Here is an interesting student dwelling concept from Swedish company AF Bostäder. As an alternative to multi-unit dormitory housing, they have built a small cottage with all the essentials a young scholar may require. The place includes a kitchenette complete with dining area, a shower bathroom and a sleeping loft. A study desk is conveniently located below the sleeping area. There’s even an outside plot for a bit of gardening. The projected rent amount for the cottage is the equivalent of $370 – something any student can afford. Right now the company is petitioning authorities to expand and create more free-standing student houses like this one. And the existing sample cottage is a subject of a steady competition among students for the right to live there.
(via dornob)
Architect Han Slawik built this tiny home, called Housebox, as an attempt to create an affordable housing solution for people on the move. Inspired by shipping containers, the place is only 150 square feet big. Thanks to the fact that Housebox is a three story building, its footprint is even smaller, approximately 75 square feet. The first floor houses a small kitchen, dining area and bathroom; the bedroom is on the second floor, and the third floor is a place for a living area. Smart storage solutions around the house make this layout efficient. The benefits of this concept are numerous – the house this compact can be moved, it can fit in tight spaces, even parking lots. A true nomad home…
(via inhabitat)
This project has been recently completed by Polish architect Jakub Szczesny in Warsaw. More of an installation and social experiment than an actual dwelling, the object is a response to the rising problem of urban housing in Poland. The house occupies a gap between two buildings, at its widest point it is less than 5 feet wide (and only a little over 3 feet at its narrowest). The building is so slim, there isn’t even a space for a window – sunlight enters through the tiny holes in the bedroom wall. “Research shows we are approaching a social disaster because too little living space is built, – the architect said in his interview to Daily Mail. – You don’t need that much space to live in, so it is worth considering building smaller scaled, cheaper housing.” Szczesny approached Israeli writer and film director Etgar Keret to get involved in the project. Keret will live in the building for six months, on and off.
(HT to my reader Ben Vlass)
Japanese architects are versed in complying with space limitations. Especially while building in Tokyo, one of the most overcrowded places on the planet. This unusual home, recently completed by architect studio ondesign, is literally utilizing the gap between two houses. The plot is only 9 square meters big (around 97 square feet). Which is why building vertically was the only option. The three-story house includes all that is necessary for comfortable living – kitchen, bath, sleeping and lounging areas, even purely recreational outdoor space. Check out architects’ blog to see all stages of this amazing project.
(via spoon & tamago)
This lovely loft renovation has caught my eye. A smallish space, only 624 square feet, was made to appear spacious, thanks to the continuous neutral color scheme (aside from the bold splashes of orange) and clever zoning. The apartment includes all that is necessary for comfortable existence – living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom with a shower and a small sleeping area upstairs. The spiral staircase is an especially nice touch, for it suggests a much bigger space than there is in reality and makes a beautiful visual statement. The wall art and lighting fixtures take full advantage of the ceiling height. Carefully selected furniture pieces are scaled perfectly for each zone. What a clever and well thought-out use of space.
This inventive space-saving layout is a work of architect Kyu Sung Woo, hired by his son, Wonbo, to help with remodeling his newly purchased New York loft. The apartment was located in a former hat factory, which entailed a lot of drastic planning decisions. The place was narrow and dark, with kitchen and bathroom awkwardly cramped in one corner. “That’s typical in Manhattan loft construction, where you don’t have quite enough for two full floors,”- the architect says. – “They line up all the elements side by side against one wall, and block off the spaces above and below.” To change all that, the layout was changed completely. The kitchen has been made a focal point with the bedroom loft, placed above it. The kitchen ceiling was elevated, giving the bed a familiar two feet height. The area, separating kitchen from the hallway is used as a massive closet – a luxury in any NY pad. To make the space appear bigger, all horizontal surfaces are covered with light wood, and the remaining vertical surfaces are painted white. Natural light bounces off the light shelves over the windows to wash the vaulted ceiling in a soft glow.
(via dwell)
This film, shot by the great Kirsten Dirksen of Fair Companies, lets us into a very unusual tiny home. The owner, Barcelona-based architect Valentina Maini, bought an extremely small space in a historic walk-up. The apartment is only 25 square meter (269 square feet) big, yet it contains all the necessities and even a few luxuries (check out how she managed to incorporate a bathtub into her limited living space!). This housetour offers a lot of great space-saving ideas, shows how to recycle old office furniture and choose new one. I specifically loved how the traditional Japanese tatami chairs were used in various ways. Enjoy!
Leaf House is an ingenius little dwelling, built by small housing enthusiast Laird Herbert from Whitehorse, Canada. His inspiration came from buildings of Hornby Island, on the west coast of British Columbia.
“One of the most magical of these buildings is the Leaf House, – Laird says, - It is a whimsical and airy cabin, seemingly balanced precariously on one driftwood beam. In my mind, the leaf house epitomizes the creativity of the owner-built home. It is what happens when we look at building beyond the conventional norms – beyond stick framing and vinyl siding; beyond the real estate market; beyond housing simply as a means to make a buck. I only just got to see the leaf house (the location is not well known) a couple of years ago and it inspired me to start building and designing tiny homes.”
The current model features a living area with sofa bed, raised sleeping quarters, fully functional kitchen, bathroom with a compact bathtub and an open dining area. There are also self-sustaining elements, such as a composting toilet, propane tankless hot water system, propane GE range half fridge, Ecoheat electric baseboards, LED and halogen lighting and a 35-gallon (132-liter) water storage unit. After selling his first two homes were successfully, Laird is planning new versions.
This small apartment in Barcelona, redesigned by its owners Monica Potvin and Markel Otaola, uses an interesting approach to space-saving. Instead of creating a separate bathroom, laundry room and kitchen, they built a cube in the center of their home to house all of the utilitarian stuff. Even the floor space under the hallways around the cube is used for extra storage; this was inspired by the tuck-away elements on sailboats (Markel is a sailor). Watch the beautiful home tour, shot by Fair Companies, to get Monica’s take on living small and a lot of great space-saving ideas.
This prefabricated Mini House by Swedish architect Jonas Wagell is built to be suitable for any landscape and any weather. Sized only 15 sqm (approximately 161 square feet), the unit is designed as a compact and affordable alternative to a cottage. It can be shipped to virtually any destination. A sturdy construction is created by prefabricating walls and roof in modules. Also, critical aesthetic details such as the trimless windows in walls and roof and electrical feeds in walls are prepared. Mini House is delivered flat-pack and constructed on-site within a few days. The concept includes a number of customized add-ons, such as a compact kitchen and bath module, a heater kit with chimney, a storage module and a solar power kit to provide electricity.
