Jessie Lipskin was only seven when she first saw “Trash Warrior,” the documentary about eco-architect Michael Reynolds turning garbage into seaworthy homes. The image of plastic bottles becoming boat hulls lodged in her mind the way a catchy song lingers after the radio clicks off. Years later, while friends chased bigger apartments and corner offices, Jessie kept circling back to one question:

why do we need so much space and stuff to feel secure? Minimalism became her daily practice—one suitcase, one pair of favorite jeans, one coffee mug that fit her hand just right. Still, she dreamed of a dwelling that could roll, breathe, and leave the lightest possible tread on the planet. The answer arrived in the form of a 1966 Greyhound bus she spotted rusting behind a storage fence: forty feet of steel bones begging for a second life.