Carre d’etoiles: a Tiny, Portable Prefab Cube from France

Yesterday materialicious discovered the neatest prefab cube and I had the hardest time waiting until today to share it with you.

The concept of the design is for a vacation getaway for resorts where you can experience a window to the sky, and an island of liberty. You can rent these at several places throughout France and use the included astronomical telescope to penetrate the mysteries of the universe.

Designed with luxury and modern appliances, this tiny cube which size I estimate to be approximately 10 x 10 x 10 foot has everything you need in a very compact space. It will sleep four people, has a corner kitchen, toilet, shower, cabin bed, and parquet floors.

It has all the modern conveniences including a flat panel TV, mp3 player ready, telephone and Internet ready.

I want one of these in my back yard, or on some remote piece of property for a get away cabin.

Visit the Carre D’etoiles website to learn more.

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Ann Holley and her husband to be (Darren Macca) with her parents (Steve and Miriam Holley) are building a tiny house called the ProtoHaus in Colorado. The tiny house is part of Ann’s graduate work at Alfred University where Ann is earning her Masters in Fine Art. Lots of friends have come to help build the tiny house.

Here is an outline of Ann’s request and an overview of her project, I really like the design with the dormers:

The ProtoHaus is a timber frame or “stick built” house that will be constructed over the summer of 2009. Emphasis will be placed on sustainability, functionality, and aesthetics. It will be fabricated primarily from recycled and reclaimed materials. The building process will be overseen and assisted by S. C. Holley Construction.

It will be transportable. The house will be built on a trailer bed rated to withstand 14,000 pounds though the final structure should not exceed 9,000 pounds. Separate fresh, grey, and black water systems will be integrated into the design allowing for remote removal and disposal of waste.

A solar and wind system will power the house allowing it to be off grid. There will be a series of collaborative workshops at Alfred University which will include students, faculty and different departments to accompany the project. The house will be open to visitors on particular dates throughout the school year as a mode of sharing the experiment with the Alfred community.

You can view more pictures at Ann’s website. The tiny house has made a few design transitions sense the original floor plans and renderings were drawn up.

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Last weekend KT Anderson and Dee Williams held a workshop in Portland Oregon. Tammy and Logan from Rowdy Kittens attended. Here are a few words from Tammy about the workshop. Be sure and go to her site to read the whole story and view more pictures.

The class was held in a local Portland residence and was the perfect location for a small workshop.

I loved the structure of the class; it was all about active learning and contained an incredible amount of valuable information. We learned about general construction techniques, how to stay safe with power tools, discussed building codes and built the foundation of a tiny mobile office.

Click here to go to Rowdy Kittens for the rest of the story.

Photo Credit: Tammy

Last night Michael Janzen published the latest issue of Tiny House Living which is his weekly online newsletter that covers the growing world of tiny houses. Here are a few snippets from this week’s issue:

The sheddies in the UK are extremely serious about their sheds. Shed Week 2009 begins July 6, 2009 so be sure to keep any eye on the shedblog.co.uk… finalists for Shed of the Year have just been announced.

Architect Gregory Smith send this photo into Tiny House Blog for Kent’s regular Tiny House in a Landscape feature. It’s a historic weekend cabin near the edge of a river in Cisco Grove, California

Ryan also just launched a tiny house blog and forum in addition to setting up this very novel map that allows everyone in the greater simple living community to add themselves… Please add yourself to the map.

Take a look at this week’s edition of Tiny House Living.

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Finding ways to live small within a system that promotes the rapid spread of suburbia and limits or bans creative solutions is one of the biggest challenges we face, as can currently be seen in the stalled rebuilding efforts in New Orleans post-Katrina. So much red tape has kept Marianne Cusato’s Katrina Cottages from being built, despite the fact that they were hailed as lightyears better than FEMA trailers, since they could be expanded upon to create permanent dwellings. Although there is no one solution that we at SLJ have hit on, hopefully, this issue will get your wheels turning. Read the Small Living Journal Here.

Photo Credit: Amanda Abel

Mike from Michigan has been following the Tiny House Blog and with his natural instinct to be efficient, he wanted to build a house to put on his land.

Mike has the well and septic system in on his property, but with the economy not what it had been he decided to build a tiny house instead of a larger one.

Mike bought a used camping trailer frame that was already stripped down for $175. Most of the building materials he used were new, however he was able to pick up his windows from a local habit store.

The building is built of 2×4 construction and has a black steel roof that Mike was able to pick up real cheap because a customer returned it and it was a special order. Mike assembled the roofing and made the custom soffit vent.

Mike painted the door black to match the roof and painted the 1×4 corner trim green as it looks real nice with the cedar color stain.

The interior has not been completed yet, so I will do an update post when Mike has completed the home.

So far Mike has spent about $2000 and he wishes he had taken photos of the construction. It is his own design and he put the home together pretty much by himself. Even raising the walls which was tricky and he had to rig up a rope rigging so that he could accomplish it.

He designed his own rafters and plans to have a vaulted ceiling everywhere but over the bathroom and kitchen. The loft will be 8×8 in size.

Thanks Mike for sharing your project with us. I am looking forward to seeing the completed home. If you have any questions Mike says to email him at mm225490@yahoo.com

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Dax Wagner from Southern California went to two home shows that featured small homes over the last weekend. Dax explains what he saw below:

We ended up also attending the Dwell On Design Show which was held on the same day at the L.A. Convention Center. The first two pictures are of the Modern Shed. The rest are of the IC Green shipping containers. Two different sheds were represented, one at each show:

Modern Shed Interior

120 Square Foot Cabana

First (at Dwell On Design) was a 120 sq.ft. container with no plumbing. It was used as a “cabana” with a portion of the container used as a small porch so that there would not be any permitting requirements. They offered it at $9,500.

120 Square Foot Cabana End View

The 2nd (at the CA Boom Show) was a 320 sq. ft. unit with full IKEA kitchen and bath. VERY nice, livable unit with lots of windows. Offered at $25000.

IC Green Inc. Sign

320 Square Foot Home

The representative said that different basic configurations are offered at about $100 per sq. foot. Not bad at all, but to get full insulation, radiant heat flooring and an A/C unit installed, it would be more like $145 per sq. foot. This, of course, does not include the land and prep work for the foundation. Go to the IC Green site here to learn more. Overall is was a grat day at two shows!

-Dax Wagner

Kitchen Living Area

Bathroom

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For those who really want a taste of solitary living, have you ever dreamed of getting away from it all in a fire lookout tower? In nearly every state of the U.S., fire lookout towers have been built in wilderness areas to watch for forest and wildland fires.

The first fire lookout was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad on Red Mountain near Donner Summit in California to watch for train fires. Initially, fire lookouts were crude camps temporarily set up at “patrol points” where an observer might ride his horse to make observations. Others were “crows nests” – platforms built on top of the highest trees. Fire watchers often doubled as fire fighters. Spotting smoke, he would hop on his horse or hike cross-country to quench the fire.

By 1914, construction standards were in place and soon thereafter, both wooden “live-in” cabs and steel “observation only” towers were being built. Two years later 81 permanent lookout structures stood on key mountain tops.

Each of these lookouts were similiar in that they were small, usually between 9×9 feet to 18×18 feet, supplies had to be hiked or ridden to the tower and they each had a 360 degree view of the surrounding area.

Bear Basin Lookout in Six Rivers National Forest, CA

Yellow Peak Lookout Tower in Northwestern Nevada

Many fire lookouts have now been abandoned, vandalized and even destroyed, but there is a growing trend towards lookout revival. Groups of enthusiasts are organizing to share information and enhance public knowledge and awareness of fire lookouts. Lookouts are now considered functional for non-traditional uses and are being restored to serve as museums, interpretive centers, wildlife observation posts and vacation rentals.

Swede Mountain Lookout Tower in Libby, MT

In the recent issue of Via Magazine by AAA, an article gives tips on how you can rent a fire lookout tower. The U.S. Forest Service offers them for about $40 a night. To rent a tower:

1. Go to the recreation.gov website.

2. Choose cabins or lookouts from the ‘Looking for’ pull-down menu on the left under the “Find Sites” sidebar.

3. Choose your state in the State field pull-down menu.

4. Leave the Park of Facility name field blank unless you know the name of the lookout that you want to rent.

5. Choose specific camping dates to search.

6. View the results and reserve your tower!

Lookout towers are not luxurious destinations so be prepared for primitive accommodations. Most lookout towers do not have showers, flush toilets or running water. You will need to carry water for all your cooking, cleaning, and personal grooming needs.

Many towers do contain simple furnishings including a mattress, propane camp stove, desk, chairs, and, if you are lucky, a propane refrigerator.

If you do fall in love with living in a lookout tower, you can build your own. This couple built a tower retreat in Western Montana with many of the same aspects of an original fire lookout tower.

Montana Fire Tower Retreat

Montana Retreat Family/Sleeping Area

Montana Retreat Patio

National Forest Service Fire Lookout Program

Forest Fire Lookout Association

By Christina Nellemann

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I want to take a moment and extend a welcome to Ryan Mitchell who will be presenting his thoughts and experiences as he joins the Tiny House movement with his new blog The Tiny Life. Here is what Ryan says about his plans for his blog:

The Tiny Life is a resource for those seeking information on Tiny Living, Tiny Houses, etcetera. Our Localize component of our website is to allow those who are interested in these topics to connect with people locally, reguardless of where they may live.

We seek to provide more than just information on Tiny Houses, we aim to have discussions on Living life…..Tiny! So we refer to our site as a Tiny Lifestyle blog.

Ryan lives in Charlotte, NC, he has been following the Tiny House movement for almost a year now and had decided to become a part of it by launching this website! He hopes to build his Tiny House within a year, where he wants to take it with him to pursure his Doctorate in Industrial Organizational Psychology. If you have any comments, concerns etcetera, please don’t hesitate to contact him.

So bookmark Ryan’s blog and visit often. Welcome aboard Ryan!

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Greg submitted these pictures to me for the Tiny House in a Landscape feature, here is what he has to say about them.

I’ve been reading the Tiny House Blog for a few months now. It’s always surprising to see how little one actually needs to live a contented life! I know I feel better when I have less clutter around to distract me.

I saw these small weekend getaway cabins on the edge of a river in Cisco Grove, California and stopped to take a look. I took a few photos and thought I might share some of them with you for your blog. The stone cabin looks like it was once a roadside retail establishment before the construction of I-80. Someone definitely cares for this little building (15′ deep by 25′ long by my paces). They’ve built a new roof and repaired the stonework but left it pretty much in it’s original shell condition. There’s some nice stonework on the fireplace and you can see some stone ledges built into the walls near the back door if you look carefully. It looks like it was quite a cozy little home at one time although I don’t see any evidence that it ever had indoor plumbing…

Gregory Smith, Architect
www.gregorysmitharchitect.com

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