WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.480 Oh hey, it's that friend who can't sit at a 2 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:07.160 diner table without making modular sculptures with the half and 3 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.039 half creamers. Can't not do it. Ali warret back with 4 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.800 another episode of Homologies. Okay, great news, kiddos, I got 5 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:18.079 some news for you. You ready, This episode is not about ticks? Yes? 6 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:21.160 Are you stoked now that we have covered some basic 7 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.760 health and safety ie me just reminding you check those crevices. 8 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:29.480 Kind of like a flight attendant demonstrating an inflatable vest. 9 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.520 But now you know, let's get the summer show on 10 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:35.880 the road. There are sprinklers to run through, there's some 11 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.159 campfire smoke to dodge, some sandal tans to get, barbecues, reunions. Okay, 12 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:43.759 but before we hit the road, let's make a pit 13 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.920 stop at thank Youville to say thanks to all the 14 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:50.200 folks supporting this podcast on Patreon. I literally could not 15 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:52.240 make the show without you. Thank you to all the 16 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:56.320 folks wearing ologies merch on your actual physical bodies and 17 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.320 talking up the show to your fam while you make pie. 18 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.880 Thank you to everyone who for zero dollars, rates and 19 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.840 subscribes and leaves the reviews for me to read, because 20 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:09.000 you know I do like a lady creep, and then 21 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.359 I read you one aloud, such as this fresh one 22 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:14.920 from Crazy Dog Mom twelve twenty seven, who compared me 23 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:18.959 to a gently excited Richard Simmons, but for science instead 24 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.400 of high kicks, and said that I'll teach you about 25 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:23.439 all sorts of things, especially things that you didn't think 26 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:27.200 you'd find interesting. Here's looking at you, ticks, they say. Also, 27 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:30.519 thank you fabulous with four a's for the review. You 28 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:32.560 have my permission to cry in the car now on 29 00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:35.719 the way to work. Okay, cabinology who howboy howdy? Let 30 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:39.159 me say right now, I love cabins. I think I'm 31 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.120 obsessed with them, like I look for cheap deals to 32 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.920 rent them. I have dreams about them. I pinterest them. 33 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:49.480 I don't pinterest anything. I covet them. I admire them. 34 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:52.040 And in fact, this past week I found a photo 35 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:55.000 in my phone from five years ago. I took of 36 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:57.959 one of this guest's books, without even knowing who he 37 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:00.040 was or that I would meet him. I follow so 38 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.560 many hashtag cabin porn instagrams, which has everything to do 39 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.920 with cabins, literally nothing to do with naked people. I 40 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:11.280 see pictures of cabins that I want to hug too hard, 41 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.280 like something cute that you'd squeeze to the point of peril. 42 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:17.919 So let's dive into a subject I could not be 43 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:21.719 more excited about. Okay. So the word cabin comes from 44 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:25.719 the Latin for hut and ps cabana is related. How 45 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:29.199 did I never realize that? Duh wow? Okay. So cabinology 46 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:33.199 is a relatively new but established term. It was coined 47 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:37.280 in relation to this ologist's work and career. I first 48 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.879 became aware of this ology blissfully enough, actually, while in 49 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:43.800 a lodge in the wilds of Montana. It was the 50 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:46.879 summer of twenty seventeen. I was surrounded by my huge, 51 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.599 weird family that I love. In side note, my dad 52 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:51.840 is one of eleven kids, and so the Ward family 53 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.960 reunions the roughly half the size of like a summer 54 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:58.680 music festival theraugh party. And I was drinking an evening 55 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.960 margarita out of a Chick coffee mug and the sounds 56 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:04.599 of my elders crushing each other in a pinacle game. 57 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:07.479 Two tables over I thumbed through this outdoorsy magazine. I 58 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.479 saw the byline of this very guest tounting himself as 59 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.680 a cabinologist. It's like hot damn. I vowed to myself, 60 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:16.680 I will find this cabinologist when I finally launched that 61 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.439 ologies podcast in my future, and I will interview him. 62 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.639 And so indeed I did, and you're about to listen 63 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:24.120 to it. The stuff dreams are made of. So this 64 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:27.439 spring I made my way to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his 65 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.719 headquarters of his architecture from art. It's Salah, which he 66 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:34.199 said means special room in Italian, and it also stands 67 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:37.520 for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. So I 68 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:41.400 went up some breezy stairs to his crisp downtown office 69 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:45.840 filled with light wood and clean lines, high ceilings, a 70 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:48.520 lot of airy white, and we cabin chatted. So we 71 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:51.439 cover what is a cabin? When does a cabin just 72 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.000 become a house, and why are they so cozy? And 73 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.919 what makes cabins horror flick flodder? How does a summer 74 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.240 cabin visit than a winter one? How do you build one? 75 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:05.599 What about those weird franking cabins built out of old 76 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:08.400 stuff from a bunch of different buildings. How big should 77 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:10.719 the windows be and which way should they face? How 78 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:13.599 do you even design a cabin? And in all caps 79 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:19.120 bold italics, why are cabins the best? So come watch 80 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:22.240 the sunset, drag chair to the fire pit, pour a 81 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:26.920 mug of whatever's handy, and breathe. In an episode with architect, 82 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:32.240 author expert and a warm, bright lantern of a person, 83 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:56.160 cabinologist Dale Mulfinger, and I might make you scooch into 84 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.120 this just a little bit more. These are like stage mics, 85 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:02.959 so they're like, get on up in it. I know 86 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.199 you are a cabinologist. 87 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:10.040 I am a cabinologist. It was anointed upon me by 88 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:14.839 an external person, actually a radio personality, who, upon hearing 89 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:18.519 that I was researching cabins with students at the university, 90 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:23.759 he announced on the radio that I must be a cabinologist. 91 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.439 So I consider myself having an instantaneous PhD. 92 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:29.399 How long ago is it? 93 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:32.519 That was probably about fifteen years ago. 94 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:35.240 Were you like, well, I'm changing my business cards. 95 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:39.000 That's it. Yeah. I adopted it immediately and I've been 96 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.160 using it since. And I wrote a book called Cabinology 97 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.759 after it. And I always credit this person who you know, 98 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:50.160 who gave me that name. I didn't invent it for myself. 99 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:54.680 Quick aside credit goes to Minnesota Garage Logic radio host 100 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:59.199 Joe Sachery for dropping that C word so so many 101 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:03.680 years ago. Now. As for Dale's bibliography, it's extensive. So 102 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:07.079 between designing cabins, he's also managed to churn out a 103 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:10.680 bunch of books, including The Cabin Inspiration for the Classic 104 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:15.600 American Getaway, The Getaway Home, Family Cabin Inspiration for Camps, Cottages, 105 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:20.199 and Cabins Cabinology, A Handbook to your Private Hideaway. So 106 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:24.319 in his author bio he is credited as a cabinologist. 107 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:27.800 The dude has earned it. You've been a cabinologist for 108 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.319 at least fifteen years, But how long have you been 109 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:34.240 a cabinologist in practice, not just in title? 110 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.399 Well, probably about thirty years ago. As a part of 111 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:44.839 my architectural practice, which we design residential homes, I was 112 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:49.800 asked to do my first cabin design. And I realized 113 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.399 then that I didn't grow up. Although I grew up 114 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.800 in cabin world, I'm Minnesota and Wisconsin, I didn't grow 115 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.040 up with a cabin of my family background, so I 116 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:02.759 had not spent much time I'm there, And, as I 117 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:06.800 might often do, when I get asked to design something 118 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.040 I'm not used to, I try and do some research 119 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:11.519 and in this instance, I thought, well, it would be 120 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:14.839 fun to do some research with my students at the university. 121 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.000 So I hustled a few students over to do a 122 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:22.279 summer class. And the essence of the summer class was, well, 123 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:26.360 let's go out into cabin land and every student and 124 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:31.160 myself included, would have to document ten cabins, and out 125 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.920 of that ten cabins, we would say which cabin feels 126 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:38.560 more cabin like than any of the rest and why 127 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:43.000 and so as I was telling them, search for the 128 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:47.600 quintessential cabin. So we did that, and we I think 129 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.040 learned a little bit along that process. And a good 130 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:55.759 friend of mine, who had was editor of a local magazine, said, well, 131 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:58.680 if you find anything interesting in this process, why don't 132 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.680 you write an article in my magi. So I wrote 133 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.240 my first article, and then I wrote my second article, 134 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:08.199 in third, and fourth and ultimately seventy two articles. 135 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:08.759 Oh my god. 136 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:14.560 For twelve years. Yeah, always researching. And so these were 137 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:18.560 little brief vignettes about some cabin that interested me for 138 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:23.040 some reason. So vertical log. We're all familiar with horizontal 139 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:26.199 log cabins, but all of a sudden there I noticed 140 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:28.519 some that I have vertical logs, which turns out that 141 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.519 it's an old French trappers method. So coming into Minnesota, 142 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.399 in the northern part of the country, in northern Wisconsin, 143 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:40.799 you have French trappers who made quick cabins and the 144 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:44.440 vertical log technique allowed them essentially single handedly to make 145 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:45.919 a simple shelter. 146 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:48.879 Okay, so signe note I looked these up and apparently 147 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.080 vertical log cabins are also easier to build because you 148 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:55.759 can use a bunch of ten foot tall logs up 149 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.919 and down instead of having to find and drag perfect 150 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:04.840 lee straight twenty to forty foot logs to lay horizontally. Now, 151 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:09.000 in addition to vertical logs just being more slimming than 152 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:12.840 horizontal logs, they were also tested by time. So before 153 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:17.320 the French fur trappers trooped about harvesting beavers and such, 154 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.000 indigenous folks like the Yerik tribes and the Chinook people's 155 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.960 had been building vertical plank houses out of cedar in 156 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.919 the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. 157 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:32.039 They knew what was up and that tradition sustained itself 158 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:36.279 for a while. So you know, finding out why for 159 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.679 vertical log who did it that? You know, all those 160 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:41.879 things are fun. It's fun to see somebody turn a 161 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:45.840 building that you wouldn't expect to be a cabin into 162 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.320 a cabin. A church or a you know, a small 163 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.080 church or a school or whatever, a box car, train car, 164 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.799 a caboose, you know. So that so a lot of 165 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:01.200 cabins are inventive, as to somebody, he's got a crazy idea, 166 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:02.919 and they said, oh, that'd be fun as a cabin, 167 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:06.720 and so they just try it. Metal containers, buildings. 168 00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:12.240 So Dale explained two things that separate cabins from houses 169 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:17.080 or one. Cabins typically don't have garages, and the master 170 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:22.679 bedrooms don't usually have own suite bathrooms. So rather than 171 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.399 hide away in your big bedroom using your toilet away 172 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:29.039 from the rest of the family, all the bedrooms tend 173 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:32.480 to branch off a main living space, so people can 174 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:36.120 spend this time in nature, bonding together and being lovingly 175 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:37.840 in each other's business. 176 00:10:38.919 --> 00:10:41.960 So privacy is now a particularly big issue in a cabin. 177 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:44.039 Tell me a little bit about square footage. Can you 178 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:47.159 have a two thousand square foot cabin? Yes, okay, you 179 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.480 get sure. So what makes it a cabin? 180 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:51.919 I think what makes it a cabin are some of 181 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:56.720 its attributes? How it flows, whether it captures views or 182 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.240 things that are important to the land that you're connected to. Yes, 183 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.519 you can have a larger structure that is a cabin, 184 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:05.919 maybe because you're gathering a lot of people there. So 185 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:09.320 my last book that I wrote was called The Family Cabin, 186 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.320 and it probably has projects in it that range from 187 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:17.159 four hundred square feet to twenty five hundred square feet practically. 188 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:21.799 And some cabins are created for extended family. So I 189 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:25.039 have one for two sisters. They're each married, so they 190 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:28.080 have husbands. They each have four kids. So now we're 191 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.559 talking about whatever that is. Twelve people, Graham and Grandpa 192 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.759 show up, there's fourteen. You can't do that in a 193 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:37.879 four hundred square foot structure. So you need more space, 194 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:41.720 more place for the activities of those youth as they're 195 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:45.799 growing and changing and they're eventually bringing the boy Scout 196 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.960 troupe with them or whatever. So, yes, cabins can be 197 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.679 of quite a variety of sizes. At some point, when 198 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:54.159 they get too large, we might call them a lodge. 199 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:58.159 Oh thought about that, the family lodge. I wonder if 200 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:00.440 there's a logology out there. 201 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.960 There, You got it, somebody's gonna have to step into 202 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:03.840 the void. 203 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:08.240 Okay, side note, I found one record for logology from 204 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:10.639 nineteen sixty one, and I wanted to tell you about it. 205 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:13.559 It's from the University of Montana, when the student union 206 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:17.840 gathering center was called the Lodge, and logology was deemed 207 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.799 by students the most popular course in sport on campus. 208 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:25.720 One student said the most popular phases of the logology 209 00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:30.120 course are smoking one a one and advanced time killing 210 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.360 two to one, which I suppose nowadays, I guess would 211 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:38.279 be upgraded to introduction to vaping, perhaps extra credit. Fixing 212 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.799 the cultural and climatological mess we have inherited. Not to 213 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.679 get too dark anyway, Enough of lodges. Where are cabins now? 214 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.360 In terms of the culture of cabins in this part 215 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.120 of the country, because there are more lakes, are there 216 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.320 more cabins? Is this the best place to be a cabinologist? 217 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:57.600 I think this is one of the premier places to 218 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:01.000 be a cabinologist, because we really really do have an 219 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:06.080 incredible cabin culture here, particularly in the Twin Cities, and 220 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:08.600 we go out to the lakes of Minnesota and or 221 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:12.080 the Lakes of Wisconsin, because although we may be better 222 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.799 known for our lakes, Wisconsin actually has quite a numberment 223 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:20.159 as well, so we probably have more cabin users per 224 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.919 capita than any other part of the country. And part 225 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.279 of that is that when you're on the coast, for instance, 226 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:32.480 where there certainly are getaway places. Often when you have 227 00:13:32.519 --> 00:13:34.879 a place on the coast, it might be referred to 228 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:38.519 as a cottage seaside cottage rather than a cabin. 229 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.559 Cabins plus etymology. I'm dying right now. If you can't 230 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:46.200 hear this in my voice, I was like starry eyed, 231 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.840 floating in a cloud this entire interview. Dale Mulfinger is 232 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:53.759 like the Beyonce of cabin designers. 233 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:58.399 There are some names that cabin competes with, and if 234 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:02.559 you go into the Adora or in upper New England, 235 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:07.279 you will come across the name camp, which is commonly 236 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.240 used for what we we here in the Midwest End 237 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:12.840 or further west might refer to as a cabin. And 238 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:15.480 the name camp shows up again down in the Bayos 239 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.559 of Louisiana. I'm not quite sure of the origins of that, 240 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.879 other than I think a lot of cabins in there 241 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:23.480 in the early days in New England were created as 242 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.159 a part of an ensemble of many structures and we're 243 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.799 part of what we might think of as a camp environment. 244 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:32.759 Oh look, maybe there's a main lodge and then some outbuildings. 245 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:34.120 There are the camps. 246 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:37.279 Right, And also the name cottage shows up. So you 247 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:41.440 can take the same structure and slide it. First out 248 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:43.720 of Minnesota, it might be called a cabin in Minnesota, 249 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.159 but head for the east and get to Michigan, it 250 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:49.919 might be called a cottage, particularly if it's along Lake Michigan. 251 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:52.919 And then if you hit the adiron decks, it'll be 252 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.480 a camp. And then if you slide it all the 253 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:56.879 way to the coast of Maine, it'll be back to 254 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:57.879 being a cottage again. 255 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:04.000 And what are some of your favorite style Cain, a frame, log, cabin, modern. 256 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:07.600 All of the above, all of the above. I really 257 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:11.600 am fascinated by the variety, so no one singular thing 258 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.000 stands out. I'm as fascinated with an a frame or 259 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.720 a log cabin, or a very contemporary structure or one 260 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:23.120 made out of containers. Yeah, they all interest me, and 261 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.720 I love designing all of them. So it's not just 262 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:29.519 a matter of recording what others have done, but also 263 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.200 being faced with a challenge of design and trying to 264 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.039 trying to determine with my clients what seems most applicable 265 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:39.320 for them and their situation. 266 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:43.120 So he likes to freestyle as well as harkback to 267 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:47.559 traditional designs of your Now speaking of history, Dale grew 268 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:50.279 up on a dairy farm, and according to a twenty 269 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:53.559 thirteen article in the Star Tribune, he had said about 270 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:55.960 dairy farming that when he was a kid and his 271 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.279 blue ribbon yearling died, he knew that he didn't want 272 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.519 to be a farmer, but he was great at drafting, 273 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:04.240 so he enrolled in the Institute of Technology at the 274 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:06.600 University of Minnesota. In a time when you had to 275 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:10.879 be really good at rulers and pencils and precision. There 276 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:11.879 was no command z. 277 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:14.320 There's no undew buttons. 278 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:16.679 And getting to your design career. When did you start 279 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:18.720 an architecture? When did you know that you were an architect? 280 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:24.840 I went into the university wondering what I might be doing, 281 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:28.360 But I had excelled in drafting in high school, and 282 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:32.559 so started into architecture at the university and gradually got 283 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:34.240 to enjoy it more and more and more, and did 284 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.320 quite well by the time I was exiting school. Not 285 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:41.159 so well when I started and then I worked for 286 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:45.519 the first decade actually in urban design, so nothing to 287 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:48.600 do with small little buildings, but rather city planning and 288 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:55.639 large scale structures. And then probably in about ten years 289 00:16:55.679 --> 00:17:00.600 out into my working career, I started grabb to work 290 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.000 on smaller things. When I got to houses, I really 291 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:06.599 enjoyed being invited to dinner after you were all done there. 292 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:10.440 So out of that came a firm which is now 293 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:15.519 Sala and an initial partner, Sarah Susenka, who wrote a 294 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:17.880 book called The Not So Big House, which made her 295 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:21.880 kind of famous, and so we had a pretty swift 296 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:25.119 start as a career in her and I and creating 297 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:30.319 a firm that does houses and out of houses neither 298 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:33.440 the possibility of doing a second home for someone, which 299 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:35.000 then led me to cabin World. 300 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:37.440 Okay, so quick side note. I was wondering how many 301 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:41.480 people have a second home though it's so hard to 302 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.039 get just one. So I looked it up and according 303 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:48.839 to twenty seventeen stats, nine point three million Americans live 304 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:51.440 in a house that has a second home, so a 305 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.039 very limp percentage. But I did some digging and one 306 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.680 figure estimated that folks in the state of Minnesota are 307 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:01.039 three times more likely to own in a cabin or 308 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.680 a lake house than the rest of Americans. But the 309 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:06.680 average age of cabin ownership is sixty eight, and no 310 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.319 one's quite sure what's going to happen. Are millennials going 311 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:11.440 to take over the cabins? Are they going to sell them? 312 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:15.400 Who knows? But Minnesota is the land of ten thousand lakes. 313 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:17.839 That's a lot of shoreline to cozy up to. So 314 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:20.119 Dale's in the right place. But what about the rest 315 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:22.720 of the country or world. Are there places in the 316 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:24.799 country where it's more common to have at a house 317 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:28.200 that you would go enjoy the seasons in? Is there 318 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.519 something maybe about the cold weather that you really appreciate 319 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:33.920 the snow or really appreciate this spring or summer. 320 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.400 Well, I think people who appreciate being outdoors in the snow, 321 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:42.960 whether you're cross country skiing, downhill skiing, or ice skating 322 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:47.559 or whatever, those people enjoy their cabin year round, or 323 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:49.599 if they just enjoy sitting by the fire reading a 324 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:53.119 book when the snow is falling outside. Obviously, if you 325 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:55.680 have a cabin in the rocky mountains, it might be 326 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:58.880 because you really enjoy skiing, and therefore you've chosen the 327 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.160 location next to sky, you know, or something like that. 328 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.160 Here in the Midwest, people seem to vary. Either they 329 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:11.839 are truly just one season cabin goers or they actually 330 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:14.480 enjoy going year round as I do. I love the 331 00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:19.279 solitude of winter and some cross country skiing even though 332 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:21.680 it might be minus twenty degrees out to I. 333 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:23.759 Know, I don't know how you guys. I literally don't 334 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:25.839 know how you survive as a California And I'm like 335 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:29.279 the amount of layers. If I could grow a beard, though, 336 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:30.000 I think I would give. 337 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:32.039 That's helpful. Yeah, a lot. 338 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:32.920 I'm gonna tell you. 339 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:35.759 Do you have a favorite cabin that you've designed. I 340 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:37.759 know it's got to be so hard, but something that's 341 00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:39.400 really memorable or was a challenge? 342 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:43.480 The next one? The next one, I think one that 343 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:47.680 I did up on Madeline Island where people wanted a 344 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:51.480 unique retreat and one of the couples said, I want 345 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.519 something quite unique for me, and I designed one hundred 346 00:19:54.519 --> 00:19:57.480 foot long wall with a portal in the middle, and 347 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:00.559 after you pass through the wall, you step into a 348 00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:05.319 glass pavilion and look out over Lake Superior. And then 349 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:07.640 if you want to go into a private space, you 350 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.960 walk down inside the wall to a blue box where 351 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.599 you have a private sleeping area. It's a very unconventional 352 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:18.720 structure and it probably still stands out in my repertoire 353 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:21.720 of work as a very unique structure. And it's all 354 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:25.319 about the notion of a retreat, having a phenomenal place 355 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:28.599 of a retreat that leaves the other world behind. And 356 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.400 I think that's that's one of the things that when 357 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.039 you say can a cabin be a your round house? 358 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:36.880 One of the challenges of that is cabins often work 359 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:41.279 best when they are the other world that when they're 360 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:42.240 not the every. 361 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.039 Day they're kind of like the mistress of the house world. 362 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:49.559 I guess so, yes, sweetie, it's a sweep piece. 363 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:51.839 And does a cabin have to have a fireplace? 364 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:56.759 No, it doesn't, And in fact, woodstoves can be an 365 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:01.079 economical way of having fire without having the cost of 366 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:05.319 a fireplace, and wood stoves are very effective in terms 367 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:09.759 of really heating space. Do they have to have fire? No, 368 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:14.599 I mean a cabin. We did. We've done cabins without 369 00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:17.960 any fire in them, and it helps with the insurance rates. 370 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.680 If you do that. And what do you think about 371 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:23.319 you know, in the last few years, the tiny house 372 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.880 movements and tinier spaces. Where do you feel like cabins 373 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:29.279 fit in with that or is it a completely different thing. 374 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:34.160 Well, there's an overlap between tiny houses and cabins. I 375 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:37.559 think the tiny house movement is a fleeting movement and 376 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:40.720 it'll disappear as fast as it arrive because I think 377 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:46.799 resale on it is challenging so much like dome homes 378 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.599 and other fads that we jump into every once in 379 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:52.599 a while. I think this one will leave, but I 380 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:56.000 think cabins will remain, and having a tiny structure via 381 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:00.319 cabin will still be out there. So I and I 382 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.519 think tiny homes as far as as actually being one's 383 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.400 home and at living in at thirty six, three hundred 384 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.880 and sixty five days a year, you know, it'll be 385 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:12.279 questionable whether people do that in the long haul or 386 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:15.160 whether it'll just be for two years of their life 387 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:17.160 or a segment of their life and then they'll move 388 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:17.839 on to whatever. 389 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.319 I will say. In researching tiny home living, a little 390 00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:25.039 abode tends to cost between twenty to thirty thousand dollars 391 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.480 on average to build, and in looking this up, oh 392 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:30.880 my god, I stumbled upon an article about a woman 393 00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:33.839 who built a one hundred and ninety six square foot 394 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:36.960 tiny house out of an old five hundred dollars RV, 395 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.960 some upcycled wood palettes. Very resourceful. But then she adopted 396 00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:47.160 a great Dane, a one hundred and fifty pound great Dane, 397 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:49.759 to live in it with her. Oh, then she got 398 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:52.359 married and then they had a kid. And I had 399 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:54.039 to stop reading in the middle of this article and 400 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:57.039 just pace the floor and do like a meditation, because woman. 401 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:01.640