Tiny houses. DIY homes. Co-ops, missile silos, and truly green residences. These are all forms of shelter.
This small collection of articles about these and other structures speaks volumes about inequity, climate change, the housing shortage, and how we live today. Pulsing through each article, however, is the enduring human need for shelter. It’s more than a roof over our heads. Shelter offers safety, comfort, community—a place where one feels at home. Without shelter, those needs aren’t met. And we can do better than that. So let’s celebrate shelter and, by extension, all that it makes possible.•
What Good Looks Like
The world’s most rigorous environmental certification program for architects seeks to be more than a set of inspirational principles. If only achieving true sustainability wasn’t so difficult. By Jessica Zack
Canyon’s Can-Do Spirit
Life inside a tiny Northern California town built with grit and ingenuity. By Emma Pratt • Photos by Carolyn Fong
How to Grow Good Housing
In California’s farm-labor market, better living conditions are key to attracting workers. By Lydia Lee • Photos by Penni Gladstone
Electrification for Beginners
A plug-and-play guide to saving money (not to mention the world) with fossil-fuel-free appliances. By Laura Fraser • Illustrations by Martin Gee
Hello, Human- Scaled City
A new type of residential building is transforming Los Angeles’s neighborhoods into urban villages. By Joseph Giovannini
Sleeping in the Barrel of a Gun
For those dreading the apocalypse, an Airbnb at a decommissioned missile site near Roswell, New Mexico, offers validation of their fears. By Mark Wallace • Photos by Scott Baxter
Every Small Step Counts
Architect Michael Lehrer’s tiny-home villages offer color, light, and cohesion to unhoused people. Interview by Robert Ito • Photos by Gregg Segal
Let’s Go Shopping
Today, some shopping malls are offering more than just nostalgia. These glitzy retail temples are playing a starring role in efforts to address California’s housing shortage. By Lydia Lee
Why This Art
Beneath the glitz and glamour. By Adam Mayer
The Magic of Not Tidying Up
How a daughter came to understand her mom’s attachment to stuff. By Monica Corcoran Harel • Photo by Dustin Snipes
ALSO
By Brent Hatcher and Ajay Orona
By Jessica Blough and Lydia Horne
By Elizabeth Casillas and Lydia Horne
By Lydia Horne and Ajay Orona
By Nasim Ghasemiyeh and Ajay Orona
