The idea for the Seashell house came while visiting the island back in 2000. It evolved from a series of drawings I made for possible houses. At first I thought of making a simple house, made of native, natural materials like the many excellent examples of carved wood, bamboo, and grass roofs that were all around us. It seemed only natural to use native materials. The first drawings assume the sumlest of materials- a few logs and a few platforms.

 

Then we went island hopping. One sunset we found this intensely beautiful beach that was littered with gorgeous seashells. And then they started moving. I suddely realized a vast herd of hermit crabs were crawling in the beach. I saw one run from a shell that was too big. It's body looked like a twisted monoclaw. It had evolved into a muscle for gripping a spiral. I took the shell with me and contemplated life in a spiral.

After some discussion with our neighbors, I thought of adding a power source - a windmill! In the top of these 2 drawings is a vertical, simple windmill that would rechargea battery.

Then, in order to get good wind, the house should be high on the hill. In this drawing, the house is built around a living tree. It could both stabilize the tree and provide stability.

I went back to the States and built a 3D model of the simple shell house on max 2.5. This is in 2000.

These designs seemed too enslaved to the seashell, so I tried some other not so spiral variations

I finally settled on this design and built it virtually in 2001. See excerpts of the animation here.

I'm starting a new design that will have more daring forms.

Some other seashell designs that I like.

Eugene Tsui built a very interesting organic house in Berkeley , CA, which is close to where I live, so I had a chance to look at it. Another favorite is the husband and wife team Ushida -Findlay. They have made some amazing organic houses in Japan.