Building a Modern Home with Ben Uyeda | HTH 013

How to Home Podcast

This week, we chat with the phenomenally talented, Ben Uyeda. We talk about his incredible undertaking of building a shipping container home in the middle of the Joshua Tree desert, his design process and some of his favorite materials to work with currently.

LET’S CHAT!

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FAST FACTS ABOUT BEN (FROM BEN):

- Started out as a professor at Cornell University speaking about sustainable design.

- Started a design firm called Zero Energy Design- https://zeroenergy.com

- Started a tech company called Free Green where he gave away free blueprints with eco friendly housing, and sold advertising on the actual downloadable blueprints, and eventually sold it.

- Launched Homemade-Modern.com where he started creating DIY projects.

Show Highlights:

- Ben takes a lot of cues from food media. They don’t need a lot of fancy stuff or gadgets, just understanding the elements.

- Plywood and concrete are two of Ben’s favorite materials. Concrete because it’s accessible worldwide, plywood because even if it’s not the same globally, people are at least familiar with sheet goods.

- If you’re going to buy furniture try to find the cheapest basics and then splurge on the things you’re going to keep forever.

- You can have a creative career that’s not dependent on patronage.

- You can be more forgiving: Everything doesn’t have to be perfectly flat, people actually like things that look more homemade.

- Tracy asked Ben about the future of architecture and he talked about the trends of smaller homes and more urban type living situations like lofts. Open floor plans becoming the norm, building performance, thermal comfort and smart homes are all trending.

- Ben doesn’t like analytics but he values them. When looking for new property he searched areas where Whole Foods were popping up.

We Mentioned:

The Spiral Staircase Made With CNC- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd-Z7OTAjJ0

The Bucket Stool- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npPRWDgpduI

The Lounge Chair- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QHbp2bwUyA

Ben’s Shipping Container Project:

- Ben felt like there was a lot of misinformation about container construction, so he decided to just show the process and enjoy the fun challenge.

- He wanted to show the regulation intensive process of building in California.

- You might think a container is a great deal, but take into account the labor cost and how intensive each step can be.

Homemade Modern:

- Driven by the underserved DIY population of people who wanted to build things in a smaller space with minimal tools.

- You can build a ton of stuff with an orbital sander, circular saw and drill.

PHONE CALLS/SOCIAL:

Q: How long did it take to cut all of the plywood for spiral staircase?

A: It was actually cut with a cnc machine (https://www.inventables.com/technologies/x-carve) , so about 30 hours of cnc time.

Q: Is there any difference in insulating a shipping container as opposed to a house?

A: Yes and no, the only part that’s really different is if you have to insulate between floor beams. Wood isn’t as conductive of heat as steel is. They insulated between steel beams and then continuous insulation above the plywood and from the metal in.

Q: Were you building things and taking things apart when you were young?

A: Ben loved the way that making could lead to adventure. He was inspired by Swiss Family Robinson and Huckleberry Finn.

Q: Besides permits what was the biggest challenge of building the shipping container?

A: Just not having clear answers for the workers on how to do things. They’d ask questions about how to do things and Ben had to research and figure things out as they moved forward. (And holding his temper in the comment section of the videos…)

Q: What’s the cheapest place to get a shipping container?

A: It depends on where you are. In CA they have to be a one trip condition container. In SoCal it’s https://containersdiscount.ca

Find Ben’s Quickfire video on our Instagram! @howtohome_guide

Ben’s INFO

Website | https://www.homemade-modern.com

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/benjaminuyeda

Twitter | https://twitter.com/BenUyeda

Pinterest | https://www.pinterest.com/BenUyeda/

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/ben.uyeda

Youtube | https://www.youtube.com/HomeMadeModern

The Modern Home Project | https://www.youtube.com/themodernhomeproject

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