Manu, who is a designer who creates custom furniture, wanted the home to be eco-friendly as well.

“Little and low-priced to me is green,” he said to Arizona Central.

The tiny house contains a small kitchen/dining area, a living room, one bedroom with a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a sunken tub. From the front door of the house, every room is visible except the bathroom. A full size washer and dryer are inside a closet and a tiny office area utilizes a vintage sewing-machine cabinet as a desk. In the kitchen the appliances are smaller than average and the eating area is a steel breakfast bar. The couple had a stove custom made and they use Japanese shoji screens to separate the bedroom and living/cooking area. In fact, every door in the house is a sliding screen door.

The couple’s home has a beautiful, simple design but also contains vintage and inexpensively refurbished items. For example, the bathroom sink is made of a $2 bamboo serving tray from Goodwill and the sunken tub was crafted from leftover pieces of marble tile. They call their style “shanty-city chic.”

In addition, since the home is located in Arizona, the spacious, covered deck also gets a lot of use.

Photos courtesy of Gavin Parsons and azcentral.com

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Matthew Hofmann, a 28-year-old Central California Coast-based architect, is the master craftsman who’s turning back the clock. This is his second high-design Airstream project to be released this year. Hofmann Architecture (www. HofArc.com) is a a full-service Santa Barbara residential design and small space renovation firm.

Hofmann’s version 2.0 is truly better in several significant ways, offering more open space, a larger bathroom, and an office desk. There’s a lot that hasn’t changed inside and that’s good because so much of what he designed into the previous 25-foot 1978 Tradewind was quite simply solid design.

In Hofmann’s first project he combined the workspace cubicle, dining table and second bed in the forward convertible sleeping space – clever, but truly not an earth-shattering step. This time Hofmann found four feet of linear counter-height deck space for a built-in desk, mid-level chair and three drawers situated between the bathroom and kitchen.

This first edition has already been located on a recently-graded pad setting among a modest forest of avocado trees. A view of the Pacific Ocean is framed in a window that can be seen while sitting at the built-in desk.

A centrally-located hi-def 19-inch video monitor displays either DVDs or streamed Netflix videos from anywhere in the trailer. A surround sound audio system provides more than enough sound support. The monitor swivels on a pullout arm for optimal viewing adjustments and tucks away neatly behind a roll-up cabinet.

One of Hofmann’s signatures is his close attention to bathroom details and this project again offers a significant upgrade. Hofmann – who stands 6’4” – offers a refreshing change of space in the full height, stand-up shower. The lightweight 1/8-inch tiles span the shower basin and seal in the water more than a foot up three sides. And Hofmann guarantees the shower won’t leak thanks to an alternative tile installation method that uses a foam backer with acrylic adhesive to substrate.

A high-design brushed stainless steel sink and faucet sits on an elegantly curved deck that faces another nifty addition – a transparent fish tank that’s visible from the office and bathroom, with only the fish seeing what’s on each side.

The Cali Bamboo flooring is a nice sustainable feature. Although travel trailers don’t qualify as a LEED- qualified project, this abode would earn points for reuse and energy efficiency thanks to the 12-volt ceiling lights and refinished overhead tambour roll-up cabinets. The backlit ceiling lights emit a soft glow against the brilliant white surfaces. The cabinets were painted with zero-VOC earth-friendly finishes – together they create a futuristic tone. Three LED puck lights over the kitchen/office stubbornly keep electric usage down and specific task lighting cranked up.

Hofmann is LEED-certified and his sustainable training emphasizes the reuse and repurpose of every material that was disposed. “Construction waste management is one of the most effective ways to be green,” said Hofmann.

The dining area has been expanded to seat six comfortably at the table, with the addition of two fold-away chairs that adjoin the kitchen area. Underneath the left and right access benches are two “carry-on luggage-sized drawers,” as Hofmann calls them. “They’re for guests to store their travel bags.” The drawer guides, as are all installed drawers, constructed with silent closing Hafele German-crafted hardware that’s sturdy enough for 50 lbs. of gear.

There wasn’t any skimping on the kitchen sink, either. The extra-deep stainless steel commercial-style basin will shock seasoned RVers. Most trailer kitchen sinks barely get both hands wet at the same time. An adequate pullout food pantry fits next to a generous refrigerator. The 2-burner propane stove completes a no-hassles, no-nonsense food prep package.

Hofmann’s second Airstream project is a work of art that’s ultra eco-friendly, emits cool tones, is tech wise, and crammed with creative details.

Hofmann Architecture / (805) 618-2461 / info@HofArc.com / www.HofArc.com

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.

Photos by Logan MacDougall Pope

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

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.

Boxhome

The Boxhome in Norway (first photo, above) is a 19 square meter (205 square feet) dwelling with four rooms covering the basic living functions: kitchen with dining, bathroom, living room and bedroom. This house was built to show fellow Scandinavians (who are starting to prefer larger homes) that a small pre-fabricated home can be more energy and material efficient.

Cabinet Home

The Cabinet Home in Italy is a 28.5 square meter home with a 10 square meter garden (306 square feet and 107 square feet). It is constructed of wood and formed as a set of large steps from the ground towards the sky. It was created to receive rain and sunshine from above and to use these elements to create atmosphere and energy. On the ground level are the social spaces with a kitchen and dining room that open to a garden that collects rain water. The first floor is a living room or library and the top floor bedroom has a view to the sky. The exterior is white to reflect the sunshine while the interior is dark so the owner can escape from the brightness and heat of the outdoors. The entire house can be detached into three container-sized units and transported to its final location.

Library in Thailand

I thought this beautiful, natural design would make a wonderful home for a warm climate. This orphanage library in Thailand was built by Norwegian architecture students over the course of two weeks. The task was to use local materials and building techniques to create a building that would solve the problems of education in the orphanage the best possible way. At the same time, natural ventilation systems and sunshades were studied and introduced into the building. The library is made of natural lava stone, concrete bricks, wood and bamboo.

Other Projects

The Luoto is a family of space elements. The initial container becomes a mobile table and evolves into a multifunctional, two-level structure that is able to host different activities like studying, introspection and relaxation. The Luoto is mobile and can be opened or closed.

These floating saunas in Russia are conceptual houses for use as emergency shelters during a flood or other natural disaster. They can be used as a shelter for 3 to 6 people and can be built within several days.

This floating sauna in Norway is anchored in the middle of a fjord with the winter sun coming in through transparent walls. Access to the sauna is by boat and users can descend into the fjord water for an icy dip through a hole in the floor.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

EcoNests are simple, elegant, and healthful handcrafted dwellings that welcome owner participation in their construction. They are the product of a design/build collaboration by Baker-Laporte: Robert Laporte, a timber framer, author, natural house building pioneer and teacher, and Paula Baker-Laporte, an award-winning architect, Bau-Biologist (building biologist), teacher and author specializing in healthy and ecological design. The EcoNest utilizes natural building techniques including: timber framing, light clay/straw walls, earth plastering, and natural, non-toxic finishes throughout.

Most of the EcoNests are a little larger than a tiny house, but the philosophy remains the same: create a healthy sancutary.

The smallest stock plan for an EcoNest is 700 square feet. But Paula said that Baker-Laporte, and their workshop participants, build quite a few “Hummingbirds”. Small studios without a bathroom or kitchen that are about 200 square feet. A Hummingbird can be integrated into a community with other small buildings that contain bathrooms, kitchens and sleeping areas.

EcoNests are built with timber framing and light clay and straw. Unlike standard building methods that employ vapor barriers, clay/straw walls actually breathe. They are weatherproof yet porous, and they allow for the slow transfer of fresh air and moisture much like human skin. The one-foot thick, light clay/straw walls are a unique combination of insulation and thermal mass, keeping the interior cozy and warm in winter and cool in summer.

The light clay/straw walls are then coated with earth plaster. The walls are ideally suited to plaster because they are perfectly flat but coarse in texture so that the plasters adhere to them without needing lathe. Earth plastered walls are both durable and beautiful. The floors of the houses are made of natural materials such as earth and stone.

Econests have been built in many different locations including Portland, the Northeast and Canada. Most of them are primarily in the American Southwest.

Baker-Laporte offers workshops on how to build your own Econest. You can take workshops in timber framing, clay/fiber construction, roofing, natural plasters and finishers, an Econest intensive, or builder training and apprenticeships.

Photos Courtesy of Baker-Laporte and Associates

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

This tiny garage conversion by Martin John Brown of Portland, Oregon attracted my attention because of the wonderful styling and details in such a small space. Check out that great purple color!

With architect John Perkins, Martin converted a detached garage into a beautiful 400-square foot house for his mother-in-law to live in. In his blog, bottleworld, John documents the process, including the issues he had with the city codes while trying to create an environmentally friendly tiny dwelling.

The house includes a curved kitchen counter, round windows, a loft and skylight and an alternating tread staircase. The staircase allows comfortable ascents and descents in a considerably steeper pitch than a standard stair. They are straight, making transporting long items (like mattresses) easier than on a small-diameter spiral stair.

It is interesting how Martin talks about how adding one extra foot in such a small space makes such a big difference. In most average sized homes, an extra room is usually needed for more impact on the living space.

The cost for the conversion came to $75,000 including $7000 for permit and $4000 for architect.

By Christina Nellemann

Photos by Martin John Brown

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