budda

client: shanna

2012 ford e350 super duty xlt

story:

Shanna is a teacher living on the east coast who originally grew up in California. Her lifelong aspiration is to work remotely mentoring sign language interpreters (Shanna is deaf, as is her entire family). She came to us ready to pursue her dream with her own boho build, with the plan to kick-off her new life attending Burning Man Festival with her fresh van Budda (with no “h”).

Budda was built with inspiration drawn from previous E-350 builds, but with extra design challenges. Since Shanna wanted to live full-time in her van, she required both a refrigerator and freezer. Since most dual zone appliances are quite large, we installed her unit along the passenger door, and equipped it with a telescoping laptop table (which sits flush along the fridge T&G when not in use) to allow her to work and eat comfortably from her bed.

Shannas affinity for skiing, biking and surfing meant adding a locking surfboard rack, tow hitch and bike rack to ensure she can take all her toys along with her. The solar panels were arranged like an “L” to maximize surface area.

Originally painted silver, Budda was finished with a metallic green paint, complimenting the red cedar tongue and groove and ipswich pine stain.