Small Houses

[wrab]

Alchemy Architects / modular prefab Wee Houses http://www.weehouse.com

Here is their first Wee House (Arado Wee House, Pepin WI), assembled in 2003:


http://www.weehouse.com/?portfolio=arado-weehousee

http://www.weehouse.com/?portfolio=arado-weehousee

http://www.weehouse.com/?portfolio=arado-weehousee

http://www.weehouse.com/?portfolio=arado-weehousee

http://www.weehouse.com/?portfolio=arado-weehousee

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by M.R.Victor

I have to wonder exactly how livable these places are, especially when they're not perfectly staged for (often wide angle) architectural shoots. How does the regular stuff that fills up life (laundry comes to mind) Are there any confessionals/stories/blogs that detail the lives of those that have spent a considerable amount of time (let's say 6+ months) in one of these?

Most people can't do it. I think many recall studio apartments or dorm room living where you are tripping over things. Furniture gets damaged when you pull out the ironing board, it's difficult to host parties, your clothes smell like last night's dinner.

The only solution to make these things work for the regular person is to lift alot off the floor. Get the bed in a wall...have a table fold out from that. These homes need to be designed so that only one activity is happening at a time....but switching activities is incredible easy. More furniture needs to be multi-purpose. There's actually some Italian furniture maker out there that makes a dining room table fold down into a bed and all the contents on the table can remain in place.

I also don't like seeing bathrooms open up into living space. That's probably the worst idea ever. Nothing like have soapy steam get into your clothes or furniture and have your kitchen smell like your toilet.

I'm a pretty minimalist person, so I guess I think about things alot. I hate having clutter and I think we are in great times where technological clutter is disappearing. You can now have a 60" television in a 450 square foot apartment because its on the wall and our computers are now in our hand or our desktops on a tiny shelf. We no longer file things and our storage systems products are more versatile than ever.

[MonkeyRonin]

House of the Week: 229 Winnett Avenue

Posted by Leslie Bank / March 4, 2014


229 Winnett Avenue is wee. With a lot size of 12.5 ft wide, it's just slightly bigger than 128 Day Avenue (Toronto's tiniest, aka "The Little House").

Sandwiched between two tall detached homes, the detached cottage appears especially small, although one can find a few similar bungalows scattered throughout this Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood. The house has been recently upgraded with a new front deck, storage shed in the rear, and a fresh (if plain) three-piece bathroom. If you're looking at condos -- with a condo-sized budget -- but dream of owning a home, this could be a clever alternative. Just watch your head on the ascent to that loft bedroom.

Although the house is small, it doesn't read as cramped. The cathedral ceiling offers some extra space and strategically placed skylights bring in some much-needed natural light. The bathroom, living space, and master bedroom are all move-in ready, but the kitchen cabinets and lighting could benefit from a bit of a facelift. The house is close to Cedarvale Park and the ravine system, but it's a hike on foot to amenities on Eglinton or St Clair West.

http://www.blogto.com/city/2014/03/h...innett_avenue/

[MonkeyRonin]

A 31 Year Old Was Sick Of Expensive Rent And High Costs. What He Did Took Guts… But Look Inside.

March 20, 2014


Most grown children have heard this question from their parents at some point in their lives: “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

It’s a question that pushes us to think for ourselves. That question doesn’t inspire me, but this man in California does. Alek Lisefski is a web designer who decided to take everything we know about building a house and flip it on its head. Instead of going in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars, he built his own home for the low, low price of $30,000. It’s only 8x20ft, but that’s what makes it awesome. It’s a tiny house, it’s mobile and it looks so cool I would give anything to live in it for a day.

http://www.viralnova.com/tiny-house-project/

[MonkeyRonin]

Tiny Home Concept: Flatpack House

What would you say if we told you ‘you can build your own mini-home with 6.000 pounds in a week’s time`? A cheap house doesn’t necessarily mean cheap materials and lousy design. The Flatpack House shows that there is a realistic niche of people in the homebuilding sector who want both affordable and DIY structures. The wooden cabin supplied by Mark Burton’s company is similar to the whole IKEA concept. You do it yourself, assembling the whole thing when you desire, and without costing you your life savings. With this way of building, it’s your task to literally raise you home from the base up. Materials and full instructions are delivered to your address in a big package. Start unwrapping and begin building. Sizable enough to accommodate a teenager but at the same time of proper proportions to fit into a backyard, the mini-home gives you pretty decent living conditions in only a week of work. The classic wooden decor can be nicely complemented with a minimalistic interior design. See how one example of these looks from the outside and from the inside and be inspired to take the step and try to make your own Flatpack House.

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/tiny-...latpack-house/

[MonkeyRonin]

Inside The Keret House – the World’s Skinniest House – by Jakub Szczesny


Earlier this week, we announced the completion of the world’s narrowest house in Warsaw, Poland. The Keret House was first conceived as a seemingly impossible vision of the Polish architect Jakub Szczesny of Centrala, who first presented the idea as an artistic concept during the WolaArt festival in 2009. Now, three years later, the vision has become a reality and is drawing a significant amount of international attention to the city of Warsaw.

Built between two existing structures from two historical epochs, the narrow infill is more of an art installation that reacts to the past and present of Warsaw. Although the semi-transparent, windowless structure’s widest point measures only 122 centimeters, it’s naturally lit interior doesn’t seem nearly as claustrophobic as one would think.

...

The House is located on the plot measuring 92 centimeters in its narrowest point and 152 centimeters in its widest point. “That is why at first it seems that the construction of living space within such premise is impossible. Keret House is to contradict that false image, simultaneously broadening the concept of impossible architecture”, says the architect Jakub Szczesny. The house itself is 72 centimeters in the narrowest and 122 centimeters in the widest point.

http://www.archdaily.com/289630/insi...akub-szczesny/

[muppet]

^no no no.

I adore small houses, but there are some criteria.

1. It needs light, and some kind of view, even just a lawn or onto the street to compensate for the lack of space. Not skylights you can't look out of, which is like living in a box.

2. There's a limit to living like in a caravan. Not too much folding open stuff to lay the dinner, or assembling a walkway to get to the loo etc.

3. Needs a clear path through the place. Not twisting, not ducking.

4. It should be safe too, not a firetrap or large falls when you get out of bed.

4. I have alot of shit. I need a bookshelf in there.

[muppet]

Germany

www.designboom.com

http://cdn.home-designing.com



Mews houses, London (former stables below grand terraces, and up to $6 million)


http://i.telegraph.co.uk

typical mews street - you pay a premium to live in a village community in the heart of the city:


www.lurotbrand.co.uk

http://thedesignsoc.com, http://i.telegraph.co.uk/



US:


www.amyvolk.com


http://trusthomedesigns.com







Traditional Thai




www.tinyhousedesign.com

http://home-style-decor.blogspot.co....yle-decor.html

small Beijing courtyard house (hutong)


www.architecturelist.com


www.beijinghutongtour.com

www.ecns.cn


Tokyo


http://thisislavie.com, http://jimmycohrssen.com


Hiroshima


http://assets.inhabitat.com


http://assets.inhabitat.com

http://afasiaarq.blogspot.co.uk/2011...office_25.html

[(four 0 four)]

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is sponsoring SCADpad at their Atlanta campus. Three functional 135 square foot houses (that each fit within a standard parking space) have been constructed along with an organic garden. Students will move in shortly and share their experiences on social media.

http://www.scadpad.com/

[MonkeyRonin]

How to pack a whole lot of living into 221 square feet

Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter)
Design / Tiny Houses
February 6, 2014

One of the key limitations in the design of many tiny houses is the fact that they have to be built on trailer chassis. Many zoning bylaws have minimum building sizes to keep the riffraff out and the property taxes up; many building codes have minimum room sizes and other rules that make it very hard to build small. By having wheels, it becomes a recreational vehicle and it can sneak under a lot of radars. But it's really tough to design a decent space in an 8'-6" wide (exterior dimensions!) space.

Andrew and Gabriella Morrison have pulled it off in their 221 square foot home and write about it (and how they live in it) on the Tiny House Blog. In many tiny houses, designers compromise on something, be it kitchen or bathroom.

Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-house...uare-feet.html

[MonkeyRonin]

"Smart Student Unit" is a 100 square foot timber wonder

Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter)
Design / Modular Design
September 6, 2013

Designboom shows two of our favorite things in one little project: A 100 square foot "smart student unit" made out of cross-laminated timber (CLT) the super-strong wood panels made from sustainably harvested wood.

I love how the tables fold up into the wall and seal the windows. This thing is solid and safe.

Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/modular-de...er-wonder.html

[scalziand]

So when the weather's bad, you don't have any tables?

[Guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by scalziand

So when the weather's bad, you don't have any tables?

whopse...

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

http://www.archdaily.com/289630/insi...akub-szczesny/

Okay...that one is ridiculous.

[MonkeyRonin]

Hey, I'd live there if the price were right. You have to admit though, it's a pretty clever use of what would otherwise be wasted space.


...sort of like this 86 sqft. apartment in Paris:

Video Link

[MonkeyRonin]

30 Year Old Storage Unit Turned into Amazing Micro Home

Published on July 8, 2014

When there’s a shortage of affordable housing people are forced into creativity and the solutions that these situations help create usually turn out to be pretty amazing. Like this 387 square feet storage unit turned into a micro home by architect Karin Matz based in Stockholm.

For 30 years the unit had been used for storage. In the 1980s the previous owner had started to renovate it into an apartment but the owner became sick and unfortunately passed away. So up until recently the unit was left untouched.

Read more: http://tinyhousetalk.com/storage-unit-micro-home/

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Hey, I'd live there if the price were right. You have to admit though, it's a pretty clever use of what would otherwise be wasted space.


...sort of like this 86 sqft. apartment in Paris:

Video Link

Getting into bed after a night of drinking looks like it would be a significant challenge.

[MonkeyRonin]

Mountainview 269 sq. ft. micro-apartment remodel fits family of three

Kimberley Mok (@kimberleymok)
Design / Tiny Houses
July 11, 2014

With debate simmering about the possible "health risks" of small apartments, a tiny home of under 300 square feet may not seem sufficiently large enough for a family of three. But in many places in the world, such as Europe or Asia, it's not uncommon to have families living in smaller but efficiently spaced flats. But with additional improvements like transformer design and flexible, multipurpose spaces, small places can become more than sufficient.

Spanish firm Beriot Bernardini Arquitectos renovated this tiny 25 square-metre (269 square-foot) apartment in one of Madrid's municipalities, Navacerrada, for a family with a young child, showing that with a few intelligent adjustments, it is possible to live small, without sacrificing amenities.

Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-house...or-family.html

[MonkeyRonin]

"Glamper" tiny houses built with hot tubs for luxurious vacationing

Kimberley Mok (@kimberleymok)
Design / Tiny Houses
September 18, 2014

Tiny homes come in all shapes, sizes and budgets. While some may build ultra-tiny houses for a few thousand dollars, others may be inclined to spend more for luxuries that still fit into the tiny house genre. Of course, it depends on one's definition of what "living with less" may mean. For Warwickshire, UK-based Tinywood Homes, building wood-fired hot tubs is part of their business, so it seemed inevitable that they would combine one of these luxuries with their high-end tiny home building service.

Started by Aidan Reeve and a friend in 2012 who wanted to experiment with building a home out of a 20-foot shipping container, Tinywood Homes has since evolved onto building custom-made tiny homes, hot tubs and gazebos. They also offer tiny home rentals in the area. Here are three images of the Tinywood Two, one of their intermediate models.

Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-house...-hot-tubs.html

[MonkeyRonin]

Micro-community of tiny homes flourishes on rehabilitated vacant lot

Kimberley Mok (@kimberleymok)
Design / Green Architecture
November 20, 2013

Turning an under-used, derelict urban lot into a tiny house community

Will tiny houses be the next big thing? We've outlined before some of the barriers that might be keeping tiny houses from becoming mainstream -- one of big obstacles being access to land, even under-utilized urban land, despite the fact that there would be a real market for them in city centres.

Hoping to demonstrate the possibilities of the tiny house lifestyle, especially on under-used urban lots, a small collective of tiny home owners joined forces in 2012 to form Boneyard Studios, a micro-village of tiny homes located on a rehabilitated vacant lot in the Washington DC area. Check out the visual tour of this remarkable tiny community.

Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows...ed-vacant-lot/