In 1989, the two authors Athena and Bill Steen of Indian, Mexican and European ancestry, founded the Canelo Project, a non-profit and community organisation in the pasture lands of Tucson, Arizona. They had already made a name for themselves, particularly in the USA, with their self-built houses made from straw and other natural materials.
The book, Built by Hand, published in 2003, gives a comprehensive overview of their activities throughout the project and how the architecture was constructed by hand using traditional materials and techniques which were typical to the area. However, the real author of Built by Hand is their Japanese friend and photographer, Yoshio Komatsu. He and his wife Eiko were off round the world, making pictorial records of indigenous buildings and their inhabitants, who were also architects.
The chapters entitled Earth, Stone, Wood, Bamboo and Straw constitute the introduction to the 472-page document. Short texts introduce the respective construction techniques. There are other sections dedicated to buildings:
On the Water and In the Earth, Mobile Homes and Building in Response to the Climate. Grain storage, places of worship, roads and entrances, windows, hand-crafted details and ornamental art can likewise be found in the picture book: there is a picture of a building in Cicmany, Slovakia alongside houses in Al-Hajjara, Yemen. Frescos in Holzgau, Austria, and in Ardez, Switzerland follow splendiferous murals in Valledupar, Columbia. In the epilogue, Yoshio Komatsu writes, “When I find a beautiful house, my heart beats faster as I get feelings from its shape, materials and settings”. It is beauty in simplicity that fascinates the photographer and surely also the reader. The hospitality of the residents who inhabit many of the large, colourful photographs should also not be forgotten.
Despite the variety of buildings, materials and locations that they present, the authors do not claim that this is exhaustive – they could not fulfil this anyway. In a world increasingly controlled by Western consumerism, Built by Hand is a collection which inspires courageousness as it reflects the wealth of cultures and exhibits new ‘old’ methods: not every ‘roof over the head’ that provides warmth, protection or simply gives pleasure has to be built from glass, concrete and corrugated iron.