Finishing the first pavilion

We worked quickly to finish the main pavilion, at least to a point where we could move in and quit paying nightly rentals. As I remember, it was about six weeks from the day the containers were off-loaded to the day we moved in with doors and windows, a working stove, frig, shower, toilet, and water heater. We had help from nieces, nephews, friends, children, and friends of children. It was like a barn raising island style. We had fish most nights and made it to the beach every day after work.

The main elements of this first building were: slab on grade foundation and floor, steel pipe roof framing with corrugated metal roof cover, hand-thrown earth walls, large sliding doors so the walls would open up, and a few interior partitions of earth plaster on foam cores. We had cut all the pieces for cabinets and wooden doors and loaded them in the container before we left, so assembly was fast on site. All the furniture and appliances were in the containers, along with dishes, bedding, towels and clothes. This was the challenge I'd set: to pack the containers with all the building materials, plumbing and electrical rough and finish, plus furnishings we'd need to build a house and be able to call it a home in a short period of time. Although we found a lot of room for improvement, I think we proved the concept - that a shipping container can be loaded in such a way that, with a few skills, the things in it can be turned into healthy shelter.

I've put together a few photos for this post showing the first pavilion finished. There were other components of the construction I haven't covered yet, such as the soil-cement floors and the pre-cast earth pavers, but that is because I think they are better illustrated with photos taken during work on the other buildings. In the next couple of posts I want to talk about the outdoor spaces and how getting started on the landscaping was just as big a part of moving onto the land as was the building.

In the photos you can see the way building one looked by itself, plus a shot of the bathroom with Kusumi's lime and earth plaster and the kitchen with his cement and earth plaster.