Pre-fab - Part 3

ideabox’s New minibox

I covered the ideabox several years ago. It is one of my favorites. I wanted to share with you their newest design concept. Its called ‘minibox’, 200 sq ft of open space, aimed at bringing the outdoors in. Taylor Russell from ideabox shared the following information with me.

ideabox is a small home design company based in Salem, Oregon. They have homes ranging from 200 sq ft to 1250 sq ft, all prefabricated and ready to go.

It’s one thing to be small. Quite another to be so full of personality you live beyond your shell. Everything minibox is about is living big. Clever combinations of natural cedar and galvalume metal creates a confident exterior and a totally cool persona.

The Signal Shed

by Christina Nellemann

This off-the-grid cabin in Northeast Oregon, named the Signal Shed, was recently featured in Sunset Magazine, and the couple who spent two years planning and two weeks building the cabin are now offering the plans and prefab models for sale.

Mariah and Ryan Lingard fell in love with the woods and lakes of Joseph, Oregon and purchased some partially burned, partially logged land after seeing an ad in the local paper. The 100×150 foot parcel of land cost them $47,000 and is located smack dab in the middle of hiking, skiing and snowshoe territory. The couple has a full-time home in Portland, but they make the 6-hour trip to the Signal Shed about four times a year.

After two years of planning and extended weekend camping trips to their land, the couple built the 130 square foot cabin over a two week period with friends and family. The materials cost about $10,000 and the cabin features several recycled windows, IKEA cabinets and laminate flooring. They found the barn door hardware and the woodstove on Craigslist. The cabin rests on a floating pier to minimize impact on the land and cedar screens used to lock it up when Mariah and Ryan are not around. The Signal Shed has no running water, no electricity and the couple uses the woodstove for heat and some cooking.

Cargotecture by HyBrid Architecture

by Christina Nellemann

Sunset Magazine’s Celebration Weekend in Menlo Park, Calif. was held at the beginning of June, and one of the stars of the show was the cargotecture c-series Sunset Idea House by HyBrid Architecture. The c-series represents a group of pre-designed, factory built units made from recycled cargo containers that can be combined or customized as desired by the owner.

Hybrid coined the term cargotecture to describe any structure built partially or entirely from recycled cargo containers. The c-series consists of five models ranging in price from $29,500 to $189,500. The home featured at the Sunset show was the c192 nomad which costs $59,500.

The prices of the c-series include:

Recycled ISO cargo container with new paint
Soy based spray foam insulation
Aluminum clad wood windows and doors (one 10 feet long opening and one side door)
Bamboo finish floor
5/8 inch drywall ceiling and walls
Panelized wet room bath with redwood decking.
Duravit bath fixtures
IKEA cabinets and kitchen fixtures and lighting
Summit appliances
30 gallon electric water heater (gas if available on site)
Convectair Apero heat
Factory plans, State L&I permits and inspections

Green and off-grid options are offered including solar panels, composting toilets and “green machine” sewage treatment and roofwater harvesting.

All the models are insulated about 15 percent above IBC and UBC building codes in the floors, walls and roofs. The building can be placed in cold climates as well as moderate to hot climates. The recycled plastic and soy sprayed-in insulation creates R24 walls, R44 ceilings, and R32 floors. The roofs can handle 60psf snow loads.

The HyBrid homes are shipped complete. A local contractor will need to be arranged for electrical and sewage hook-ups as well as foundation work. In many jurisdictions, if your project is less than 200sf there is no permitting process required. HyBrid has completed residential and commercial cargotecture projects in California, Oregon and Washington and has designed over 20 projects on 5 continents. They will ship their cargotecture homes worldwide.

baumraum Treehouses

by Christina Nellemann

I’m sure many tiny house enthusiasts have dreamed of living in the branches of an oak tree in their own tree house, hidden by leaves and accompanied by birds and a light breeze. This dream could become a reality with these elegant, little nests from the German company, baumraum. They specialize in the design and building of tree houses and other constructions in natural surroundings.

The company combines the creative and constructive expertise of an architect with the experience of a landscape designer, a tree expert, and other craftsmen. They transform individual ideas and wishes into ingenious and inspiring dwellings that combine versatility with craftsmanship of the highest quality and maximum safety standards. These tree houses are also installed without harming the tree. They are not anchored with bolts or nails into the tree, but rather with textile belts and adjustable steel cables. This protects the bark, trunk and branches and allows the tree flexibility and growth.

The dimensions and the height of the tree houses depends on the stability and health of the tree. Sometimes it might be better to anchor the tree house to two or more trees rather than a single one. The tree houses can have a horizontal or upright design, with two or more levels, or even consist of several interconnected constructions at different heights. Most of the tree houses are units about the size of a small trailer or caravan.

Rintala Eggertsson Architects

by Christina Nellemann

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.

Smallworks

by Christina Nellemann

Smallworks Studios/Laneway Housing Inc. is a design and building company based in Vancouver, Canada. They specialize in small homes and laneway houses which are small cottages or homes that are built on the rear of a property lot, usually behind another house. Their designs range from around 100 square feet to 750 square feet.

Smallworks takes an active role in the entire process of building a small home including site inspection, custom design, permit applications, in house millwork, pre-fab and flat pack material delivery and on site construction management. The company uses LEED accredited designers and will walk a customer through various sustainability and green building options. Premium upgrades for each project include lifetime warranty metal roofing, upgraded siding, millwork and furniture packages and bamboo flooring.