Tiny House Podcast with Lester Walker, Architect, The Original Tiny House Enthusiast

S1E26 Blasting Through the Past with Architect and Tiny House Grandfather, Lester Walker

Lester Walker was into tiny houses before they were even called that. While humans were being blasted into space in tiny capsules, he wondered about similar spaces on land for living in. Then, 20 years later, Lester won a competition to design a 1500 square foot house. From there his passion caught fire. He wondered “why we can’t build smaller?”...for all kinds of reasons. He wrote a book, then another. Lester, who could be considered the grandfather of tiny houses, today runs his successful architecture firm with his son Jess. On this episode we blast through Lester’s love of tiny houses and how for a time they captivated his attention.

Show notes:

Interest in tiny houses in 1961 began with NASA
You’re a winner!
Scavenger hunting yields tiny treasures
Getting away from the wives
Potato chips, kerosene, body odor and fish
You're in the pout house!
Grand Father of the tiny house movement
Good architecture doesn't have to be done by architects
“If I could draw all day every day I'd be happy”
Tiny houses to 15,000 square feet office buildings
Buy an Airstream
Getting rid of all our possessions
“A moment in my life I'll remember”

Some interesting tiny houses Lester explored:

Cape Cod Cottages

Dune shacks

Ban box houses

Earthquake houses

Camp ground cottages

Ice fishing shanties

Pout house

Scriptwriters cottage

Chattel house

Lester’s first book: http://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Houses-How-Away-From/dp/0879512717
And his second book: http://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Book-Houses-Lester-Walker/dp/0879515104

Lester’s remodeled California Ranch House:http://www.walkerarchitecture.com/california-ranch.html

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(Above) Lester Walker

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(Above) An Ice Fishing Cottage (courtesy of Lester’s Book Tiny Tiny Houses)

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(Above) A village of Ice Fishing Cottages (courtesy of Lester’s Book Tiny Tiny Houses)

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(Above) A Dune Shack (courtesy of Lester’s Book Tiny Tiny Houses)

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(Above) Lester’s mention in House Beautiful Home Site. (Below) Interiors of Lester’s winning design from the (e-gads) 80s.

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Originally aired over 7 years ago.

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