Because I haven't given up on my dream home entirely ... dream Pennsic home, that is.

[mariedeblois]

For reference for me for later:

Medieval English Town-House Plans: http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-769-1/ahds/dissemination/pdf/vol06-07/6_202_239.pdf

Sacred Spaces, the newsletter of the brief Known World Archetectural Guild: http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/toc.htm

British Medieval Architecture: http://www.medievalarchitecture.

Comments

[masahide]

I've always wanted to build a Japanese house on a trailer... the problem is that to get the proportions correct, it will need to be a "fold out" kind of house. I can do the engineering for the fold out, etc, but I'm worried about making it stable for traveling down the road.... Then, of course there is the "space" issue at camp sites.

[mariedeblois]

[nod] Standard land allotment at Pennsic (and as I recall, Estrella) is 225sqft, which is about 15'x15'. My goal is smaller than that, and a trailer is definitely smaller than that. I'm more worrying about the ability to have level ground - the block I'm on at Pennsic right now is pretty dang level (N18), but lots of other sites aren't.

What kind of proportions are you looking at to be correct? A significant factor for me is the 16' height restriction at Pennsic, if I go to two stories for a proper look.

[masahide]

My understanding is that the 225 (I had heard it as 250, but it really doesn't make that much difference) is per person. My current tent is about 288 not counting guy ropes or cooking area.....

Japanese Shoin style is based on mats which are basically 3x6'. The smallest room I think that would be "usable" would be about a 4.5 mat room, which would be 9x9. You could go as small as 3 mat (6x9) but that would be really tiny. This of course doesn't count the veranda I would like to have.

Main issues I have would be complying with legal trailer sizes that don't require a special permit: 8.5' wide max, 13' height max. I could easily do a 3 mat room with fold out veranda, but I would find that really cramped. non-flat space isn't realy a concern of mine, as I was going to use jacks to level it on the terrain, and cover them with fake rock footings. I would need to design the floor above the tops of the wheel wells, which might cause an issue with height.

So, yes, I have been thinking about this for several years. ;-)