Some find the 64-square-foot size and seeming flimsiness of such tiny houses inhumane, while others believe they’re an important stepping stone to getting people off the street permanently. The architects feel that Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village was always meant to be transitional, giving occupants a sense of security and ownership as well as access to necessary services and facilities until they can move on to more stable housing. They expanded upon that idea in their latest project, creating larger permanent homes for disabled and formerly homeless veterans.

The firm certainly has the experience to back up its ideas. They’ve been creating shelters for vulnerable populations for over 20 years. Six years ago, they partnered with nonprofit developer Restore Neighborhoods Los Angeles and community bank Genesis LA to create a variety of housing prototypes that could help ease the homelessness and housing affordability crises in California. These projects are all rooted in the idea that everyone deserves dignity and a sense of community.

Located in the South Los Angeles community of the same name (just south of Watts and northwest of Compton), Willowbrook Apartments is a seven-unit complex occupying an awkwardly shaped, long-vacant plot of land close to public transit and a community church. Each unit is 300 square feet and includes a private bathroom, kitchenette, and universal design features for accessibility.

Galley-style kitchens and plentiful natural light create a feeling of expansiveness. The units are mirrored back-to-back to save space, and they’re all anchored to a communal outdoor space. A taller structure offers a community meeting room, storage space, and offices to form a “coherent urban campus, even on a small scale.”

The colors are acid-bright, with neon yellow paths winding around small stone patios and drought-tolerant landscaping. The architects wanted it all to feel very California: cheerful, sunny, and fresh. “Each bend and turn in the path provides real or implied mindful pause from the street to the front door, enhancing the separation from the public realm to the private,” the team explains. “This is something that is meaningful and critical for all residents, but even more so for those that have previously been unhoused.”

The complex will serve as a model for similar developments. The team chooses urban infill lots that are considered less than ideal by most developers, inserting either individual affordable starter homes costing $200,000, 5-bedroom duplexes for troubled teens, or small communities for vulnerable populations, like Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village and Willowbrook Apartments. The projects aim to be livable, reproducible, and anything but depressing.

“I hope this project captures the imagination of the culture, showing how such housing can actively enhance its neighborhood, no matter where the residents lived previously,” says Michael Lehrer, founder and president of Lehrer Architects. “This is critical to destigmatize these types of housing projects, and to destigmatize the people who live there, demonstrating the true beauty of complete neighborhoods that take care of all residents.”

The post Lehrer Architects Create Cheerful Permanent Housing for LA’s Disabled Vets first appeared on Dornob.

Considering that the minimum wage hasn’t kept pace with inflation since 1968, what’s the average resident to do? An unprecedented number of unhoused people have no choice but to sleep on the streets. While some city governments are simply sweeping the houseless population from one park to the next like a game of whack-a-mole, groups like DignityMoves are focusing on building communities of tiny homes as a temporary measure until more permanent housing can be secured.

DignityMoves announced two inaugural communities in San Francisco and Santa Barbara last month, which cost about $30,000 per room (including all communal spaces) and took just a few months to build. Architecture firm Gensler joined tiny home builder Boss Homes to design prefabricated panel systems that could be assembled on sites secured by DignityMoves – typically vacant land or sparkling lots. Each project offers 70 rooms as well as shared bathroom and shower facilities, dining buildings, computer labs, clinics, and community spaces. The 33 Gough Street community in San Francisco has already begun welcoming residents.

“Central to DignityMoves’ vision is that everyone receives a private room with a door that locks,” the group explained in a press release. “Many experiencing homelessness are reluctant to accept beds in traditional group shelters. DignityMoves believes offering this sense of security will make clients more willing to engage in the critical supportive services needed to address the barriers to stable housing. One resident shared, ‘When I was living in my tent, I felt like I was constantly in survival mode, worried about my safety and where I might find my next meal. Now I am warm and dry and can lock my door at night.’”

These temporary, portable tiny homes are designed to last about 20 years. For structures that need a longer lifespan, DignityMoves partners with other manufacturers like Connect Homes, who built a 60-room community on city-owned land in the city of Rohnert Park. The group also collaborates with local agencies who provide supportive services like case management, mental and behavioral healthcare, job placement, and housing placement support. Private philanthropy and impact investors provide the funding.

San Francisco’s tiny home village will replace a city-sanctioned “safe sleeping village” full of tents. Though not exactly luxurious, the tiny houses are certainly an improvement over fabric shelters, especially in winter.

Crucially, DignityMoves sees them as just one tool in a toolkit for addressing homelessness; they’re not an all-in-one solution. What comes next is much more important. Organizers need only look to the spectacular failure of another recent attempt at offering temporary-to-permanent shelter to see why.

After authorities cleared an encampment at Echo Park in Los Angeles and provided transitional housing under a state program called Project Roomkey, only 17 people received long-term housing out of 183 displaced campers. Some of those people reported being placed in a prison-like environment with strict curfews, no-visitor policies, and requirements that they come with no personal belongings. Some rules, like mandatory daily room checks, made it hard for people to find work. Some got kicked out, some chose to leave, and only a few ever received housing vouchers. Those who did reported being unable to find landlords who would take them.

Ultimately, the project demonstrates that automatically treating unhoused people like criminals isn’t the answer to the homelessness crisis. Housing needs to be more affordable for everyone, and achieving that is going to require massive systemic changes in the way we monetize real estate, compensate employees, and structure wealth in this country.

The post Can a New Tiny Home Village Help Address California’s Homelessness Crisis? first appeared on Dornob.

Tranter has been fascinated by tiny homes for years and always hoped to build one of her own. Once she met Matt, a plumber who now owns his own bathroom and kitchen renovation company, she was ready to get started. The couple purchased a plot of land with beautiful views of the surrounding Blue Mountains and got right to work, detailing their building process on Instagram.

“Just because your house is small doesn’t mean you have to skip out on the finer things,” the couple says. That much is evident in their build, which includes a spacious living room, full size kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, and even a stairway leading to two separate sleeping lofts at either end of the house. They wanted standard size appliances, so they built the kitchen around them, tucking the refrigerator and range beneath the stairway leading to the sleeping loft. The kitchen also includes a farmhouse sink, a long waterfall-style counter, high cabinets, lots of built-in lighting, and a row of operable windows to let in the fresh air.

Diagonal wood floors transition seamlessly into hexagonal tile in the bathroom, where a huge louvered window blurs the lines between indoors and out. The bathroom also contains a dual vanity and a double shower with three shower heads, sliding glass doors, and a wide window for views of the scenery. Upstairs, the master loft has a king-size bed with two side tables and a skylight, and a walkway leads over the living room to the second loft, which contains a guest bed. This bed, too, has its own skylight, and both peer over the edge at the wood stove below. Does it seem like they’re lacking any little luxuries to you?

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they have a massive deck that effectively triples their living space in this temperate climate. The outdoor living area is covered by a custom black sunshade that matches the black corrugated steel siding on the minimalist house. The elevated deck is definitely a bonus. Pet lovers will note an awesome extra feature: a huge mesh-covered patio out back, accessed by a cat door in the house.

Since building their own home, the couple has founded a tiny house building company called Tailored Tiny Co., which specializes in tailoring custom-made small spaces to their clients’ needs and lifestyles.

The post Australian Couple Builds a Stylish DIY Tiny Home in Just 3 Months first appeared on Dornob.

Situated in the backyard of the couple’s LA home, this wee work of art may not be the pair’s primary residence, but through its doors one can find all the amenities of home, tucked away in a cute corner that’s brimming with personality both inside and out.

The tiny home itself has an interesting past that gave the LA couple the inspiration for the project. Dating back to the 1800s, it’s believed to have had its own starring role in the bright lights of Hollywood as a prop in many TV shows and movies, including The Wizard of Oz. Traditionally known as a “vardo,” (a word deriving from the Romani word “vurdon,” meaning cart), wagons like these were used as mobile homes by the Roma people while traveling. These wagons were historically full of colorful and ornate details, much like the current iteration in the Thorsons’ backyard.

While the history and Hollywood glamor surrounding this tiny home are definitely big parts of its appeal, it was Rachel’s devotion to capturing its whimsical side that really inspired her to revamp the wagon and preserve it as an “important piece of history” that could be shared with others. The tiny home is currently listed on Airbnb for those who want to experience the magic for themselves.

Though the wagon itself is only 84 square feet, it’s still packed with modern conveniences like a full-size bed and mini-fridge —though guests do have to access what Rachel dubs the “water closet” through a connecting building that’s attached to the wagon via an outer stone pathway. Still, this does little to diminish the effect, as the atmosphere outside the wagon is just as colorful and delightful as its eclectic interiors, complete with verdant greenery, comfy hammocks, and even a hot tub.

With retro touches like hand-curated mosaic tiles reclaimed from a local tile manufacturer, a riot of patterns, colors, and textures throughout, and boho beauty galore, the Thorsons have created a real wonderland in their own corner of La La Land. Playfully dubbed “Vardolandia” by the creative couple, this wagon certainly has its place in Hollywood history and will continue to delight those lucky enough to snag a stay in its curated confines. As Rachel says, it’s a place “to remember what [it] feels like to let your imagination run free” – a bit of Oz tucked away in modern-day Los Angeles.

The post This Vintage Wagon-Turned-Tiny Home Brings the Magic of Oz to LA first appeared on Dornob.

Rammed earth buildings can be found all over the world, but they’re usually medium to large in size. Have you ever heard of anyone using this alternative building method to craft a tiny house? Architects Merve nur Başer, Aslı Erdem, and Fatma Zeyneb Önsiper did just that with “The Rammed Earth House,” designed for the grassy flatlands of Dobrava, Slovenia.

Created as part of an architecture competition, the design concept is unusual in a few ways. It consists not just of rammed earth walls, but also a rammed earth roof, which is itself protected by a secondary green roof that shades it. Stretching out past the dimensions of the rammed earth peak beneath it, this secondary timber roof is pitched to let in winter sunlight on the south facade, where solar panels are located.

“The traditional form with the pitched roofs and windows expanding from those, is reinterpreted in a new way by experimenting with the rammed earth material,” the architects explain. “We aimed to use rammed earth material as much as possible in the design and wanted to create a holistic approach by building the house with rammed earth from the ground to the roof. We intended to merge traditional and modern by trying experimental forms and materials.”

Inside, an open plan with large triangular windows makes the home feel surprisingly spacious given its limited footprint. Rammed earth walls tend to be quite wide, and in this case they provide both a warm, comforting ambiance and deep window ledges that double as seats. The fireplace is in the northwest corner and has few windows to minimize heat loss in winter. The kitchen, living area, and fireplace are all visible from the lofted bedroom, where occupants can also watch the stars or the sunset.

The project was inspired by the team’s admiration for the seemingly “levitating” roof designed by Slovenian architect Oton Jugovec. The Dobrava Floating Roof reduces shelter to its most minimalist form, consisting of just a roof supported by two pillars. Jugovec himself drew from the influences of traditional Slovenian hay racks found throughout the countryside.

The Rammed Earth House ultimately puts a contemporary spin on these vernacular aesthetics while achieving natural passive heating, cross ventilation, solar electricity, and rainwater collection and reuse. Set on a concrete foundation, it features a wrap-around oak deck and a pass-through to the kitchen for seasonal outdoor living. The lush green roof disguises it from above and mimics the feel of a tree’s canopy, integrating the structure with the surrounding forest.

The post The Roof of This Rammed Earth Tiny House Feels Like a Leafy Canopy first appeared on Dornob.

Situated along a narrow street in the coastal town of Arenys de Mar, this three-story house has faced some significant challenges over the years. For starters, it had been forgotten by the municipal planning in the latest update, standing as a ghost of a former city plan. Then the owner’s tenant had to abandon the space to move to a nursing home, leaving it totally vacant for over a year. To top it off, leaks in the roof allowed water to filter through the three stories during this time until it all but destroyed the first floor’s wooden structure.

When the architects of Barcelona-based Twobo studio took on the refurbishment of the five-by-five meter home, they actually let these damages guide their design process.

“The water paved the way for us,” the team explains. “Sunlight filtered through the hole left by the collapse of the structure. Could it be that the solution for this small house was precisely to ‘lose’ more meters?”

The tall, skinny dwelling shares walls on three sides with other buildings, with the front facade opening onto a street less than 10 feet wide with almost no sidewalk. Adding a skylight on the third floor and expanding each stairwell allowed in more light, helping the roughly 256 square feet of each floor feel bigger than it really is. The ground floor also got boost of sunlight when the Twobo architects punched out a larger hole in the facade, lining the entire entry with oversize windows and creating a threshold that “transforms the street into part of the house.”

Next came the addition of other permanent features. A compact kitchen was installed on the lower level, with room for cooking essentials and a table with a room-wide tiled-bench that forms a banquette. The existing ceiling beams were left exposed in here to show off all their aged and well-worn glory. Patches of a former blue paint also retain their spot of honor on the ceiling as a nod to the home’s long history.

A sink was added on the second floor and the water closet was cleverly hidden in what looks like a large set of cupboards. The rest of the space on that level houses a full-size bed near a window overlooking the street. Above that, the third floor is reserved for storage, with two oversize wardrobes hung on the wall over the stairwell. The entire home was painted white, with the light, natural wood and tawny floor tiles providing accent color for a fresh and minimalist vibe.

The Twobo architecture studio was formed over a decade ago in Spain by family members Pablo and Alberto Twose and María Pancorbo. Their work has covered technical architecture, interior design services, and landscaping, as well as furniture and fixture design. Their ultimate goal is to find the “apparent simplicity” in each creative project.

The post “History of Abandonment” Guides the Restoration of This 5×5 Barcelona Home first appeared on Dornob.

Recently, the architecture and woodworking studio Madeiguincho added their own name to that list with their unveiling of the “Adraga House.” Part of a series of “tiny houses on wheels” across their native Portugal, the group’s latest is just a further example of their woodworking prowess. No stranger to tiny homes built with an eye toward sustainability (see the off-grid tiny house “Ursa”), the studio has just created an idyllic iteration that’s perfectly at home in the heart of the forest, but whose design is really meant to be at home anywhere it happens to be.

Specifically designed for a retired couple aiming to disconnect from the busy outside world, the Adraga House may seem aesthetically simplistic upon first glance. But upon closer inspection, the tiny timber dwelling becomes a fully self-sustainable unit built with all the comforts of home in mind — albeit in an off-grid, environmentally friendly way.

Complete with solar power, a method for rainwater collection providing reusable water in both the kitchen and shower, and a dry toilet that allows compost to subsequently be used in the garden beds, the Adraga House is a mobile modern marvel that, true to the tiny home trend, looks much bigger than it appears on the outside.

Though the tiny home is open to travel, the team at Madeiguincho did envision a strong connection with its natural surroundings, specifically the gardens. An integral part of the house itself, the gardens are surprisingly mobile. They come with the house and only require simple assembly to create an outdoor area that’s both lovely to look at and provides a space for food composting and further cultivation.

Inside, the Adraga House goes full TARDIS mode, opening up to reveal a spacious living space that belies its otherwise-minuscule mien. Cleverly designed to maximize space through purposeful placement of both furniture and stairs, there’s also plenty of storage throughout — one of the most important features a tiny home can offer.

With all that storage space, the home – though amply furnished – doesn’t appear cluttered. Instead, its lofty living area houses both a king-size bed and a sofa bed, a full kitchen, and enough space for four people to live in relative comfort, making for the ultimate little house of (sustainable) luxury.

The latest in a series of tiny homes on wheels across Portugal, the Adraga House is a wooden work of wonder built by the creative design studio Madeiguincho. At home anywhere, the mobile, self-sustaining unit is designed with comfort, style, and eco-conscious living in mind, providing its owners with ample space despite its decidedly diminutive size and proving once again that the tiny home trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The post Madeiguincho’s Newest Mobile Tiny Home is a Sustainable Wooden Wonder first appeared on Dornob.

Virgil Abloh’s Architectural Vision for Louis Vuitton

The late designer Virgil Abloh gifted us with a lot of creativity before his untimely death this year, including a fun collection of architecture-meets-menswear for Louis Vuitton. Taking inspiration from James Baldwin’s 1953 essay “Stranger in the Village,” the Fall-Winter 2021 collection introduces wearable buildings modeled on such recognizable structures as Mies Van Der Rohe’s 1929 Barcelona Pavilion.

Selgascano’s Experimental Outdoor Office in Los Angeles

Office environments don’t have to be sad, stuffy, and boring. Selgascano’s Second Home Hollywood staggers lemon-yellow office pods and communal spaces through a lush landscape for a co-working environment that fosters connection, concentration, and good mental health. It’s the kind of work environment you might not actually mind returning to when the pandemic danger is over.

GROW, A Light Show for Plants

Bringing the same LED technology that benefits plants in greenhouses into open fields, Studio Roosegaard explores how artificial sunshine can benefit both plants and people with GROW. Part art installation, part agricultural innovation, the project turns farm fields into a setting for spectacular light shows while boosting crop growth.

The Chapel of Sound Concert Hall by OPEN Architecture

Strikingly sculptural in appearance, The Chapel of Sound is an open-air concert hall by OPEN Architecture set near the Great Wall of China outside Beijing. It’s organically shaped enough to seem almost like a natural growth, but its concrete striations produce an ideal acoustic space for performances, and it even has a rooftop observation deck.

The Symbolic Architecture of Squid Game

Somewhat depressing story aside, Netflix’s Squid Game stood out for its striking sets, each one symbolizing a contrast between childhood innocence and the harsh reality of adulthood in the modern world. Exaggerated and oversized playgrounds, eerie combat arenas, models of traditional Korean villages, and beds stacked like stadium bleachers come together to produce a nightmarish spectacle of life-or-death competition.

Cabana, A Tiny House That Can Be Built By Two

Tiny houses have a reputation for feeling a bit too cramped and utilitarian for most people, but the Cabana offers middle ground on both fronts. What’s remarkable about this 355-square-foot off-grid abode is that not only is it two full stories with an attractive modern design, it’s also made up of modules that are light enough for just two people to transport and put together.

Wutopia Lab’s Meditative Urban Bookstore

Wutopia Lab deftly demonstrates how to make urban locations feel zen with its Duoyun Bookstore, a cloud-themed commercial space that takes visitors on a journey of tranquility and discovery. Located in the Huangyang district of Taizhou in China, the nearly all-white bookstore features a series of connected outdoor rooftop spaces for reading and discussion in between interior spaces that show off the books to their best advantage.

Imaginative Furniture by Bethan Laura Wood

Sculpture, self-expression, a rebuke of sexist design standards: Bethan Laura Wood’s ornate and imaginative furniture reflects a daring approach and a uniquely brilliant vision. The English designer put together a collection of both new and old works for “Ornate,” a solo show at Nilafur Gallery in Milan, and it was a buffet of beautiful and strange objects that are also functional pieces for the home.

NCaved: A House Built Into a Greek Hillside

Sure, Mold Architects’ NCaved house in Greece looks a bit like a Bond villain’s lair. But it’s also smart in various ways: passively cooled and heated by the earth, blended into its hilly environment for a lower visual and environment impact, and designed to perfectly frame views of the water.

K-Thengono’s Adaptable Design for an Impossibly Narrow Apartment

Designs for ultra-tiny apartments that rely on robotic and electronic elements are certainly impressive, but out of reach for the average person who actually lives in a small space. Design firm K-Thengono took a more practical approach for this ultra-narrow apartment in Jakarta using drawers, cabinets, and fold-down tables. It’s a great example of what’s possible when you think creatively.

The post Our Favorite Designs of 2021, from Squid Game to Virgil Abloh first appeared on Dornob.

This portable modern cabin is based on the firm’s RCA-03 design, available in either 225 or 375-square-foot versions. Manufactured off-site and capable of being assembled within just four weeks, the fully furnished cabin consists of a system of both fixed and flexible elements. The layout of each cabin is the same, with a bathroom, kitchenette, and living space with built-in storage, but elements like lighting, fixtures, and material finishes can be customized.

The A24 itself is a 225-square-foot RCA-03 cabin tucked into a lush hillside on a coffee plantation in Bettagere Estate, Coorg, India as part of an upcoming resort called Betta Living. Clients Sunny Watwani and Adithya Roongta dreamed of building a series of cabins near their home city of Chennai, but didn’t want to go the usual route of building a resource-intensive, environment-disrupting vacation home. “There’s little or no regard for the surrounding nature,” Watwani told Architectural Digest. “People have blocked natural streams, cut down trees, and damaged the local biodiversity.”

Watwani and Roongta were adamant that not a single tree be cut down to accommodate the cabin, which was initially conceptualized by SPASM Design Architects with design development and execution completed by DDAA. As a result, the cabin sits lightly on the carefully chosen site, supported by four adjustable legs. The reflective glass and ACP metal siding panels help it blend into its environment, but the cabin feels thoroughly contemporary thanks to its sleek materials and jewel-like silhouette.

Inside, it offers guests a full bathroom with a shower, wardrobe, queen-size bed, and kitchenette foyer. Service equipment like the condenser unit is hidden behind the bathroom block. Walnut wood flooring, matte finish interior cladding, glowing amber pendant lights, and bespoke furniture give it a refined yet cozy atmosphere with incredible views of the surrounding mountain range.

“While the initial concept for A24 was designed by Spasm, DDAA worked to develop the design and prefabricate it in record time,” say the architects. “Every corner in the cabin strives to visually if not spatially connect with the natural context, be it the bathroom which comes furnished with all the modern amenities, or the kitchenette in the living space that captures stunning views of the valley.”

“The cabin’s most prominent features are its large, open facades that frame gorgeous views of the natural beauty outside. The 225-square-foot interior space reflects a minimal abode prioritized for comfort and design. A coherent design language resonates with all other cabins as well, and is perfect for sites located in the woods, the mountains, or along the shore.”

The post Off-Grid Living Gets Luxurious in This Tiny Modern Cabin by DDAA first appeared on Dornob.

The 355-square-foot “Cabana” was commissioned by a Brazilian steel company to highlight the adaptability of its product at Casa Cor 2021, the country’s annual interior and exterior design showcase. The project parameters required that the dwelling should be lightweight, easy to transport, and provide minimal interference with the surrounding environment.

Lead architect Barbara Fonseca created a two-story structure that includes an entire wall of windows to capitalize on the area’s picturesque nature views. The asymmetrical house is also compact and efficient. The entryway opens onto the living area, complete with an energy-saving wood burning stove. Directly behind the seating area is a small wall of kitchen cabinets including a built-in sink, two-burner stove, and small refrigerator.

To the left of the kitchenette is a ladder that leads to the upper level. Around the other side is the bathroom, which incorporates two showerheads mounted on the ceiling and a composting toilet. Bringing the outside in, an indoor botanical garden bed placed adjacent to the shower allows green plants to recycle some of the residents’ carbon dioxide emissions.

A single bedroom with room for a queen-size platform bed comprises the entire second floor. The warm, wooden walls here are broken up by two oversize windows to allow plenty of sunlight and fresh air in.

To keep the environmental impact low, Liga Arquitetura e Urbanismo chose to utilize steel beams, cements slabs with steel pile foundations, and reforested wood as their primary building materials. Rock wool was also incorporated in the walls and ceiling, itself a very effective stone-based insulation made from Basalt rock and recycled steel slag.

The construction plans call for the use of steel screws to join all the parts, preventing extra air pollution from the by-products of welding and drawing attention to another one of the versatile metal’s many benefits.

“With the cabin project we hope to introduce people to a new way of life: more modern, practical, and simple. And to show that steel is accessible for all types of buildings,” said Ascanio Merrighi, director of Soluções Usiminas, one of the largest steel companies in the western hemisphere and the sponsor for the Cabana design.

The tidy cabin also includes LED strip lighting and strategically-placed windows for maximum cross-ventilation. “All these actions aim to reduce the need to use air conditioning systems, improve performance in the use of artificial lighting, and consequently minimize the consumption of electricity,” the architects note.

The whole structure is made up of modules that are light enough for just two people to transport, making cranes and other construction vehicles unnecessary. Plus, all the pieces can fit simultaneously into one box truck, reducing the cost and carbon emissions required to get the materials on site.

Liga Arquitetura e Urbanismo is based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and was founded in 2015 with the aim of designing buildings that “transform information into matter.” The company has since gone on to produce many sleek and modern structures for both small and large commercial clients.

The post Cabana: A Tiny House That Can Be Carried and Constructed by Just Two People first appeared on Dornob.

Needless to say, Musk’s announcement has generated a lot of interest in this 400-square-foot abode. Luckily, Boxabl offers a virtual tour of the Casita, as well as a video showing off just how quickly it can be to set up. Within its 20-by-20 footprint is a layout similar to that of a studio apartment, featuring a full size kitchen with a double sink, oven, dishwasher, large refrigerator, and Shaker cabinetry, a bathroom with a deep shower or tub and a sliding barn door, and a generously sized living room with 9’6”-high ceilings. A storage cabinet separates the living area from the open bedroom.

Musk’s Casita, which has reportedly received an upgrade package putting its total cost a few thousand dollars over the list price of $49,500, is set to be the first of many produced by Boxabl. The company’s new headquarters in Las Vegas will soon be producing the units en masse for shipment all over the United States. While many other technology-focused housing companies see 3D printing as the wave of the future, Boxabl’s design uses factory-built modular components that can be flattened into an ultra-compact package for shipment on existing tractor-trailers. Another huge benefit of this model is affordability. Boxabl’s founders aim to help significantly lower the cost of homeownership for all, though of course, you still need land and utility hookups. Still, the Casita costs significantly less than the average manufactured home, and, in fact, less than a Tesla.

Located in Boca Chica, Texas, Musk’s new home is on “Starbase,” the new SpaceX rocket-building facility he hopes will one day become a city in its own right. Set on remote mudflats at the state’s southern tip, Starbase has become a point of contention for locals and bird lovers due to its bright lights, noise, and proximity to sensitive nesting areas for migratory shorebirds like plovers and red knots.

The homes Musk offloaded in California include a mansion on Chalon Road, which he sold for $29 million in June 2020; a home that once belonged to Willy Wonka actor Gene Wilder, which he sold for $7 million with the stipulation that it “cannot be torn down or lose any [of] its soul”; four Bel Air properties worth a combined $61.89 million; and a 47-acre compound in Hillsborough with a century-old mansion. Musk, whose net worth is estimated around $169.8 billion, isn’t exactly taking a vow of poverty here. He’s just freeing up assets to put them toward SpaceX and its mission to revolutionize space technology.

The post Elon Musk Sold His Mansions to Live in This $50,000 Tiny Home in Texas first appeared on Dornob.

Alphaville has long had a reputation for creating architecture that often appears to challenge the laws of physics, combining sharp angles and avant garde elements to create modern, sparse spaces that are oddly approachable despite their complexity. From “House Folded,” whose angular walls challenge the traditional notion of rectangular-shaped rooms, to the “Dig In The Sky House,” whose raised base reveals its dizzying arrangement of staircases and rooms, Alphaville’s projects are eclectic and diverse. However, common themes do echo throughout, including a heavy reliance on basic geometric shapes like squares and triangles, though these are always incorporated cleverly and used to accentuate, rather than define, the spaces they occupy. A great example is this family home in Osaka that stacks long, horizontal windows to create an appealing geometric facade.

Alphaville’s newest project continues the tradition of distorting conventional structures, creating a house that is deceivingly small and simple on the outside but spacious and complex on the inside, with its many right angles and sharp shapes reminding one of an M.C. Escher piece. Of course, in this case, the layout only appears to defy physics, as its complex form achieves a fluidity and flow that’s really more natural than fantastic.

Another amazing feature of the new Kyoto house that challenges traditional notions of building and architecture is its materials. The thin, 24-millimeter plywood walls give the impression that you could simply fold the whole house up and put it in your pocket, unfolding it later to seamlessly return it to its original condition.

The plywood was also incorporated to maintain a connection between the two separate areas of the house — a tenuous, fluid connection designed to separate, but not isolate, each. Both areas are open and filled with light, giving the illusion of more space, but also accentuating the contrast between the two. Team members Kentaro Takeguchi and Asako Yamamoto wanted their design to reflect the everyday things that people do when at home, while also creating “not small rooms with poor relation with circumstances, but two spaces with different relationships with circumstances.” This dynamic of separation is also reflected in the home’s exterior, in the way that its windows are open and public facing, while its interiors are private and cozy.

Alphaville architects’ new home in Kyoto is, like the team’s other designs, complex and angular, striking and innovative. From an interior that is, like Doctor Who’s blue police call box, much bigger and more complicated on the inside, to an exterior whose micro-design is already statement-making among the neighborhood’s larger properties, Alphaville has once again set the benchmark for alternative and quirky, yet functional and livable, architecture.

The post Alphaville Architects’ New Kyoto Tiny House Redefines Traditional Living Spaces first appeared on Dornob.

While tiny homes and RVs have been growing in popularity for years now, the Haus designs manage to combine both those constructions and provide something new on top. Each building is prefabricated, foldable, and delivered in a compact shipping container via truck. Once on site, the homes are unfolded and set up by two people in less than three hours – and that includes connecting to water, sewage, and electricity.

The whole package weighs in at around 9,479 pounds. Hinged edges provide the mechanism for folding and unfolding the homes, which can be repeated up to 100 times. This makes them an especially convenient option for people and businesses who need temporary space and move around a lot: simply pack up and move the entire dwelling. The homes can be placed just about anywhere from a city lot to a vacant hillside. They don’t even need a foundation, and off-grid options are also available.

“The mission of Brette Haus is to fabricate quality mobile homes, considering that nowadays people are flexible and not attached to only one place,” the company said in an official press release.

The company currently offers three patent-pending designs, with around 10 others in the works. Each house is built with the same goals of creating a healthy, versatile space that can be used as an escape, an office, or even a guest house. All of their tiny home designs were inspired by Scandinavian minimalism. Brette Haus founder and CEO Gennadii Bakunin told Insider he was inspired by the shipping container home trend, as well as a “rustic and a bit Nordic” look.

Only the basic features are included in the baseline models, but the design’s modular aspect allows owners to add features that range from a full IKEA kitchen to off-grid solar kits. Each Brette Haus comes with a minimally equipped kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom.

The Rustic model is available in three sizes ranging from 237 to 506 square feet. It features a tall, steep roofline, copious windows, and a fold-out patio.

The Compact model comes in 193-square-foot and 290-square-foot options. The exterior is boxy and business-like with large windows and room for the basics.

The Urban also offers two sizes, 270 and 420 square feet. This modern style features two full stories, resembling one box stacked on top of the other.

All designs evolved from customer feedback and a “passion for optimization,” according to Bakunin. Costs range from $22,000 to $61,500 USD. Customers in Europe can receive their tiny home in eight weeks, delivered and installed on site. Americans will have to wait around 12 weeks for the same service. While the buildings are mobile and don’t necessarily require permits, regulations vary widely from one area to another.

Even with building components composed of natural, recyclable materials, Brette Haus tiny homes are still designed to withstand harsh weather conditions. While most of the homes sold are currently being used by tourism-related businesses, their potential is endless. They offer a solution for temporary housing following a natural disaster, an answer for homelessness, and a clean option for construction site offices, among many other uses.

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Collaborating with RV and tiny home builder Escape and branding firm Vox Creative, IKEA’s first tiny home is a customization of Escape’s Vista Boho XL trailer and was meant to prove that “a small space that can be stylish, affordable, and sustainable,” in the company’s own words.

“IKEA wants to have a positive impact on the planet. We’re always thinking long-term,” says IKEA Sustainability Manager Jennifer Keesson. “We want to meet the needs of generations today without compromising the needs of generations in the future.”

“It was a natural pairing,” Escape founder Dan Dobrowolski told Lonely Planet of the partnership. “We feature many IKEA products in our various tiny home designs around the country, as they mirror the renewable, reusable, and recycled materials we incorporate into the actual structures.”

The green features on these small digs include two solar roof panels, interior planking made from sustainably grown pine, a composting toilet, and kitchen cabinets constructed from recycled bottle tops. IKEA designers also outfitted the mini bungalow with their energy-efficient RYET LED lightbulbs, as well as water-saving faucets and shower heads.

IKEA Senior Interior Design Leader Abbey Stark began the process with logistics. “How I started was really listing out all the needs for the space, like how…you design around a wheel well, and the mechanics of the home. I wanted to source renewable, reusable, and recycled materials when possible to make the space functional as well as beautiful.”

The 60-day build-out commenced with a flatbed trailer that could be transported by a bio-diesel towing truck when needed. Then plumbing pipes (that could later be hooked up to a pressurized water tank) were installed, providing inhabitants with access to running water while living off-grid. Next came the exterior walls, engineered to stand up to the elements, and finally the interior walls and finishings. A video of the entire process can be viewed here on the Vox website.

The decor inside is light and bright with blond wood accents. Stark threw in a few soft textiles like sheepskin throws and cushy pillows to soften the boxy walls.

“Thinking multifunctional in this space is essential,” she explains, choosing IKEA’s NORDEN table to act as both a dining surface and workspace. It can even be folded down when not in use. Stark also tried to maximize vertical space for storage, inserting pull-out drawers under the beds and sofa as well as hanging multiple hooks and racks along the walls.

Of course, if tiny living is your goal, there may be some drawbacks to consider with this dwelling. With so many windows and a flat roof, it may be difficult to regulate the interior temperature in the summer, and because the trailer is not designed to sit on a foundation, cold air could also permeate from below in the winter. And the petite solar panels aren’t likely to be able to generate enough electrical power for hot water. But it does have a small footprint and is mobile enough for a life of wanderlust. If you already own a home with some land, it could also make for a nice guest suite or detached office.

In truth, IKEA’s tiny-house offering is really more of a showcase piece; the company doesn’t have plans to mass produce these abodes anytime soon. For those interested in this particular version though, Escape does offer buyers a similarly tailored trailer on its website starting at $37,550.

The post IKEA Puts Form and Function to the Test in Its First-Ever Tiny House first appeared on Dornob.

Call it a mother-in-law suite, a granny flat, a guest house, a backyard office, an accessory dwelling unit, or just your own sweet compact home. Whichever name you choose for it, there’s no denying the fact that the compact prefab kit is set to explode in popularity. Growing particularly fast in the American South and West, the market for small homes built on the same lot as more conventional residences will likely only continue to grow in the near future as populations boom and cities work to make room for new residents. At the same time, many people are downsizing or looking into aging-in-place close to family members.

Prefab homes are higher quality and more accessible than ever before, and many of them require no building experience to assemble. Whatever your preferred design style or intended purpose, there’s a kit out there for you that can be just about move-in ready in a matter of days.

ÖÖD House

Initially designed as a hotel concept by brothers Andreas and Jaak Tiik, the ÖÖD House now comes in studio, office, and playroom versions, as well, all featuring a stunning mirrored or all-glass exterior. It also comes with interior finishing, fixtures, ventilation, heating and cooling, kitchen cabinets, and appliances; all you have to do is connect utilities and prepare the foundation. Amazingly, it takes less than eight hours to build, and costs around $65,000.

KODA by Kodasema

Wishing for a stylish, modern tiny house just about as fast as you can get one? Estonian firm Kodasema has made its KODA house available in the United States for around $95,000, offering a steel-reinforced timber frame, an open plan living room and kitchen, a full bath, a lofted sleeping area, and a covered front porch. You can even climb up a ladder to lounge on the flat roof. These micro-homes are delivered complete with electrical, water and plumbing hookups, cabinetry, appliances, fixtures, and LED lights.

M.A.Di House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usbyJLOiFbE&feature=emb_logo

The way this A-frame home comes together is so satisfying to watch. Built using traditional methods and standard materials, the M.A.Di is set apart by its unique modular design, which folds completely flat for transit and features a hinged roof that pops open with a tug from a crane. It sets up within just seven hours, costs about $33,000, and takes just three people to finish inside. It’s offered in five different sizes, with the smallest one-bedroom unit measuring about 96 square feet and the largest two-bedroom “cottage” measuring about 182 square feet. Definitely “tiny house” measurements, but great for guests, vacations, or just to add some extra space to your home.

Green Magic Homes

If you prefer a hobbit house to an ultramodern mirrored design, don’t fret: there’s a practically instant prefab for you, too. Green Magic Homes are modular structures covered by soil and greenery to improve their energy efficiency, maintain a steady interior temperature, and blend into their surroundings. The fiber-reinforced plastic shells are shipped from the manufacturer in Cancun, Mexico and assembled on-site with glue and screws within days. The smallest, the Martinica, measures just under 700 square feet (and costs about $35 per square foot), so these babies are definitely big enough to live in comfortably.

Allwood Kit Houses

Looking for a house you can buy in one click on Amazon? Check. There are dozens of Allwood prefab house kits available from the world’s largest online marketplace (and on the manufacturer’s own website), and most of them can be assembled within two days by two adults with no prior experience and minimal tools. Models range from the boxy, urban, and contemporary to adorable cabins and cottages. Pictured is the Claudia, a 209-square-foot design that costs just $7,990 for the structure itself (you’ll have to add everything else).

DublDom

Designed by Moscow-based BIO Architects, these handsome prefabricated DublDom houses come equipped with wiring and plumbing ready to hook up to your utilities, and come in five different models ranging from 280-square-foot studios to 1,400-square-foot three-bedroom homes. The one-bedroom, 463-square-foot model is one of the most popular at a price of $49,081. They’re currently not available to ship to the U.S., but the company is looking for production partners to change that ASAP.

Gold Country Kit Homes

Panelized prefabs like these ones from Gold Country Kit Homes come with the wall sections and roof trusses already built, so you just have to put them together like a puzzle. The company says you can do that in three days or less, though the larger homes will need an experienced crew to pull that off. This company is a great option for people who have to build a more conventional-looking house that will pass muster with your neighborhood Homeowner’s Association. The pictured model is the Lake View, a 972-square-foot house costing $47,971 for the kit.

Plant Prefab House by Metro Architects

For those with discerning tastes and the budget to match, there’s a high-end option, too. California-based Plant Prefab builds LEED platinum kit homes marketed to the urban demographic that’s “buying Volts and Teslas, organic produce, and IKEA furniture… they read Wired and they do yoga,” says founder Steve Glenn. They’re constructed to exacting standards at the company’s facility, transported to the site, and installed in about 72 hours, though larger homes take more time. Expect to pay $125 to $400 per square foot depending on the design and your location.

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The Fibonacci House is a tiny 3D-printed house that gets its name by following the famous Fibonacci sequence in its spiral form. Currently in progress near the company’s headquarters in British Columbia, Canada, the house was built with their Laticrete 3D Printing Mortar M68 concrete printers, boasting both a compact footprint and enough head room for a loft in order to sleep four people.

To build it, the company used two main classes of printing mortar: a slow-drying one that’s strong enough to support subsequent layers above it before fully curing, and another one with a drying accelerant added so it can dry faster. The second type is kind of like a concrete-based glue, allowing Twente to print overhanging structures and bridge gaps between parts, all of which were printed off-site in a controlled environment where the printers can be protected and work 24/7.

The house was divided into 20 parts and shipped to the location, where the pieces were assembled. The walls aren’t load-bearing in their own right, but the system includes columns and shear walls to hold up the exterior. Each piece is dual-layered for thermal insulation. The house isn’t complete just yet, but when it is, we expect to see some more photos of its unusual form and how the walls look inside.

In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence (discovered by Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci) is formed by adding numbers so each one is the sum of the two preceding ones, starting from 0 and 1. When you tile squares whose side lengths are successive Fibonacci numbers, like 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 13 and 21, you can form a spiral closely related to the “golden ratio” by drawing circular arcs connecting the opposite corners of the squares. The sequences appear frequently in nature, like the arrangements of petals in a flower. It was also frequently used in Renaissance architecture.

Twente Additive Manufacturing’s Fibonacci House design aims to do two things: show off what their 3D printers can do, and demonstrate a new way of building that reduces excess material consumption. It’s their first full-scale building, but the company has already pulled off a number of other cool projects, including stairs, bridges, planters, decorative window grilles, and an outline of a Kootenay Salmon that will serve as the mulch barrier for a new playground in B.C.

Prefab construction can be significantly more eco-friendly than on-site construction because each piece is precision-cut to avoid waste; the materials are stored out of the weather; the construction process generates less noise, dust, and site disturbances; and building times are usually much shorter. 3D printing could potentially revolutionize the process, but the use of energy and resource-intensive concrete as a primary material isn’t ideal, so hopefully some more innovation is on the way in that department, too.

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