Round Houses

We made these gray houses that you see, and they are square. It is a bad way to live, for there can be no power in a square. Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles. The earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds and these were always set in a circle. The White people have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying. - Black Elk

The Turtle House, the Torus House, and the Two-by-Two House are a series of three houses that I designed before I received any formal or informal architectural training. At the time, I was obsessed with circular, spherical shapes, and my designs from that period are chock-full of them. (I'm sure Freud would have a field day with this one!) Yes, circular shapes are psychologically comforting, much more so than squares and rectangles. To begin with, circles are found in abundance in nature, while straight-edged polygon shapes are rare. But any shape repeated ad infinitum is bound to annoy eventually. And nature's most identifying characteristic is her variability, her irregularity. If a house is to comfort us psychologically by truly simulating nature, its walls should be not only curvilinear, but irregularly so. This introduction is meant to respond to obvious criticisms of these houses. Having openly admitted their shortcomings, I challenge you to consider their strengths.

		Turtle House	בית הצב - עברית
		a home based on the four sacred elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire
		Torus House	בית הטבעת - עברית
		an single-storey eight-bedroom home that balances personal space with communal space
		Two x Two House	בית ה2 על 2 - עברית
		a two-storey four-bedroom home that balances single space with couple space