d i s t i n c t ly m o n ta n a • s U m m E R 2 0 1 4
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I
am standing in Paul House's yard (behind the his-
toric Bozeman Cottage) on a sunny day on the cusp
of summer. A rain overnight has softened the ground,
and a pair of robins pluck worms to an accompaniment of a
hen's envious clucks on the other side of a fence.
"And there you can see the spot where my old Air Stream was
for nine years until yesterday," laughs Paul, a picture of good
old-fashioned health, much the same as his yard.
He is showing me the Nano house that he has built. A small
self-sufficient structure that aims for energy efficiency, it is part
of the housing revolution at work. Paul's is small and stylish
("I wanted it to look nice, but not as if it was assembled by
Ikea," Paul says), with windows designed for optimum sun and
a roof that slopes gently forward. At 161 sq. ft. it is cozy, and it
currently serves as Paul's office.
There was a time not so long ago, on a Montana timescale,
that energy-efficient housing wasn't just a wise choice, it was
a necessary part of an often rough life. Small family dwellings
were made of sod and dirt. Native Americans, evidently blessed
with an intuitive grasp of simple, sustainable building prin-
ciples, made small and centrally heated homes out of animal
skins and sticks. In the last century or more the importance of
ingenuity and conservation in the construction of our homes
has taken on a new urgency. The rising price of energy and the
increasing scarcity (and again, cost) of materials are once again
making us reconsider how we live. Waste in the past and now
our time is an unaffordable luxury.
Nano houses (that's "nano" for small, of course) originated
as an idea in Sweden. They are very small, usually made out of
new or alternative building materials and feature small but in-
by joSEPH SHELtoN
(Really)
Houses
Big Sky
SMALL
UNDER THE
