Live and let DIY
At the beginning, because they were anxious to move in as quickly as possible, they wanted to figure out the cheapest and fastest way to set up house. Around that time Zhongren took notice of a horticulture greenhouse on the farm that had been standing for 10 years and still looked very sturdy, and he had a flash of inspiration. Spending only six months and NT$400,000, they constructed their own green-house of 30 ping (about 100 square meters).
Everywhere their home has that hand-made, ingenious feeling of DIY improvisation, from the counters made of wood and the juniper bathroom sink to the houseleek planted in old sneakers and flooring at the door that consists of a layer of concrete on which a pattern was drawn using a piece of bamboo before the concrete had set. The green surroundings and sunlight from outside percolate right through the black netting onto the ground, creating a beautiful interplay of shadow and light.
But aren't they afraid of high winds and storms? And isn't it awfully hot living in a greenhouse? Li laughs, being asked questions like these for the nth time. Over the last three years they have been through more than 10 typhoons large and small, she explains, not to mention earthquakes, and the structure is still sound. The pores of the greenhouse nets allow air to pass through, so that their home is no worse than any other in terms of heat except at mid-afternoon at the height of summer, when it does indeed get broiling. However, they always leave the front and back doors open, so that breezes pass through the interior. In winter, they keep warm with a fireplace they made themselves.
Right next to the greenhouse is a "natural building" whose basic structure is wood and clay-this is their future home, which is still under construction. This couple has gone about building their own home without any formal training, and they let their passion and imagination run wild. For example, the four walls are each made of a different material, partly as an experiment in the effects you can get from different materials and partly "just for fun."
The east side is made from cut logs and earth, known as cordwood construction. It marks a preliminary attempt based on information the couple have found in foreign magazines on natural buildings. They collected driftwood from beaches and, after cutting it into small logs, built the wall partly by stacking this cordwood and partly by filling space with earth packed with wood chips. The visual effect is arresting, and you can feel the wood breathing. The main materials for the other three faces are "burnt bricks" (bricks that are near the source of the fire in the kiln, emerging with uneven coloring), unbaked clay bricks, and rounded stones.
Because they don't want to see all the small factories just outside the farm when they open their door, they didn't set the house facing southwest, which is commonly done to avoid looking straight into the northeast monsoons winds in winter, but rather northeast. On the southern and western sides, they have used brick and earth respectively, which absorb heat so that in winter the house will keep warm, but which can also rapidly dissipate heat in the summer. Most of their materials are taken from nature-just for the wood and stone, they spent nearly a year collecting all they needed.
In their breezy and sunny"net-greenhouse home,"Li Daixian and her husband practice a natural, simple lifestyle. Pictured below are the kitchen and living areas.