My thanks to Damon Darlin over at The New York Times real estate blog The Walk Through for pointing out a fascinating new trend in housing.
Yurts, which are large, round, wooden-framed tents traditionally used by Mongolian nomads, are now being sold by a Los Angeles-based company.
While the company, Vishai, notes that their yurts are perhaps best suited as an augmentation of one’s primary residence – i.e. as a meditation room, guest room or children’s playhouse, some customers are taking things one step further.
Carol Lloyd over at the San Francisco Chronicle has written a story about yurt fans in the United States.
“The American dream promises the remedy to the immigrant’s trauma of turbulence, immobility and loss,” writes Lloyd. “Buy land with a house and you leave insecurity behind. You get to stay in one place for life, protected from economic and climactic turbulence. In your home, you can have a fortress of comfort: all your stuff, the most modern conveniences. But yurts – along with teepees and other ancient structures – offer a different kind of allure. They answer the call of the wild home.”Perhaps, but the yurts on Vishai’s Web site don’t look all that wild. In fact, they’re a lot nicer than my boring old wood-framed apartment.