1978 air stream designed by Hofman architecture

Exactly one week ago, Saturday February 19th at about 2 pm I arrived in Joshua national park and prepared to set up my tent knowing that it very well may rain. Rain, however, is not what we got. I am not quite sure what it is, but every time I step foot in the desert it either rains or snows. For a place that is supposed to be one of the driest environments on earth, it sure does precipitate a lot. (Left).

Later that evening, as it began to snow and my toes and fingers began to loose feeling, I found myself very envious of the fellow rock climbers who had an A frame pop up or even a truck bed trailer. To be quite honest, the only time I was warm last weekend was when I was climbing inside a giant mass of boulders in the pitch black and had to shimmy my way up, over, under and through rock ways (see right). Despite the fact that trailers have an inherently back woods reputation, I found myself more and more drawn to the desire to own a camper. They are simple, compact, and carry all the luxuries of home (like a warm bed). If you google 'campers' however, and ugly array of devices populate the page. Fortunately, there exist well designed models that are not made of cheap linoleum sporting a decal from the 80's.

A very cool LEED certified architecture firm, Hoffman Architecture, took up the cause and redesigned a 1978 airstream trailer. Although you can go online and browse through Airstreams most recent models, I highly prefer the aesthetics of the mid century models, particularly when refurbished with sustainable materials. The trailer is now a beautiful home sporting bamboo, aluminum and recycled glass tiles. The most intriguing part of this project, however, is rethinking the way we use our living space. The owner of this particular air stream, uses the 160 sq. ft as his main living space. There certainly is something to be said for living simply - Matthew Hofmann, the owner of the air stream and co-founder of the architecture firm, makes his case.

The images below show off his skills. Read more here.