In honor of today’s total solar eclipse, I thought I would feature some of the most beautiful round homes. Taking a cue from nature, round homes have an appeal to them that is primordial. Trees, rocks, fruit, the earth and that round, fiery ball in the sky have inspired round homes over the years—from the Navaho hogan to Buckminster Fuller’s domes. Each of these tiny homes are made from a wide range of materials and most of them are even available for sale or for your own inspiration.
Wooden Wonders Hobbit Hole
When most people think of a round house, they think of a Hobbit Hole. With its round door, windows and curved walls. Hobbit Holes are not just available in Middle Earth. Different sizes and versions can be purchased from various companies including Wooden Wonders. The company sells Hobbit holes for playhouses and even chicken coops, but for tiny living the Bag End design can be built into a hillside and looks just like Bilbo’s real home. The Hobbit Holes are shipped as a ready to assemble kit and range from around $3,000 to $8,000.
Freedom Yurt-Cabins
One of the original round homes was the yurt. Used by the nomadic people of Mongolia, they are traditionally made of skins or felt. Freedom Yurt-Cabins takes the traditional yurt to a new level with solid walls, integrated floors, insulation and wood ceilings. The roof still has the typical round window for stargazing. A 217 square foot yurt starts at $15,900 and does not need to be placed on a platform like a typical fabric yurt.
Mandala Aspen
Mandala Custom Homes are inspired by nature every day. Mandala was founded on the aspiration to integrate sacred spaces into everyday living. Their company features several round home plans of all sizes and their Aspen series has the smallest of them all. The 322 square foot Aspen cottage kit includes everything you need to build a tiny, round house in under eight hours. The company offers several price points from $90 to $160 per square foot.
SuperAdobe Saguaro Dome
The round earth house has been around for thousands of years; and it’s been made stronger and easier to build with earthbags. Earthbags are filled with moist sand, arranged in layers or coils and joined together with barbed wire. The design creates a strong, rounded structure that looks like it grew out of the earth. SuperAdobe is a type of earthbag architecture designed by CalEarth (California Institute of Earth Architecture) founder Nader Khalili and CalEarth’s designs can be found around the world. The Saguaro Dome is a Superadobe home being built in Northern Arizona by a team of CalEarth alumni led by instructor Brandon Evans.
Wagon Station Encampment Pods
The Tiny House Blog featured artist Andrea Zittel’s Wagon Station Encampment a few years ago and since then her elegant little pods have been popping up on design mags around the web. Unfortunately, the Wagon Stations are not for sale. They are only used for visiting artists on Zittel’s property near Joshua Tree, California. Each of the private pods feature a roof that pops up, a back door, hooks for clothing and a twin mattress. While the sleeping pods are basic (cooking and bathing is done at other locations on the Encampment), the rounded roofs do have a window to watch the sun or moon curve along the sky. They could be one of the best places to watch the once-in-a lifetime eclipse.
Lovely blog. I came across it today for the first time after googling some ideas for tiny homes. Thanks for putting this together.
I find that these blogs are not at all helpful unless they provide an interior layout, as laying out the interior of a round structure of only 200 sq ft is a very big challenge when trying to incorporate a bed, bath and kitchen. Please post floor plans that people have created showing how they achieve completion. All that I see anywhere is the exterior design and nobody at all has shown an interior of only 200 sq ft or 201 sq ft which is a simple 16 ft diameter. That would be very helpful to show.