About the Smart Shelter Network.....

(note: this overview of Smart Shelter is a bit dated...originating in 1999. Services and fields of interest since then have expanded beyond just natural building itself into native lifestyle, environmental illness and public lands issues...many of the concepts presented in this original document remain relevant today, so we post it here for your perusal)

What is it???

Smart Shelter originated in 1995 as a hybrid nonprofit to network the proponents and information relevant to alternative building in a limited geographic region of Western Colorado.

It is not incorporated or registered as a nonprofit with the IRS, but interfaces with other environmental non-profits to perform its functions and extend the other organizations' breadth.

Smart Shelter is a community of like-minded people from all kinds of varying backgrounds, political ideologies, philosophies, income levels and needs.

It is a central resource and information pool which is accessible to those wishing knowledge and help with environmental building.

It provides advocacy and education to code officials, bankers, insurance entities, materials suppliers, the media and the public at large.

It is entirely self-supporting (except for occasional grants for specific startup projects).

Where Does the Information Come From???

The network has compiled several hundred case studies on alternative structures of all kinds in this area. A case study involves a visit to the building, interview with the owner, photography of the project (often in stages of construction), owner/builder responses about problems with building systems, ones that work, code negotiations, costs, how systems actually perform, who supplies them and the names of service providers involved with the project who provided excellent service.

Very little of the information Smart Shelter distributes comes from two dimensional sources (books and the internet). It comes from actual people's experiences with actual buildings and is limited strictly to this geographical area and climate. Many systems which work in Arizona or California fall apart at 5 below zero...what we're interested in is what works here and projects you can visit.

Membership and access to the network's information is open to anyone regardless of location, but it comes with the warning that it may only be relevant to this locale.

"Two Dimensional Information"

Flat things with no depth have two dimensions...height and width...a page in a book, the image on a computer screen. Libraries, bookstores and the internet are full of books and websites on alternative building. We encourage you to investigate and study those sources...some of them are excellent. Unfortunately, some of them aren't...just like the rest of life. There are a couple of problems people seem to consistently encounter:

Information Overload...or "brain swamping" can happen in as little as an evening on the web trying to download the thousands of pages available on strawbale building alone. Many of the comments you'll find are contradictory. Few of us have the selection and editing skills to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Authenticity...the next problem is, you'll never meet the author. There's an adage.."those who know how to do it are too busy doing it to write a book(or launch a website)". In many instances, this is true. There are also people who are either inadvertent or blatant frauds in terms of whether they really know what they present as knowledge. Often, people new to the field, with little or no building experience attend a workshop or two, become inflamed, read several books and publish one on their own, intoxicated by this two dimensional information...they may not be dishonest in their intent, but their information comes from thin air. Occasionally an experienced builder does author a book.

"Three Dimensional Information"

If you really want to know about sustainable building, and especially before you design or build anything on your own, you need to spend some time with things that aren't flat and nebulous...things that have bodies and roofs and real-time experience...people and houses. These things are real...they exist in three dimensions. You can walk through them, kick them (not the builders...please), go back and talk to them again.

This is where Smart Shelter invests its time and effort...into accumulating and making available three dimensional information. When you've done your reading and are thoroughly confused and still know you don't have the answers to enough questions to build...the network is designed to bridge the gap before you.

The most important and productive thing that can happen to you at that point is for someone to give you a list of 180 strawbale buildings (if that's what you're interested in) broken down by community and send you out to talk to the people who built and live in them in your area.

We're a resource network...we give you the resources you need...and help you avoid reinventing your neighbor's wheel.

Still, you're going to find that everyone you talked to had a little different take on what they did...but when you find your own style and technique, it will have been based on real, substantiated, "three-dimensional information".

What Does the Network Provide???

(note-feb,2004- see the Smart Shelter Home Page for an update of functions, resources and services.)