Re: GBlist: RE: How Ken Kern Died

Hal Levin (hlevin@cruzio.com)
Wed, 19 Mar 1997 17:40:45 -0800

Actually, Kern's work goes back at least as early as 1970, perhaps
before. I have one of the early, numbered copies of the Owner-Built Home.
The book cost $5 a copy, or, for $10, Ken would also send a sketch plan for
your house if you sent information about the site and your needs. Many of
his book customers became clients for consulting. He would pull his trailer
up to their site, stay for a while, and help them build their home.

He self-published most of his early books. I never regarded them as
"joke." I was very much into owner-building in those days and eventually did
build one almost all by myself. It was an extremely rewarding experience in
many respects. I strongly recommend, although I might say that no one should
have to live in the first house they build. I also would say that the worst
design client I ever had was myself. I could never make up my mind. But, the
house worked extremely well, and I regret ever leaving it.

One of Ken's later books was a collaborative effort with his sister,
a psychologist, called the _Work Book_. It was about the difficulty of
building one's own home. In a review for the Whole Earth Catalog, I noted
that I often did more marriage counseling than architecture in my consulting
and design work with owner-builders.

Ken wrote a book called _The Healthy House_ which got me started on
indoor pollution issues in early 1978. He based the book on audio casette
translations of the original German of two books on baubiologie, one from
Austria, the other, I know not wherefrom. A client's mother was German and
did the translation in return for consulting services to her son. Barter was
big here in California in the late 60s and onwards for those of us seeking
to change the way things were. Ken did some additional research with
government scientists and others on this side of the pond and put together a
rather good introduction to the subject of buildings and health. I was
fascinated by the subject, and I have not ceased to be ever since. Nor have
I learned enough to stop looking for answers. On the contrary, "the more you
know, the more you realize how little you know." That's one reason that
scientist nearly always seem to recommend more research at the end of each
project.

Ken, too, had an insatiable appetite for learning, for experimenting
with buiding. If I recall correctly (it has been a while now) Barbara, his
wife, asked him not to spend the night in the ill-fated shelter. He felt the
need to fully experiment including experiencing the structure in a storm.

By my way of thinking, he made many important contributions to the
appropriate technology movement (now called "green building" or "sustainable
design." He inspired me greatly and literally changed my career path.. He
is sorely missed.

Hal

At 03:44 PM 3/19/97 PST, you wrote:
>
>I knew I would have to explain the remark. Ken Kern wrote a series of
>popular books during the height of the back-to-the-land movement, circa
>1975, starting with "The Owner-Built Home." In fact, he wrote so many
>books derived from that title that it began to seem like a joke to me.
>
>How he died: He was sleeping alone in an experimental structure he built,
>(I believe it invovled PVC pipe, plastic and soil) and during a rainstorm
>it collapsed on him. While I don't like to joke about tragedy too
>publicly, I file his death in my mind along with Adele Davis (promoted
>health food, died from cancer) and Jim Fixx (promoted jogging, had a
>fatal heart attack while running).
>
>Kern printed one quote that serves me daily, which he attributed to the
>Chinese, "The man who finishes his house, dies."
>
>Jim Rosenau
> ----------

Hal Levin <hlevin@cruzio.com>

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