Humanitarian

Tiny House Philippine Project

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moving tiny house

by Dennis Drake I am from Montana, but have been working with the Deaf (Hearing Impaired) community on the island of Bohol in the Philippines for the past 30 years. It has always been my goal to build affordable housing for our deaf families. We have come up with a … Read more

Dee Williams on Peak Moment

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Tiny House heroine, Dee Williams, was recently interviewed by Peak Moment, the online program that features people who choose to live simply during these challenging times. In the video, Dee discusses how she built her famous tiny house, the catalyst that made her want to downsize, her challenges and regrets when building and trying to locate the house, and how her tiny life has actually expanded and strengthened her sense of community.

The MorHaus

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The MorHaus approach was to develop a highly functional basic form and provide clients with the ability to configure the structure to meet their needs.  We are hoping to not only provide a Garden Structure for extra Office/Studio space, but also the opportunity to install to help with Emergency or Homeless Housing.

The trusses are shipped pre-cut and pre-drilled. Then they are bolted together on-site.  The MorHaus method locates a truss every 4 feet with panels that are used for floor, wall and ceiling/roof structure between each truss for enclosed sections and a straight forward deck framing for porch sections. This allows for a high degree of flexibility in the system as any number of enclosed or porch sections – in any configuration – can be used.

Two people can assemble/disassembled the trusses, move them into position and erect the building with the instructions provided in a single day.

Our shop is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina; as such we obtain most of our materials from the Southeast. This venture was born out of a keen interest in efficiently sized structures and the lack of interesting designs in the marketplace. The structure’s modular designed is flexible enough to meet many needs with a single unifying form. Customers can select from many options including assembly, insulation, interior finishes, electrical and plumbing. The structures are built from pre-fabricated modular components and can be assembled over a weekend by a crew of 2 or 3 with basic carpentry skills.

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Sri Lanka Shipping Container Retreat

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A friend and fellow tiny house lover recently sent me this link from Container Home on this shipping container cabin retreat in Sri Lanka. The house was constructed with local reclaimed material in about a month by architect Damith Premathilake. The tiny house is located on an Army base and was built for a lieutenant colonel.

The 700 square foot retreat is constructed of two shipping containers, timber strips from old bunkers and weapons boxes and used railway sleepers. It is designed to embrace the views and climate of the surrounding environment, and create a place of relaxation and beauty while using already available resources.

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Deek’s $100 Homeless Hut Video

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deek's shelter

I haven’t shown off any of Derek Diedricksen’s videos lately and he just came out with a new Tiny Yellow House video. I thought that as a simple shelter this first one was great I agree with Deek that it could work as a homeless shelter as well. The one … Read more

Tiny House Under the Subway

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Carlos lives in a tiny house under a subway tunnel in New York City. This homeless man has created his own hidden sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle in an abandoned sewer hole under the train tracks.

Baggins End Domes

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Baggins End, on the campus of the University of California, Davis is a small community of undergraduate and graduate students who live together in a bundle of round, white domes among several acres of community gardens, chicken coops, trees and flowers. Sounds idyllic, right? The students think so and are prepared to fight for their little slice of heaven. Recently, the university has determined that the domes are no longer safe for residential use and plan to shut down the Domes and Baggins End this summer.

The university’s student housing department said the Domes are not up to code, are not Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant, and not worth spending money on to salvage. Supporters of the Domes claim the university administration has neglected these issues for decades and is trying to make a land grab, motivated by budget cuts and pressure to squeeze every last dollar out of campus real estate.

Sacramento News & Review Article on Baggins End

Sacramento Public Radio Story on Baggins End

The Domes have been on the campus since 1972 and are constructed of three to four inches of polyurethane foam surrounded by a fiberglass shell. A few of the Domes are beginning to delaminate. Baggins End (named after the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy) is comprised of 14 domes housing 28 students where they emphasize cooperation and sustainability. The students grow a lot of their own food and raise chickens and a rooster named Chamomile. The Domes are around 450 square feet and contain a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms or a sleeping loft, heating and skylights. The students are allowed to perform their own construction projects and have access to the community’s free materials yard, fire pit,  garden and tool shed, compost pile, greenhouse and the weekly potluck dinners. Each resident pays $2,712 for a year long lease.

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Stovetec Alternative Cook Stove

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Case Turner an avid outdoors person, small camp boater, and Design associate for a Architecture firm is always looking for smaller more efficient products and ideas for everyday life! Case contacted me about these alternative cook stoves and I thought they might be useful in a small space. StoveTec was … Read more

Simple Small Sturdy Sleeping Structure

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KOMO News in Seattle Washington and Martha Kang write a story about a homeless structure designed to help the homeless in Nickelsville. The 8-square-foot structure houses the dreams of the residents at Nickelsville. It’s called a “simple small sturdy sleeping structure,” and each resident hopes to soon call one home. “It’s … Read more

Rintala Eggertsson Architects

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This architectural and design firm in Oslo, Norway has designed everything from bridges to nature observation towers, from swinging platforms to art pieces that release wooden birds or are set on fire. However, Rintala Eggertsson Architects have also designed a few tiny houses…or potential tiny houses.

Sami Rintala and Dagur Eggertsson’s work has been featured all over the world and they pride themselves on designing with a balance between man and nature. Many of their designs incorporate nature as a major element, but also have a modern, industrial feel to them. Their tiny homes in Norway, Italy and Thailand use nature as part of the design.

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Shelter 2.0 Fundraiser

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I just wanted to update you as to what is going on with our Shelter 2.0 project. We are working towards a goal of sending ten (a twenty foot container full) of our new version of the shelters to Haiti and have a mission group that is willing to ship … Read more

Quarters: Prefabricated Housing

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Bowen Island seems to be an attraction for tiny houses. It’s home to the Eco-Shed by James Glave and is now home to the Quarters house by industrial designer Amanda Huynh in collaboration with Anna Gukov, Lydia Cambron and Emilie Madill. Following nearly a semester of intense research in materials, compact housing and the homelessness epidemic in Vancouver, a full-scale, timber-framed unit was built to house 1-2 residents in need of a simple shelter.

The 8 foot by 8 foot structure has a built-in sleeping loft, a readily available 5-gallon bucket wash basin, a City of Vancouver rain water barrel and modular furniture, which could be easily configured to create a second sleeping space. Because the individual unit does not provide running water or electricity to reduce cost, it would function best in a community of such dwellings with central kitchen/washroom facilities.

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