intricacies and dimensions of these incredible structures in their entirety. Brimming with ideas and inspiration, Log Cabins and Outbuildings is the perfect starting point for building your new rural retreat.

Although the log cabin is widely believed to be the one expression of indigenous American architecture, it is, in fact, of European origin, having been first introduced in the New World by Swedes and Finns who settled the lower Delaware Valley in the seventeenth century. Log buildings were unknown to the English colonists of Jamestown, Plymouth, and St. Marys, or the Dutch founders of New Amsterdam, who built the kinds of dwellings they had known in their homelands. Because it was perfectly adapted to the needs and resources of pioneers as they advanced the American frontier south and west through forests and across mountains, the log house became the means whereby a man could keep moving and yet maintain a home and family, and much of America's historycan be traced in the cabins left behind in the westward trek.-- book jacket