When the house is finally built I will begin building a martial arts dojo. I have already brainstormed a few variations & drawn up a few google sketchup images for it. As time has been passing by I am leaning much more toward an indoor, enclosed building rather than an outdoor (freeze your buns off & sweat to death) type. I will be using this page as a reference source of material I find & brainstorming of idea.
An indoor enclosed & elevated dojo. http://www.kiodasu.com/DOJO/BuildingtheDojo/index.html
I like this one, it gives me some really good ideas on building a dojo near the back of the house where the land is very hilly, probably right over the little depression watershed is at. Built there on pillars the dojo windows would overlook the house & possibly over the roof depending on how high I make it. It would also allow an artsy staircase type entryway. This dojo pictured here has plywood flooring. I think I would rather have long planks securely fastened & sanded to perfection than plywood.
Definitely going to need a nice padded floor. I’m thinking some sort of “spring” flooring, after looking at several examples of it it can be done with wood plywood & metal springs/foam springs/etc. looks cheap.
heres a good video of a dojo construction.
Well, quite a few ideas have come and gone since I first started planning a dojo. Before I get to what I think is the final design I’ll show one of the crazier ideas I had for it.
Pagoda Dojo – 3 story octagon.
This monstrosity would have stood 60 feet off the ground. 18 foot octagonal practice area on the first floor, 14 foot practice area on the 2nd floor, and 8 foot martial arts study on the 3rd.
Advantages: Awesomeness!
Disadvantages: Costs as much as a car, dangerous to build, not likely to get approved by HoA, lots of wasted lumber during construction.
Outdoor Dojo
This dojo would be nice to have, cheap to make, and was a good first revision.
Advantages – Costs less than $1000. Doesn’t require HoA consultation.
Disadvantages – Heat stroke. Frostbite. Rain. Mosquito “den of feasting”. Concrete flooring breaks bones on falls. Vegetation upkeep.
“Box” Dojo
This one is currently in the design process. At first it was going to be a standard one story 20x24ft box with maybe enough attic space for a little martial arts study. Then I remembered the roofing at “the cabin” in Colorado (see picture below if I can find one). The first floor will be large enough to have all my exercise & body building equipment in it & the 2nd floor will be about 14×24 & setup as a living area/study/library type thing.
