Bear with me. I’ll post some really interesting photos and videos from the construction process soon. There’s a teaser over on Instagram. For nearly two weeks now, I’ve been WFS (working from studio) while I’m able to stay away from the cubicle land of a downtown office building. This transition has been a mindful one full of new insights. It’s so well insulated that even in peak afternoon summer sun, the interior stays very cool and comfortable. I’m also mostly in shade due to the tall stand of mature evergreens a few feet outside the door on the south side. When we had the worst heatwaves, which were significantly milder than some neighboring areas, also only lasted for a couple for days here, and the interior never exceeded 86 degrees F ( 30° C), when it was 104° F (40° C) outside. The added benefit of hearing the multitude of birds and frogs instead of road noise and occasionally being visited by wild rabbits has significantly boosted my mood.

Below is a photo of part of the desk setup, which when not used for work can be completely closed up so the technology disappears. Though it also doubles as a fun entertainment center when I want to stream shows or films. The iMac is on a very heavy duty wall mounted swing arm, with solid blocking attached to the studs. When attaching things to these walls, careful attention has been paid to maintaining the integrity of the air barrier, Intello X (available through 475 High Performance Building Supply and part of the smart wall system based on Passive House principles). The cabinet, like all the interior fixtures, is made from ApplePly with maple veneer and finished with a non-toxic transparent and non-yellowing water based finish that has no odor and extremely low VOC content. The plywood itself is made from regional hardwoods, is sourced sustainably, and soy-based glues are used with no added urea-formaldehyde.

Since all of the remaining cuts for interior finishes are being done outside, I’m completely free of sawdust and the air quality monitor has barely jumped above zero, telling me every day is excellent. I couldn’t agree more.

For those who haven’t see it yet, a bit of background on the Bento Studio project: I’m designing for myself and very soon to build highly insulated to Passive House principles (not planning certification). It will have interior and exterior insulation, and a weather resistant barrier (aka house wrap) completely around the envelope of the studio, isolating it from the trailer and therefore reducing as far as possible thermal bridging. There will not be a loft as traditional in many other designs. So the finished floor height doesn’t have to be as low to the ground as possible in this case, but we’ll take all the help we can get.

With all of these and a few other factors in mind, such as accurate detailing and minimal foundation preparation, I’m selecting Iron Eagle trailers. With multiple locations on the west coast, they are built to order, strong, and have a long track record with many other projects using them. Steel is of course one of the most highly recycled materials in the construction industry, so I’m confident a life cycle analysis will mean these don’t impact the embodied carbon footprint of my project much, and since I don’t own land, are kind of a must for future mobility.

When I reached out to the manufacturer to see if they were operating, I received a quick reply and they assured me they are indeed still operating and taking adequate steps to ensure worker safety. Delivery lead times are minimal (just a few weeks). They included a series of really helpful links in the email, including one showing that Tiny Nest has modeled accurate representations of their designs in SketchUp, and those are available for free. Stoked! Since I’m an Autodesk FormIt fan, I thought I’d open it here and show you the results.