Charlie
Charlie Rendall was an English something or other who arrived at the lake nine years ago and found himself becoming an architect and builder. He is perfectly English and polite, friendly, knowledgable, and mavenly. He is arguably the lake's most prolific natural builder and I've taken him on as a consulting architect. He knows everything, its price, where to get it, and who is a good guy to have build it. I'd like to do almost all of the design myself, but run it by Charlie while looking at the land to ensure all gaffes are avoided. He is extremely busy and since he's based in San Marcos, I considered his realistic range pretty limited. He's already working on the bamboo at Shad's hotel, so I know he can handle Tzununa. He also rides his motorcycle to the construction site of the medical center in San Pablo. I can tust him to visit one town from San Marcos either way, but beyond, there's probably far less Charlie, if any.
Charlie has a lot to do with this whole plan, certainly more than he knows. He was the architect at the Yoga Forest. His work there was mostly complete while I was around so his presence was limited but the cabanas, dry rock wall terraces, greenhouse and yoga studio were all quite impressive. The master bedroom there I thought was a bit ambitious with the rock face as the back of the room. It was hard to seal up where the roof met the rock so when it rained a good deal, water would trickle down on the rock, causing a backsplash onto the floor. Besides his designs and his expertise, Charlie is really one of the most pleasant people you could ever be around. I intend to keep designs simple and use Charlie only as a consultant because he is just so busy. He seems to know endless small things to do at the constuction stage to keep your house from falling down long before it should. He's in so many places but when you're actually in his office, he doesn't rush anything and you feel welcome.
One time, Charlie was going to give a lecture on natural building for the Permaculture Design Course at the Yoga Forest. I didn't take the course but he invited Tom and I as his guests. Just before the group of us walked up to the Forest for the lecture I was sitting in Charlie's office as he loaded up the digital presentation onto portable media. A moment into this task, he received a phone call, which he took. While his right hand worked the mouse, his left hand held the phone around his torso to his right ear. The call ended before he was done loading the files, but he was so distracted, he forgot to lower the phone. It stayed there for at least a minute or two. I had time to concentrate on suppressing my laughter and though I considered letting him know he still had to his phone to his ear long after his conversational counterpart had released the call, I didn't want to hurt his feelings and wanted to see for how long he could hold the pose.
At Charlie's lecture, he spoke just loud enough for those in the back to hear, but his expertise is so completely obvious that everyone made sure to catch every word. He is certainly the go-to guy for natural building in this region. While studying the way locals have built and survived here, he's been (I'm guessing) reading, doing internet research, talking to other builders and architects, traveling and building plenty himself. Charlie is an invaluable aid on a building project here and I'm happy he agreed to be involved. I'm also considering doing some teaching in a new carpentry workshop he's created. Geometry is a big part of carpentry and locals lack most geometry education. Charlie Rendall is easy to find on the internet. His blog and website is called Return to the Forest. If you're ever here, ask me for a tour of his structures.
Charlie Rendall was an English something or other who arrived at the lake nine years ago and found himself becoming an architect and builder. He is perfectly English and polite, friendly, knowledgable, and mavenly. He is arguably the lake's most prolific natural builder and I've taken him on as a consulting architect. He knows everything, its price, where to get it, and who is a good guy to have build it. I'd like to do almost all of the design myself, but run it by Charlie while looking at the land to ensure all gaffes are avoided. He is extremely busy and since he's based in San Marcos, I considered his realistic range pretty limited. He's already working on the bamboo at Shad's hotel, so I know he can handle Tzununa. He also rides his motorcycle to the construction site of the medical center in San Pablo. I can tust him to visit one town from San Marcos either way, but beyond, there's probably far less Charlie, if any.
Charlie has a lot to do with this whole plan, certainly more than he knows. He was the architect at the Yoga Forest. His work there was mostly complete while I was around so his presence was limited but the cabanas, dry rock wall terraces, greenhouse and yoga studio were all quite impressive. The master bedroom there I thought was a bit ambitious with the rock face as the back of the room. It was hard to seal up where the roof met the rock so when it rained a good deal, water would trickle down on the rock, causing a backsplash onto the floor. Besides his designs and his expertise, Charlie is really one of the most pleasant people you could ever be around. I intend to keep designs simple and use Charlie only as a consultant because he is just so busy. He seems to know endless small things to do at the constuction stage to keep your house from falling down long before it should. He's in so many places but when you're actually in his office, he doesn't rush anything and you feel welcome.
One time, Charlie was going to give a lecture on natural building for the Permaculture Design Course at the Yoga Forest. I didn't take the course but he invited Tom and I as his guests. Just before the group of us walked up to the Forest for the lecture I was sitting in Charlie's office as he loaded up the digital presentation onto portable media. A moment into this task, he received a phone call, which he took. While his right hand worked the mouse, his left hand held the phone around his torso to his right ear. The call ended before he was done loading the files, but he was so distracted, he forgot to lower the phone. It stayed there for at least a minute or two. I had time to concentrate on suppressing my laughter and though I considered letting him know he still had to his phone to his ear long after his conversational counterpart had released the call, I didn't want to hurt his feelings and wanted to see for how long he could hold the pose.
At Charlie's lecture, he spoke just loud enough for those in the back to hear, but his expertise is so completely obvious that everyone made sure to catch every word. He is certainly the go-to guy for natural building in this region. While studying the way locals have built and survived here, he's been (I'm guessing) reading, doing internet research, talking to other builders and architects, traveling and building plenty himself. Charlie is an invaluable aid on a building project here and I'm happy he agreed to be involved. I'm also considering doing some teaching in a new carpentry workshop he's created. Geometry is a big part of carpentry and locals lack most geometry education. Charlie Rendall is easy to find on the internet. His blog and website is called Return to the Forest. If you're ever here, ask me for a tour of his structures.
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