Tag Archives: micro home

This affordable DIY housing unit transforms urban parking lots into micro home villages

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It’s sad to say that in 2022, homelessness is still a thriving and ever-growing dilemma we face as a modern society. It’s a social problem that is always visible, and almost impossible to turn a blind eye to. And, thankfully it is something that we as a society are taking considerably seriously. Nowadays, housing solutions vary from portable tiny homes to even 3D printed villages! They may not be the most lavish example of real estate on the market, but they are comfortable, practical, and functional. A portable, easy-to-build, and economical building system that recently caught our eye is a project titled ‘Urban Camp’. Designed and envisioned by Brazilian architect Felipe Campolina, the interesting project was proposed for the ‘Micro Housing 2022’ contest held by Impact Design Competitions.

Designer: Felipe Campolina

The affordable housing solution aims to transform parking lots into modern habitats for those seeking temporary or permanent refuge/housing. Each micro home can be assembled effortlessly in DIY molds and measures 5.4m x 6m with a surface area of 32.4m². It can accommodate up to 4 people or more with ease.

Campolina describes his unique project as a “manifesto against car culture”. In a world where you see more cars on the streets than people, this proposal not only aims to combat the pandemic that is the housing deficit but also divert people’s attention and energy towards a form of urbanism for cities that “privilege people more than cars”.

Each unit will be composed of a Tube & Clamp scaffolding, supported by wooden lumbers and OSB boards, to perfectly pair up with the stiffness of the structure. Clear polycarbonate tiles will encroach and completely cover the entire roof, ensuring adequate waterproofing.

As you dive into the home, you’ll notice that the high-ceiling interiors distribute into two levels. The first story houses an integrated kitchen and living space, as well as a sleeping section amped with four beds. The beds are arranged vertically, in an attempt to create a unique spatiality.

On the other hand, the second floor features a compact workspace, that can be entered or exited via a ladder fixed on the wall. Kudos to Campolina, for creating a space that not only caters to people’s living but working requirements as well. Every room has been furnished with built-in storage furniture, as well as a fully equipped bathroom, which connects to an outside service area.

Urban Camp is a modern-day affordable housing solution, that can be assembled swiftly owing to its rapid DIY mechanism! So, within no time you could convert an everyday parking space into a micro-community of 25 homes that can accommodate over 100 people comfortably.

The future of housing looks pretty bright and convenient to me!

The post This affordable DIY housing unit transforms urban parking lots into micro home villages first appeared on Yanko Design.

Village welcomes 310 new micro-homes to its community designed and built for formerly unhoused people!

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Community First! Village’s Tiny Victories 2.0 rollout welcomes 310 new micro-homes to the bustling community designed and constructed for unhoused individuals.

In East Austin, Texas, the Community First! Village is comprised of 230 micro-homes designed, constructed, and priced for unhoused individuals. Developed and run by Texas nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Community First! Village started welcoming 310 new micro-homes designed and built by award-winning architecture firm Chioco Design. Created for unhoused individuals to find security and comfort in the community, the rollout of new micro-homes, also called Tiny Victories 2.0, is the start of a new community.

Tiny Victories 2.0, orchestrated by Chioco architects, rolls out 200-square-foot micro-homes that strike the perfect balance of privacy, functionality, and personality. One of Community First! Village’s residents, Sheila, collaborated with Chioco Design to build her micro-home with all three aforementioned elements in mind. To incorporate enough privacy into the small living space, the architects purposefully offset the home’s interior construction to achieve privacy through wall partitions and interior design elements.

Exposed framing walls are perhaps the most distinctive interior design element in the home, adding built-in storage options for momentos like family photographs and heirlooms. Shelving units are built into the exposed framing walls throughout the micro-home to create storage space without compromising the tiny living space. Outside, Sheila can find privacy in the micro-homes small front porch or screened-in patio.

The exterior of the micro-homes that make up Tiny Victories 2.0 find low-maintenance and long-lasting siding in stucco and corrugated metal facades, giving each home a modern profile. Each tiny home also comes with two entrances for micro-homes that are replicated and positioned in opposing solar orientations.

Jamie Chioco, a founding architect at the firm, says of the offset layout, “We created separate living and sleeping areas by offsetting the plan elements in hopes of fostering a greater sense of privacy with multiple rooms.” Like many residents of Community First! Village, Sheila is eager to pass on the sense of community and support offered by Chioco Design and Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

Designers: Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Chioco Design

The post Village welcomes 310 new micro-homes to its community designed and built for formerly unhoused people! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Two DIYers built this off-grid micro-cabin from repurposed steel and recycled building material for almost no cost!

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Nathalie and Greg Kupfer’s micro-cabin is built from repurposed waste findings and secondhand furnishings, outfitted with rainwater collection sites and solar systems for off-grid living.

We each have our own budget shopping tricks. Some of us hit up department store sale racks, some hoard coupons and bring them out just in time for the holidays, and then a rare few know just the right dumpster where they’ll find the perfect lamp or photo frame to clean up and decorate the living room for free. Two select DIYers of that rare few found most of the structural and interior design elements for their new off-grid, micro-home in sidewalk waste piles and handoffs from friendly neighbors.

Retired industrial designer and former paramedic, Nathalie and Greg Kupfer began work on their off-grid micro-cabin in Canmore, Alberta after receiving a plot of ranch land and a decrepit shed from two neighbors. Following the cabin’s fortuitous beginnings, the Kupfer’s conceived a layout for their snug, solar-powered, 97-square-foot micro cabin built from recycled and repurposed outfittings, amounting to a total net cost of only $50.

During a summer spent collecting building material and constructing their new micro-home, the Kupfer’s found all they needed from neighborly help. Finding new purpose in discarded steel, the Kupfer’s cast the micro cabins siding in steel for an all-season, durable finish. Receiving a seemingly down-and-out garden shed from a neighbor, Nathalie and Greg scored insulation material and glazed windows to keep the home warm during colder months and to bring sweeping views inside the cabin’s domed 14-foot ceiling. Finally, by relocating gravel from the cabin’s driveway to the kitchen, the Kupfer’s designed and built a gabion wall behind the kitchen’s wood stove.

Before selling the materials that weren’t used for the cabin’s construction, the forested retreat cost the couple $2,109. Included in the project’s net cost, Nathalie and Greg put out an additional $20 to build and furnish an outhouse on the property. Once the cabin’s build reached completion, the DIYers got back almost all of the $2,109 they spent on construction by selling unneeded building material they bought through bartering.

Designers: Nathalie and Greg Kupfer

This micro house-on-wheels built to withstand extreme weather conditions was also designed for off-grid living!

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The Nomad is a compact mobile camper built to withstand all the elements, hot or cold, and for off-grid living, equipped with everything from a solar system to a composting toilet and water tanks.

These days, the nomad lifestyle has the spotlight. Going off-grid and mobile during this era of WFH has never been more tempting. With sustainability and getting away at the forefront of our minds, companies have delivered on tiny camper designs, merging eco-consciousness with the mobile lifestyle. One company, in particular, Quebec-based Minimaliste has been designing micro houses-on-wheels for some time now, and their latest model, the Nomad, is an even tinier camper built with off-grid capabilities and for the most extreme of weather conditions.

Being the only Minimaliste camper capable of off-grid operation, the Nomad camper includes a composting toilet, two 36-gallon tanks for black and gray water, as well as a 54-gallon freshwater tank allowing two people to enjoy a short vacation without having to empty or fill the tanks. Additionally, Minimaliste equipped the roof with a grid of solar panels that take lithium batteries, outfitting each Nomad camper with a minimum of 5.12 kWh solar power, or an advanced package stocked with 10.24 kWh.

While the Nomad might be shorter in length than Minimaliste’s previous camper models, measuring in at 165 feet2, it makes a home out of the space it still has. The one-bedroom camper also features a kitchen, bathroom, dining area, and living area all within its steel-clad frame. When entering the Nomad, the kitchen and dining area greet you with walnut laminate finishes, and optic white walls, with black coated handles and accents dotted throughout. Equipped with high-quality appliances, the kitchen features a propane boiler and water heater, a Furrion 12V refrigerator, and a Furrion propane stove oven.

Moving into the bedroom and bathroom, the same walnut laminate and optic white paint are seen throughout each room, but the bedroom’s ceiling rises to seven feet to ensure plenty of headroom even for taller guests. The bedroom is all about storage, featuring integrated storage underneath and around the bed, where an additional water tank can be found for off-grid living. Finally, the bathroom hosts all the amenities one might need for when nature calls: an optional flush or composting toilet, a decent-sized vanity unit with a medicine cabinet, and a 24 × 36 tub shower, as well as a 12V fan that exhausts and refilters the air.

Designer: Minimaliste

Integrated storage decks out the Nomad’s bedroom, ensuring enough room even for one of the camper’s water tanks. 

Air conditioning units and insulation create a comfortable interior temperature throughout the year and changing seasons. 

The kitchen even comes with a built-in 2-in-1 washer-dryer unit.

The dining area transforms into sleeping accommodations for two children or one adult when not in use during the night. 

This tiny house in Tokyo boasts of a funnel-shaped roof that doubles as a skylight!

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Moving to Tokyo with his wife, architect Takeshi Hosaka found a tiny nook of the urban world to build his modest, single-story, micro-home. The tiny home, called Love2 House occupies a total of around 30 meters of Tokyo pavement in the Bunkyo district, decreasing the total area of their previous living space by seven meters. Hosaka designed his Tokyo-based micro-home with both simple pleasure and realistic practicality in mind.

Inspired by Roman villas, Hosaka aimed to bring the restful repose that comes with country living to the city world, so he focused on how he could create a home that catered to studying, bathing, the theater, music, and gastronomy. The micro-home is equipped with a bathroom, which includes a toilet and washing area, a bedroom that shares an entry with a small, outdoor garden space, a practical kitchen area to concoct healthful meals, a study and dining table area for lounging or productivity, and finally a storage area where the laundry facilities and bulkier, electronic items are found. Love2 House embraces the natural bustle of the Tokyo lifestyle by easily slipping into a vacant alcove between two traditionally urban living spaces, and also encases a full, 19 meters of living space between its reinforced concrete walls. Crowning the concrete micro-home is the main event, Hosaka’s funnel-roof.

Hosaka had to prepare for three months of winter, during which his Love2 House would not receive any direct sunlight. Hosaka’s solution was a curved roof whose exposed vertex produced a pocket of skylight to fill up the single-story micro-home with plenty of natural bright light from the sun, no matter the season. On the winter daylight dilemma, Hosaka says,  “In the winter, the two skylights effectively bring soft sunlight into the house and in the summer the house is filled with brilliant sunshine like in a tropical country.” The roof is also protected from weather changes and forces for the exterior panels are clad with galvanized aluminum, which helps preserve metallic surfaces from rusting due to corrosion and oxidation. The unexpected largeness of the micro-home comes through with the slightly curved, tall ceilings that seem to expand the entire floor space with lots of open-air and natural sunlight. While living in one of today’s busiest cities, Hosaka managed to attain the pleasures of country living by architecturally sculpting and designing both into and around the 30 meters of Tokyo pavement where Love2 House nestles.

Designer: Takeshi Hosaka

This tiny home was designed to facilitate micro living in expensive cities!

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Millennials and the generations that follow are still struggling to buy homes without sacrificing their avocado toasts. We always hear about the rent situation in New York and Los Angeles, but even if you cross the border you’ll find that Vancouver and Toronto also fall under that bracket. Those two cities are the hub for young working professionals in Canada and it is crucial to provide affordable housing options that are sustainable and fit with their flexible lifestyle. Turns out there is an architectural concept, Shifting Nests, designed to solve this exact problem.

While Vancouver has quickly become one of the most expensive cities to live in, it is not densely populated and there are a lot of vacant spaces that can be put to better use – Shifting Nests sustainable tiny homes is that use! This project wants to transform empty parking lots into a community with gardens and low-cost homes. “The ‘nests’ are a prefabricated housing solution consisting of plywood, metal cladding, and corrugated polycarbonate on a series of simple frames. The jury was impressed by the sensible linear plan layout, segmented into zones for resting, bathing, cooking, living, dining, and farming,” explains the team,

Shifting Nests won the first prize in the Bee Breeders 2019 Mircohome competition for its futuristic approach to affordable housing that took the environment into account. The structures almost look like a hybrid between an RV and a bunker, I wish it looked a little cozier. While many details are still being worked out, it would be nice to see what sustainable housing solutions are incorporated – solar panels, furniture made with recycled material, self-sustaining garden for community produce? Micro living is probably the future of future generations so having designs that make life easier for them economically while also helping the climate crisis is crucial.

Designer: BLA Design Group