Overview

"What had seemed like a straightforward next step in adulthood turned into a complicated and emotional rollercoaster for twenty-nine-year-old artist Ariane Roesch when she and her (now) husband decided to build their home in Houston, Texas. To make the venture financially feasible, they moved into a 20 ft. shipping container on their property without electricity, water, sewer, or even a fence. Over the course of two years, they managed or assisted in all aspects of the construction and built their new life, slowly regaining standard comforts such as running water and continuous electricity. Roesch guides readers through her journey to homeownership, listing documents needed to apply for a construction loan, items necessary to file for a building permit, and how to calculate debt-to-income ratio--weaving a practical how-to guide into an enticing narrative. Her story is a meditation on affordable housing, the student loan crisis, and what happens when a generation can't afford to invest in their community. ""How to Build: a House, a Life, a Future"" exposes the self-sufficiency and resourcefulness that explains why many are still able to call Houston their home."

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9781733054522

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Reviews

"""Ariane Roesch takes the reader on a fabulous personal journey through her astutely written and effectively strategized book, How to Build: a House, a Life, a Future. She illuminates a guided pathway to home ownership by sharing her concept sketches about the possibility of temporarily living off-the-grid, her methodology for envisioning positive financial outcomes, and her intelligent determination to literally build her dream house from the ground up. The engaging and informative narrative serves as a blueprint that reveals the true dimensionality of complex human endeavor. Each chapter presents successful intellectual and creative problem-solving processes in order to resolve expected/unexpected expenses, delays, and changes in official codes. The friendly and experienced advice that is presented in the book from start to finish will prepare the reader to set out on their own quest to build a house, a life, a future."" -- Harry Gamboa Jr., artist and educator ""Roesch has written a warm, intimate and eminently readable book about a major life decision. By telling her own story of homesteading in the big city -- and including the good, bad, and gnarly details of the process -- she inspires others to find their agency and the means to pursue the dream of homeownership."" -- Christina Rees, editor of Glasstire ""Roesch's refreshingly transparent reflection on DIY home construction offers a practical and creative path to self-reliance and community building, especially for younger generations seeking their own meanings of home. While celebrating moments that are uniquely Houston, this personal case study demystifies the bureaucracies of home construction and encourages both owners and renters to learn more about the physical and conceptual intricacies of where and how we live."" -- Kelly Johnson, Houston artworker, curator and writer"

Ariane Roesch takes the reader on a fabulous personal journey through her astutely written and effectively strategized book, How to Build: a House, a Life, a Future. She illuminates a guided pathway to home ownership by sharing her concept sketches about the possibility of temporarily living off-the-grid, her methodology for envisioning positive financial outcomes, and her intelligent determination to literally build her dream house from the ground up. The engaging and informative narrative serves as a blueprint that reveals the true dimensionality of complex human endeavor. Each chapter presents successful intellectual and creative problem-solving processes in order to resolve expected/unexpected expenses, delays, and changes in official codes. The friendly and experienced advice that is presented in the book from start to finish will prepare the reader to set out on their own quest to build a house, a life, a future. -- Harry Gamboa Jr., artist and educator Roesch has written a warm, intimate and eminently readable book about a major life decision. By telling her own story of homesteading in the big city -- and including the good, bad, and gnarly details of the process -- she inspires others to find their agency and the means to pursue the dream of homeownership. -- Christina Rees, editor of Glasstire Roesch's refreshingly transparent reflection on DIY home construction offers a practical and creative path to self-reliance and community building, especially for younger generations seeking their own meanings of home. While celebrating moments that are uniquely Houston, this personal case study demystifies the bureaucracies of home construction and encourages both owners and renters to learn more about the physical and conceptual intricacies of where and how we live. -- Kelly Johnson, Houston artworker, curator and writer

Author Information

Ariane Roesch is a visual artist that also works with sound and writes. Her writings have been published in SPOT magazine, Visual Culture Magazine, and on Glasstire. Her art has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Born in Germany, Roesch moved to Houston, Texas, in 1996. She received a BFA from the University of Houston and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. She lives with her husband and their three dogs in the house they built in Houston.

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