Gara-oy: 1998

Tuesday, 30 June 1998

With vegetable farmers in the Kazakh steppe – September 1998

While working for Médecins sans Frontières in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, I take a week R&R as recommended and spend time with a family on their vegetable farm outside of Shymkent. The family tends to the farm in the summer months and uses a yurt as temporary house.

Components

Connection Wall - Roof

Roof

Connection Wall - Door

Skylight

Measurements of the yurts components

The yurt in its multiple forms is a fascinating shelter. I have personally seen three of the yurt's "incarnations" but there might quite well be more.

First developed in Central Asia probably thousands of years ago it was the perfect home for nomadic peoples. It could be set up and dismantled in short time, its components all easy to handle and transport, and could offer shelter both in extreme cold and extreme heat. All this by using an ingenious combination of construction materials that the Central Asian steppes offered: thin pieces of timber and felt.

At the beginning of the 20th century, yurts were invented again by the budding youth movements in central Europe. With their modular design from canvas tarps they were the perfect tents for hiking through the countryside, never staying more than one or a couple of nights in a spot. If every group member owned a tarp, the bigger a tent could be assembled the more hikers were there - offering shelter for all.

In the nineteen sixties, teacher and writer Bill Copperthwaite introduced his students to the yurt as an example for sophisticated, ancient design and a collaborative building process. Some of his students took the idea further and developed forms of yurts suitable as modern houses. Yet another of the yurts incarnations was born.

This blog is dedicated to the yurt in its multiple forms, its rich history, sophisticated design and cultural and spiritual significance that spans millennia and several continents.

Comments are welcome at KarlGangolfKayser@gmail.com.

Blog Archive

Tuesday, 30 June 1998

With vegetable farmers in the Kazakh steppe – September 1998