Tag Archives: off-grid

This prefabricated home combines Scandinavian simplicity with a breezy Californian twist

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Adobu and Koto Design collaborated to design a prefabricated backyard home with off-grid capabilities, marrying Scandinavian design with sustainability.

Based in the English seaside village of Westward Ho!, the architecture studio Koto Design captures the mellow vibe of a day spent at the seashore and translates it to the home space. Inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and Japanese minimalism, the result comes through breezy, open floor layouts and organic building materials.

Designer: Koto Design x Adobu

The architecture studio is known for its extensive catalog of sustainable, prefabricated tiny homes that can be transported to locations across the globe. In a recent collaboration with the USA-based, backyard home-building company Adobu, the two studios worked together to construct a tiny, prefabricated home that marries Scandinavian design with a Californian twist.

From the outside, the backyard cabin appears like one of Koto Design’s signature tiny homes, topped off with a slightly torqued roof. While its original look maintains an elemental, wooden look without any paint, buyers can choose from an array of different finishes. The organic facades merge with large, floor-to-ceiling windows that are meant to embrace a semi-outdoor lifestyle, a common touch in Californian architecture.

Inside, the large windows work to keep the interior living spaces airy and bright, like a day spent seaside. Integrated storage compartments line the perimeter of the interior rooms to maintain the flexibility that an open-floor layout provides. Additionally, built-in furniture, like a window bench in the dining area, creates space for guests and residents to relax without introducing more furniture pieces to crowd the floor.

Koto Design is committed to delivering sustainable, prefabricated homes that don’t compromise on comfort. Each tiny home built with Adobu takes around four months to finish offsite construction, while the onsite assembly is completed in some weeks. In collaboration with Adobu, the two studios can now offer carbon-neutral homes in the USA that have a 60+ year lifespan, on and off-grid capabilities, and are built to full housing standards.

Once the tiny home finishes offsite construction, Adobu can assemble the tiny home onsite in a matter of weeks. 

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An old Peugeot Boxer van was gutted and transformed into this off-grid mobile office

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Nomadic Office is a mobile office that finds an old Peugeot Boxer van transformed into a living space.

Work culture is changing in unprecedented ways. The coffee shop has become the new collaborative workspace and everyone is remote working these days. Since all we need is WiFi and our laptops to get through our 9-to-5’s, many are choosing to hit the road for mobile working. Some are escaping to their tiny offices in the woods to get away from the city noise and others are renovating their vans to bring their work on the road. Architecture and design studio Atelier JMCA did just that with their latest project, Nomadic Office.

Designer: Atelier JMCA

The designers at Atelier JMCA had their work cut out for them when they decided to transform an old Peugeot Boxer van into a mobile workspace. Before gutting the van’s interior, the architects at Atelier JMCA used a 3D laser to scan the vehicle’s interior space and create a precise CAD drawing of the van’s bodywork.

To start, the van collects solar energy from two 330 watts solar panels that are positioned on the van’s roof. Then, two 80L water tanks provide fresh water and treat wastewater for the kitchen and lavatory, which are located behind the driver’s seat. Additionally, insulation and a diesel heating system ensure comfortable temperatures throughout the van. With these features, Nomadic Office has off-grid capabilities that allow users to work off-grid for up to a week.

A retractable wooden system defines the internal layout of Nomadic Office. Outfitted with a dining area, sleeping accommodations, workspace, and storage compartment, fold-out furniture systems save space through hinge mechanisms that allow users to fold up the bed and dining table when not in use. Comprised of thick, 15cm wooden panels, the architects made sure to make full use of the 3m x 2m main living space.

When users would like to have a meal or work at the dining table, they can open the 5cm thick wooden board 90-degrees without the need for a support base. Then, when its time for bed, users can use the same fold-down mechanism for the built-in, two-person bed. To activate Nomadic Office’s ‘night mode,’ users can unlock a lock system to reveal the van’s mattress, which is propped up by two wooden blocks. Storage compartments and hanging racks provide spaces for users to hang their clothes out of the way.

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This compact home finds harmony with New Zealand’s landscape through off-grid features and a small footprint

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The Thornton-Hasegawa House is a three-level residence in Wellington, New Zealand that has been future-proofed for off-grid use to find harmony with the surrounding landscape.

Bonnifait+Giesen Architects build homes that are designed to reconnect its residents with a “physical reality, a territory, its history, and a cultural context,” as the firm’s co-founders Cecile Bonnifait and William Giesen put it. As a result, their diverse portfolio of residential homes and commercial buildings exhibits a unique bond with the land that was there long before the buildings were given a foundation and walls. In Wellington, New Zealand, Bonnifait+Giesen Architects were asked to design a small home on a steep slope in Brooklyn, an old Wellington subdivision.

Designer: Bonnifait+Giesen Architects

Calling it the Thornton-Hasegawa House, Bonnifait+Giesen Architects were met with a few challenges when designing the home in accordance with the wild terrain of Brooklyn’s steep hills. To meet the clients’, Tomoko and Aaron’s, request for a small, compact home connected to its surrounding landscape, Bonnifait+Giesen Architects found adaptability in a small footprint and vertical layout. Split between three levels, the Thornton-Hasegawa House covers 50-square-meters and appears as a small tower perched above Brooklyn’s thicket.

Entering the home, residents are greeted with bright walls that are entirely clad in oriented strand board (OSB), which has been coated with a whitewash finish, immediately giving the home a spacious, airy feel. Bonnifait+Giesen Architects followed this spacious effect throughout the home by splitting the living areas between two levels. On the lower level, residents can enjoy the more social areas, like the living room, dining area, and kitchen. Then, taking the ​​yellow, Kowhai staircase to the home’s upper level, residents can find privacy and respite in the main bedroom and private bathroom.

The outside of the home finds a classic, nautical personality with single cedar-clad facades that converge with cool, inky blue metal elements that brace the home from natural elements. Maximizing the Thornton-Hasegawa House’s connection to the surrounding landscape, Bonnifait+Giesen Architects future-proofed the home for off-grid use. As no services were onsite during the home’s initial design processes, Bonnifait and Giesen oriented the home’s north-facing roof to maximize its potential solar gain, allowing the double-height interior to collect pools of natural sunlight. Then, designated locations outside of the home were left for water tanks and batteries.

Floor-to-ceiling windows unfold to connect interior living spaces with an expansive outdoor deck. 

Glazed bi-fold doors grant access to the deck that runs the full length of the living spaces. 

The cool, inky metal siding conceals the home in a sky blue to give it an elusive appeal.

OSB paneling brightens the home’s interior to maximize the sunlight collected through the large internal windows.

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Architectural dwellings designed to conserve energy + support off-grid living

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In recent times, since a pandemic struck the world, the idea of an off-grid life has certainly become extremely appealing to a lot of people. Leading a natural life, breathing in fresh air, and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle are all highlights of going off-grid! You live on resources that can be harvested from the land and environment around you – this usually includes water and power. In other terms, you lead a self-sufficient life, completely free of the systems of society. Since going off-grid has gained such popularity, architects have been designing homes that can truly support an off-grid lifestyle! From a farmhouse-style tiny home outfitted with solar panels and rainwater collection to a prefab home with an upside-down layout – these intriguing architectural structures are designed to help you master off-grid living in the smoothest way possible!

1. Adraga

Called Adraga, the tiny home features an array of sustainability elements including solar panels, rainwater collection, and composting garden beds. As part of a larger series of tiny home one wheels, Adraga is home to a retired couple who just want to disconnect from the busyness of the world. Defined by a rectangular, flat-roofed silhouette, the team at Madeiguincho found movement through windows and doors. On one end of the tiny home, a single, farmhouse-style door welcomes residents into the home’s subdued bathroom. There, against the soothing backdrop of walnut wood panels, residents can enjoy a semi-outdoor shower atop wooden floor slats.

2. The Mansfield Container House

Named Mansfield Container House after the town where it resides, Walker’s tiny home is comprised of two 20-foot shipping containers that amount to 30-square-feet in total. Stocked with all of the necessities for off-grid living, the Mansfield Container House has the means for solar power as well as water treatment systems. Solar panels were placed on the roof to generate and store solar power, while water bladders were built into the roof to preserve 1,000 liters of rainwater. Then, an integrated steel screen produces some shade for the sunny days the tiny home’s residents want to lounge out on the deck. Since the cabin is off-grid, it does come with its own catalog of operational duties, as Walker explains, “It’s similar to the way a sailor must operate a yacht—you need to open a window to catch a breeze, and close down at the right time to avoid the bugs. But that’s part of the fun. It brings you closer to the elements and nature in this beautiful part of the world.”

3. Bruny Island Cabin

Designed by architecture studio Maguire + Devin, Bruny Island Cabin is a minimal off-grid holiday home in Tasmania. The cabin is lined with wood, and includes built-in furniture! “Born in Taiwan, she [the client] spent her childhood in traditional Japanese houses. Out of this grew a love for highly crafted minimalist design. Our brief was to capture that and design a building as a piece of furniture with everything she needs built-in.”, said the studio. Underground tanks collect rainwater which serves as the cabin’s water supply, whereas solar panels provide the home with electricity. A wood-fire burner can be used to warm up the living space.

4. Permanent Camping II

Designed and developed by Casey Brown Architecture, Permanent Camping II is a tiny house stripped-back to become a “retreat with ‘everything you need and nothing you don’t need’ with the demands of living distilled to the bare essentials.” Measuring a cozy 3×3 meters, the countryside haven leaves just enough room to accommodate two people comfortably. Since the architects behind Permanent Camping II hoped to find comfort while maintaining a small floor plan, the two towers were “designed to provide the essential requirements for a shelter, bed, porch or deck, fireplace, and bathroom.” Self-contained and sustainable, Permanent Camping II hosts a solar panel roof, water and sewage systems, and natural ventilation methods.

5. Playa Viva

Playa Viva is an ecoresort in Juluchuca, Mexico made up of off-grid treehouse-style villas with roofs shaped like the wings of Mobula Rays. As part of Playa Viva’s eco-resort appeal and mission, each villa is entirely self-sustained, garnering energy from the sun to power each facility and amenity. In close collaboration with the local community, Playa Viva supports health and education services for locals and works on a year-round basis to restore the surrounding land. Offering access to the rugged, unspoiled beauty of Mexico’s land, Playa Viva also works hard to protect it through the La Tortuga Viva Turtle Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization rooted in sea turtle conservation.

6. Boar Shoat

Imbue Design built this off-grid residence in Idaho to help a family “distance themselves from social stresses”. Called Boar Shoat, the low-lying home is located in a 197 square meter compound, which also includes a garage and a guest house. “He [the client] wanted a retreat – a place where he and his family could distance themselves from social stresses, withdraw digital connection, and commune with nature and each other,” said the studio. The house features photovoltaic paneling on the roof and insulation and sealing techniques. The roof also consists of a series of solar panels which power the home, while a cistern container in the garage supplies water to the home.

7. Edifice

Designed by Marc Thorpe, Edifice is a simple black off-grid cabin in Upstate New York. It’s been neatly tucked into the Catskill Mountains, situated in the little village of Fremont. The cabin features a single bedroom and occupies a total of 500 square meters. It’s nestled amongst trees, creating a quaint and quiet spot, that functions as a wonderful retreat in the midst of nature. The cabin was built as an example of “introverted architecture”, and is a self-sustaining structure that was an “exercise in reduction”. The little box is clad in stained cedar and features a simple rectangular form. The walls on the southern and western sides have thin windows, providing views of the surrounding greenery.

8. Hurley House

Moliving, a nomadic hospitality solution, has developed a line of Scandinavian-inspired, prefabricated tiny homes called Hurley House, which can be placed anywhere as tiny private retreats for guests to find relaxation. With hopes of providing city dwellers with a private, countryside oasis, Hurley House is set to replace Hudson Valley’s now-inoperative Twin Lakes Resort. Each prefabricated tiny home comprises 400-square-meters and packs a lot into such a tiny space. Whether the tiny home brings guests to a lake’s shoreline or a wintry wonderland, each model features identical layouts that work to embrace the outdoors of any setting. The units are also designed for on- or off-grid living, depending on each guest’s preference.

9. The Falcon House

The Falcon House is a modular, prefabricated home with an upside-down layout and off-grid capabilities designed by sustainable architecture studio Koto. In building the Falcon House, Koto utilized a “plug-and-play” construction system, where all of the home’s modules are constructed and prefabricated offsite before coming together on site. The Falcon House’s dark, cross-laminated timber exterior is contrasted with the interior’s whitewashed, wood-paneled walls. Evocative of Yakisugi, a Japanese wood charring process that weatherproofs timber building material, the Falcon House’s black exterior becomes a cloak in the dark of the night.

10. The Nomad house-on-wheels

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.

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Off-grid, prefab cabins on wheels by Nomadic hospitality create portable space for travelers to escape from city life

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Moliving is a nomadic hospitality solution made up of Scandinavian-inspired prefab tiny homes.

Tiny homes are changing the hotel game. With the pandemic restricting air travel and hospitality services, designers within those industries had to get creative. To encourage responsible and sustainable travel, tiny homes offer a remote getaway where guests can still enjoy their bucket list destinations in a safe and eco-conscious way.

Designer: Moliving

Moliving, a nomadic hospitality solution, has developed a line of Scandinavian-inspired, prefabricated tiny homes called Hurley House, which can be placed anywhere as tiny private retreats for guests to find relaxation. With hopes of providing city dwellers with a private, countryside oasis, Hurley House is set to replace Hudson Valley’s now-inoperative Twin Lakes Resort.

Compared to the years that it takes to give rise to traditional hotel accommodations, Moliving boasts a 3-5 month construction, assembly, and installation process. Built with Green- Steel, proximity woods, and other sustainable materials, Moliving’s Hurley House units have a sustainable construction process as well.

Each prefabricated tiny home comprises 400-square-meters and packs a lot into such a tiny space. Whether the tiny home brings guests to a lake’s shoreline or a wintry wonderland, each model features identical layouts that work to embrace the outdoors of any setting. The units are also designed for on- or off-grid living, depending on each guest’s preference.

Looking at a Moliving unit head-on, a front deck creates an intimate transitional space between the outdoors and the interior. Immediately walking past the unit’s bathroom, where a shower and toilet can be found, guests are welcomed by the tiny home’s main living area. There, Moliving outfitted the interior space to resemble classic hotel suites.

On the other side of the bathroom, a minibar punctuates the main living area, where guests can indulge in the perks normally served in hotel minibars, like a coffeemaker, various beverages, as well as a mini-fridge. From there, an integrated desk borders the edge of the living area and merges into the main bedroom. Doubling as the bed frame’s headboard, the desk looks out three bay windows directly to the surrounding landscape.

The bedroom itself is paneled in wood, providing a warm, rustic cradle for sleeping that subdues the bright white walls that line the rest of the Hurley House units’ walls. From there, guests can lounge anywhere on Hurley House’s 120-square-foot outdoor deck that brings guests to the precipice of the outdoors in their chosen destination.

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Off-grid treehouse style villas make up this eco-resort that takes inspiration from Mobula Rays

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Playa Viva is an ecoresort in Juluchuca, Mexico made up of off-grid treehouse-style villas with roofs shaped like the wings of Mobula Rays.

The beauty of biophilic architecture is that nature provides the blueprint. In environments with dense foliage and rough terrain, integrating the natural landscape into the lay of the building helps define the floor plan’s parameters and the building’s structural shape. Immersing guests in nature, biophilic architecture artfully dissolves the barrier between the outdoors and interior spaces. Atelier Nomadic, a Rotterdam-based architecture firm that specializes in biophilic architecture, designed Playa Viva, an eco-resort village of treehouse-style villas that plants guests right on the surf of the Pacific Ocean in Juluchuca, Mexico.

Designer: Atelier Nomadic

Unlike their usual approach, Atelier Nomadic had to meet with the client behind Playa Viva online as a result of the pandemic restricting travel. From these virtual workshops, the architects with Atelier Nomadic envisioned Playa Viva’s structural shape to replicate the flexed wings of a Mobula Ray. A familiar sight to the shores of Mexico, Mobula Rays seem to encapsulate Atelier Nomadic’s mission for integrating nature into their designs, as well as the spirit of Playa Viva. Functioning like a gigantic umbrella, the hyperbolic and paraboloid-shaped roof offers total coverage from the blazing sun and heavy rain. On the opposite end, each treehouse villa is propped up on a collection of wooden stilts that support the larger bamboo dwelling.

Chosen for its speedy regenerative process, Guadua bamboo comprises the build of each villa’s main living volume, roof structure, facade louvers, and ceiling. In the main living volume, guests can find the main bedroom and untouched views of the ocean, while enjoying natural cross-ventilation from the bamboo louvers. Besides Guadua, fishpole bamboo was used to give rise to Playa Viva’s annex building’s walls and facade panels. In each structure, Cumaru timber was chosen for the flooring. In the annex structures, Atelier Nomadic placed the bathroom and additional sleeping accommodation, or a lounge area.

As part of Playa Viva’s eco-resort appeal and mission, each villa is entirely self-sustained, garnering energy from the sun to power each facility and amenity. In close collaboration with the local community, Playa Viva supports health and education services for locals and works on a year-round basis to restore the surrounding land. Offering access to the rugged, unspoiled beauty of Mexico’s land, Playa Viva also works hard to protect it through the La Tortuga Viva Turtle Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization rooted in sea turtle conservation.

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This tiny home composed of two shipping containers is designed for off-grid living

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The Mansfield Container House is an L-shaped tiny home composed of two disused shipping containers that merge together to form a tiny, off-grid cabin.

Shipping container homes have redefined modern architecture. Designers and architects across the globe have turned to disused shipping containers to convert into insulated, tiny homes. Cost-effective, eco-friendly, and modular by design, shipping containers provide the ideal template for designers and architects to have at it and let their creativity fly.

Designer: Robbie Walker

In the foothills of Australia’s Victorian Alps, Melbourne-based architect Robbie Walker merged two disused shipping containers together to form a tiny, off-grid cabin for family holidays and solo rendezvous.

Named Mansfield Container House after the town where it resides, Walker’s tiny home is comprised of two 20-foot shipping containers that amount to 30-square-feet in total. Coated with heavy-duty paint, Walker hoped to maintain the industrial personality of shipping containers on the outside. Inside, natural, polished plywood clads the interior walls to help brighten the exterior’s heavy-duty look.

Forming a right angle, the two shipping containers are connected by an external, hydraulics deck that folds down from one of the two shipping containers. Just in front of the fold-down deck, residents and guests can make use of the outdoor space with an expansive fireplace that can be used year-round.

Stationed behind the fold-down deck, the tiny home’s residents enjoy enough room for a living room, bathroom, and kitchen, which is equipped with a fold-out table as well as a fold-out guest bed.

In the other container, the main bedroom can be found, where a fold-down double bed and triple bunk are located with self-inflating mattresses. To save space and avoid unnecessary crowding between the two containers, a bathroom and kitchen sink can also be accessed in the bedroom container.

Stocked with all of the necessities for off-grid living, the Mansfield Container House has the means for solar power as well as water treatment systems. Solar panels were placed on the roof to generate and store solar power, while water bladders were built into the roof to preserve 1,000 liters of rainwater. Then, an integrated steel screen produces some shade for the sunny days the tiny home’s residents want to lounge out on the deck.

Since the cabin is off-grid, it does come with its own catalog of operational duties, as Walker explains, “It’s similar to the way a sailor must operate a yacht—you need to open a window to catch a breeze, and close down at the right time to avoid the bugs. But that’s part of the fun. It brings you closer to the elements and nature in this beautiful part of the world.”

The tiny home is a familiar sight on the farm, where several shipping containers plot the land. 

Inside, natural, polished plywood lines the walls for a warm contrast to the home’s industrial exterior.

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This prefabricated, off-grid home features an upside-down layout to take in all of the outdoor views!

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The Falcon House is a modular, prefabricated home with an upside-down layout and off-grid capabilities designed by sustainable architecture studio Koto.

Koto, an architecture studio known for building modular Scandinavian-inspired houses, is familiar with sustainable design. While sustainability is no stranger to modern home-building either, Koto has made an art out of designing off-grid, prefabricated houses that can be assembled in a mountainside forest just as well as they can on a residential street in the suburbs. Envisioning their latest project, the Falcon House, atop a rolling hill, right beside a foggy lake, Koto achieves a carbon-neutral design by flipping the home’s layout upside down.

Partly immersed in the surrounding woodlands, the Falcon House pokes through from the nearby forest with sharp angles and a geometric silhouette. Conceived to maximize the total living space and available views of the surrounding landscape, Koto flipped the Falcon House’s layout upside down. Nicknamed the Upside Down Home, Koto’s latest home is defined by two cuboid modules stacked almost perpendicularly together.

The topmost module is where the home’s cohabitation spaces are kept, such as the dining and living rooms, as well as the kitchen. There, Koto brightened the home’s interiors with double-glazed, floor-to-ceiling windows that draw pools of sunlight into the interiors throughout the day.

Downstairs, on the home’s ground level, the home’s main two bedrooms, ensuite, shower, and utility closet can be found. Opting for a warmer, more intimate feeling, the bottom module only features one set of sliding glass doors, enhancing the interior’s nest-like quality.

In building the Falcon House, Koto utilized a “plug-and-play” construction system, where all of the home’s modules are constructed and prefabricated offsite before coming together on site. The Falcon House’s dark, cross-laminated timber exterior is contrasted with the interior’s whitewashed, wood-paneled walls. Evocative of Yakisugi, a Japanese wood charring process that weatherproofs timber building material, the Falcon House’s black exterior becomes a cloak in the dark of the night.

Designer: Koto

Upstairs, the home’s cohabitation living spaces can be found.

The ground-level module contains the home’s bedrooms and bathroom facilities. 

Natural, unadorned walls panel the interior of the Falcon House.

The kitchen finds rusticity and warmth through Scandinavian-inspired interior design elements.

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This Scandinavian tiny home on wheels comes with off-grid features for an eco-friendly escape to nature!

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Poland-based Redukt built a tiny home on wheels that combines simplistic design with a clever layout to produce a mobile tiny home ideal for a family of four traveling through backcountry roads on a summer vacation.

When it comes to tiny homes, simplicity is key. It’s all about consolidated design and multifunctional interior elements. We’ve seen dining room tables and booths transform into daybeds and roofs unfurl into loft bedrooms. Tiny homes bring out the most innovative home features from designers that hinge on keeping the living space free from too much clutter.

Poland-based Redukt, a tiny mobile home company, found sophistication and an open-plan layout through simplistic and versatile design for their off-grid-prepared tiny home on wheels.

Prepared for all elements, Redukt’s tiny home on wheels is thermalized with oiled pine boards that give the home a tidy, yet natural personality. Dissolving the barrier between the outdoors and interior space, the tiny home comes with twin glass doors that are just short of reaching floor-to-ceiling heights.

Keeping an off-center pentagonal shape, Redukt’s tiny home maintains an elegant look that’s prepared for all four seasons through the home’s roof topped off with galvanized metal sheets. Built to last, the metal sheets and pinewood facade were chosen as they only look better with time.

Outfitted with all the elements necessary for off-grid living, the team at Redukt equipped their tiny home with solar installation to generate electricity, a gas installation, and a composting toilet.

Measuring 7.20 x 2.55 x 3.95m, Redukt’s tiny home keeps enough space for an open, large living space, where additional sleeping arrangements can be placed either to accompany or replace a dining and living room.

Designed for a couple with two children, the living space can remain for their kids while the adults can escape to a semi-low mezzanine accessible by a set of folding staircases. In addition to the bedrooms, a large kitchenette, bathroom, and plenty of storage space make living in Redukt’s tiny home feel a lot larger than you’d think.

Designer: Redukt

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This tiny home features an open-plan layout and solar system for off-grid living!

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Kingfisher is a tiny home from the New Zealand-based tiny home company, Build Tiny, that doesn’t feel so tiny on the inside, featuring room for a full kitchen, shower and bath, dining area, living room, and two-bedroom loft.

Few topics are hotter right now than off-grid, tiny living. After spending so much time in our own homes in recent years, we’re slowly waking up to the concept of downsizing. We don’t need such large-scale living spaces when we can pack all we have into 400-square-meters or less.

Offering clients the opportunity to design their own fully functional and personalized tiny homes, Build Tiny is a New Zealand-based tiny home company devoted to small-scale living. Kingfisher, one of Build Tiny’s more popular tiny home models, is a flexible and open-plan mobile tiny home that has enough space for everything from a full kitchen to a two-bedroom loft.

Measuring 8m long x 2.4w x 4.2h, Kingfisher keeps an average, approachable size. From the outside, Kingfisher sports a steel frame clad in vinyl with a cedar feature wall to the side that’s lined with vertical timber panels. The aluminum windows are double glazed to provide ultimate thermal insulation during the colder months.

The roof is only slightly pitched to provide some headspace inside for the two loft sleeping spaces, giving the tiny home a more dynamic quadrilateral shape. Placed on top of the pitched roof, Build Tiny provided Kingfisher with a solar system for off-grid power, consisting of ​​6 x Trina 270w Honey Poly Module panels.

Inside, residents can enjoy all the typical household amenities like a shower and bath, full kitchen, living space, dining area, and sleeping lofts. Walking from the stark black steel exterior into poplar core plywood-lined interior, residents are welcomed by a spacious entryway with the living room on the right and kitchen to the left.

Each room features plenty of hidden storage compartments, like bookshelves and lift-up cubbies, to optimize the tiny living space inside Kingfisher. In the bathroom, a folding shelf allows space for clothes and towels while residents use the shower. Then, under the staircase, Build Tiny incorporated concealed, slide-out cabinets that could work as kitchen pantries or additional wardrobes.

Just beyond the entryway, attached to the home’s main wall, a ladder brings residents to the tiny home’s two-bedroom loft, where one larger bed remains just a few feet away from two twin-sized beds. While the Kingfisher certainly fits the tiny home bill, with plenty of integrated storage space and a pitched roof, residents won’t feel the tininess on the inside.

Designer: Build Tiny

Throughout the home, added space-saving features take full advantage of the available living space.

An integrated ladder brings residents to the home’s two-bedroom loft.

The living space stands just to the right of the home’s spacious entryway.

Concealed, pull-out cabinets leave room for kitchen supplies and excess accessories. 

While the two bedrooms are only a few feet away from one another, they remain on opposite ends of the tiny home.

A folding cabinet provides storage space for clothes and towels while residents shower.

Solar systems and other power accessories provide the means for off-grid living.

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