Tag Archives: Tiny Living Spaces

This tiny home sports a unique shape and open-plan interior to suspend guests over the river’s edge!

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Riverside Cabin is a tiny cabin with a unique shape and open-plan interior space to shelter visiting professors at the Universidad Austral de Chile.

On the banks of the Calle-Calle River in Valdivia, Región de Los Ríos, architects with Arce & Westermeier were commissioned to design and construct a shelter to function as a local professor’s riverside retreat. Located close to the Universidad Austral de Chile, the tiny home is called Riverside Cabin after its harmonic relationship with the Calle-Calle River. Brimming from the natural treeline that extends along the river’s edge, Riverside Cabin takes on an unconventional shape that embraces the home’s surrounding landscape and ecosystems.

Designer: Arce & Westermeier

In the initial stages of designing Riverside Cabin, the architects with Arce & Westermeier asked, “What kind of relationship with the river do we want: a traditional one, which seeks that each program enclosure manages to please itself with this unique geographical element? Or rather, one that selects where and how this visual pleasure is obtained?”

Upon realizing they’d like to explore the latter, Arce & Westermeier found Riverside Cabin’s unique look. Tilting one end of the cabin towards the sky elongated the internal volume and gave the ceiling lofty heights to accommodate the bi-level interior.

Inside the cabin, the ground-level hosts a bathroom that stands to the side of a space where the dining, kitchen, and living areas are combined. Then, moving up a few steps, the cabin’s residents are welcomed by the sleeping and study area that merges with an expansive floor-to-ceiling curtain wall that teeters off the river edge.

Dividing the cabin into two spaces, a wooden partition doubles as the bed’s headboard and the dining area’s seating arrangement. Maintaining an open-plan layout for the interior space, Arce & Westermeier architects wanted the main living space to be flexible.

Noting the spatial relationship between the two levels, architects at Arce & Westermeier note, “Thus, these different levels become both the living room and the seating for the dining table, in addition to functioning as a transitional space.”

Riverside Cabin is constructed primarily from dark, prefabricated metal plates that brace Chile’s rainy climate while offering a sort of cloak during the night. In contrast to the dark exterior, Riverside Cabin’s interior walls are clad in plywood to offer a warm refuge from the outdoors.

Come dark, the interior lights glower like a lantern in the night. 

The main priority in constructing the Riverside Cabin was for it to blend in with the surrounding architecture, without taking away from the available views of the river. 

The internal volume lifts up to bring guests over the river’s edge and provide the ceiling with lofty heights.

The post This tiny home sports a unique shape and open-plan interior to suspend guests over the river’s edge! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny home on wheels uses colourful windows to create a fun space for a young family

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Planedennig is a tiny home on wheels built for a mother and her young son to balance playtime with relaxation.

Considering the number of tiny homes to come out of recent years, distinguishing one tiny home from another can be hard. After all, there’s only so much space to work with, many tiny home builders prioritize efficiency and function over unique design. Then, there are always the unicorns that have it all.

Designer: Baluchon

No stranger to unicorns, Baluchon is a tiny home company co-founded by Laëtitia and Vincent who devote their time to building tiny houses on wheels for clients and their various needs. Planedennig, a tiny house on wheels built for a mother and her young son, finds some pizzazz with a colorful exterior and functionality with a multifunctional interior.

Planedennig, which translates to ‘little planet’ in Breton, was designed and built for Gaël and Eflamm, a mother and her young son, to have a place for living and for play. Defined by its colorful joinery that punctuates the exterior, Planedennig’s outer facade keeps a cedar finish that helps calm the playful energy. Measuring a total length of only six feet, Planedennig has a unique layout that makes the most of the tiny home’s interior volume.

While there is no integrated off-grid technology, Planedennig only requires a standard RV-style hookup to power up all of its amenities. The home’s entrance is located in the kitchen, right beside the wall-mounted, wood-burning stove. Upon entering Planedennig, residents are immediately welcomed with a window opposite the entrance that brings in views of the outdoors

Right below the kitchen window, residents enjoy a full kitchen, equipped with a sink, two-burner propane-powered stovetop, dining table, refrigerator and freezer, an oven, as well as ample storage space for appliances and kitchenware.

Right next door to the kitchen, a cozy living area leaves space for a roomy couch and small reading nook. Then, when the pull-out couch isn’t in use, guests enter the bathroom from the living room, where they will find a toilet, storage space, and a small hip bath and shower.

Upstairs, Gaël and Eflamm find their respective bedrooms. Accessible via a staircase next to the kitchen, Gaël’s bedroom is a small loft bedroom with a double bed. Then, a netted play area connects to Eflamm’s bedroom, where a twin mattress cozies beneath an expansive pentagonal window.

The kitchen blends seamlessly with the living area which is connected to the full-size bathroom.

The upstairs children’s bedroom is a lofted area with enough room for a twin-sized bed and a few pieces of furniture.

The post This tiny home on wheels uses colourful windows to create a fun space for a young family first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny cabin rises above the ground on four stilts to mimic treehouses

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Wauhaus is a 20sqm tiny cabin on stilts that was inspired by the build of treehouses.

Even when we were little, we dreamed of escaping to some treehouse in the forest, free from the humdrum of everyday life to start a new one in the woods. Taking cues from the treehouses that defined our childhoods, Hello Wood, an international architecture studio based in Budapest, designed Wauhaus. Perched above a sloping hillside in Hungary’s Zala County, Wauhaus is a tiny cabin inspired by children’s treehouses that depends on four stilts to remain aboveground.

Spurred by the recent popularity gained by mobile lifestyles and downsized living, the architects at Hello Wood tried their hand at constructing their own tiny cabin. Describing this recent cultural shift towards tiny, mobile living, Hello Wood writes,

“Treehouses, design cabins, forest huts, glamping–the long-lasting popularity of exciting accommodations is not surprising; many of us want to leave behind the noise of the city from time to time and get closer to nature. Modern treehouses–which take the children’s tree platforms to a whole new level–provide this experience. We can retreat in a canopy-level house or a cabin with legs to watch the wildlife of the quiet forest, listen to the rustle of leaves, or immerse ourselves in the view unfolding before us.”

Envisioned to be a private workspace or remote holiday retreat, the 20sqm Wauhaus keeps a low profile and the charm in the details. Reinforced by triple screws, Wauhaus rises above the ground on four wooden beams of varying heights to form a unique silhouette and standing profile. The exterior facades are wrapped in graphite gray larch planking to maintain a discreet profile amidst the cabin’s natural surroundings.

A side ramp gradually ascends from the ground to the home’s entrance. Inside, residents are greeted by an open-plan layout that culminates as a single space that leaves enough room for a workstation or sleeping accommodations, a small kitchenette, and a bathroom. The interiors are planked by natural birch plywood, offering a sun-soaked, bright contrast to the tiny cabin’s gray-scale exterior.

Designer: Hello Wood

The post This tiny cabin rises above the ground on four stilts to mimic treehouses first appeared on Yanko Design.

This mobile tiny home comprised of two disused shipping containers features a spacious terrace!

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The Portable Cabin from Wiercinski Studio is a mobile tiny home comprised of two disused shipping containers.

When it comes to transforming shipping containers into homes, you get the best of both worlds. On one hand, you have yourself a homey, tiny cabin that can cozy into any small corner of the world like it’s been there all along. On the other hand, most architects accommodate a mobile lifestyle when designing shipping container homes, outfitting the piece of cargotecture with wheels and a trailer.

Adding their own shipping container turned tiny-home-on-wheels to the mix, Adam Wiercinski of Polish architecture group, Wiercinski Studio designed Portable Cabin.

Designed as a prefabricated tiny home comprised of two disused freight containers, Portable Cabin is a 55m2 mobile home and office located in Poznan, Poland. Situated above a small creek, Wiercinski Studio’s Portable Cabin was prefabricated offsite before landing in the lush gardens of Poznan’s Szelagowski Park.

There, Wiercinski designed the interior of Portable Cabin within just one day. From the outside, Portable Cabin boasts its factory-made profile, with discreet army green facades made from trapezoidal sheet metal. Trading camouflage green for bright, sun-soaked interiors, the living spaces of Portable Cabin are framed by birch plywood panels.

Brightening the home even further, two sets of floor-to-ceiling windows bookend both sides of the Portable Cabin. Cradled beneath tree canopies and besides growing ferns, a spacious exterior deck merges with one set of french doors and the main bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window.

The exterior deck is accessible either through the living room’s french doors or the external steel staircase that’s bordered by a bowed balustrade. In addition to the living room and main bedroom, the tiny home’s residents enjoy a kitchenette, bathroom, and small workspace.

Designer: Wiercinski Studio

The post This mobile tiny home comprised of two disused shipping containers features a spacious terrace! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny cabin looks like a minion-inspired hobbit pod for an outdoorsy glamping getaway!

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It’s no secret that glamping is the best of both worlds. Nestled away in the dense forest, amidst tall redwoods and animals’ homes, your hotel room awaits. Glamping brings the joys of camping and makes it palatable for those who’d rather sleep on a plush mattress than a centimeter-thick sleeping pad– I would too. Perched somewhere in the rolling hills of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, a tiny cabin dubbed ‘The Willow’ accommodates glampers and travelers alike inside a zany retreat that looks a lot like escape pods from old sci-fi flicks.

With two rounded roofs, The Willow’s bulbous frame stands out against the sprawling green lawn where it’s situated. From the outside, The Willow appears like something straight from a science fiction cartoon, immediately drawing in its guests with its whimsical shape. Placed right in front of the tiny cabin’s wooden deck, two circular windows punctuate The Willow’s front-facing facade and provide unobstructed views of Pembroke’s countryside. Following the larger window inside the tiny cabin, guests are greeted with an open-floor studio layout, featuring a full living area with a television and sofa, a full-sized kitchen and dining area, along with a private bedroom, additional sleeping areas, and bathroom.

While The Willow might look as tiny as glamping pods come, the unit allows room for up four guests. While the main bedroom can sleep two people, two additional single sleeping pods are built into The Willow’s frame, providing more room for two more glampers. Resembling the form of what could be a futuristic, sci-fi escape pod, The Willow offers a means for guests to get away from their busy lifestyles for a moment in the countryside of Wales.

Designer: Sky Meadow Glamping

Modest in size, The Willow features a spacious deck with enough room for patio dinners and a hot tub attachment.

Inside, The Willow features an open-floor layout with optic white dining themes and complementing natural wood accents that open up the small space.

Come dark, warm patio lights turn The Willow into a night lantern and highlight the eave’s paneled exterior.

The Willow accommodates up to four people during each stay, sleeping up to two people in the master bedroom.

Cozy sleeping pods built into The Willow’s walls can further fit two more sleepers.

Perched atop Pembroke’s rolling countryside, The Willow offers an escape to nature with all the conveniences of a hotel.

Stars dot the night sky, under which guests of The Willow can enjoy a night in the hot tub.

A Multifunctional wooden ‘bedroom box’ creates a whole new room and storage area for this tiny apartment!

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Tiny living isn’t only for cabins and campers. Making the most of a small studio apartment space takes some serious skill and creative know-how. However, when it comes to apartments, renovation projects are out of the question– I’m still worried about how I will fill the screw holes in my walls. Redesigning a studio apartment space, the teammates behind Ruetemple, an architecture, and interior design studio, have created a bedroom box module that saves space and makes the studio feel a lot bigger.

To give the studio space more defined and delineated areas, Alexander Kudimov and Daria Butakhina of Ruetemple, built an elevated module from wood, with plenty of storage options and a cave-like zone works as the studio’s enclosed bedroom space. The idea to create a bedroom module initially came from Kudimov’s and Butakhina’s plan to build a wooden structure that would absorb the studio’s many functional elements, including storage space, a living area, and a platform area for getting ready in the morning. The bedroom module mainly contains the studio’s sleeping area– a secluded section of the elevated platform that provides a space for the bed to remain separate from the rest of the apartment. The cozy den remains hidden from view for the most part, but a large window situated at the head of the bed dissolves the barrier between the studio’s hallway and the newly formed bedroom.

Adjacent to the ‘bed-den,’ deep, geometric shelves offer plenty of storage options for books and even bulkier items that otherwise might be found stacked up high in a cluttered closet or off to the corner. Following the bookshelves to the platform’s side facade, a tall, uninterrupted wall provides an ideal backdrop for the studio’s living area, where a green velvet couch takes up residence. On the module’s opposite end, a miniature staircase leads the studio’s resident to the hallway where access to the module’s more hidden storage units can be found.

Designer: Ruetemple

The module’s warm wooden build was chosen so that the abundance of natural sunlight would bounce off it and brighten up the studio.

The bedroom module’s elevated nature offers enough space for integrated storage units.

The bedroom module features a tall facade that enacts the use of an overhang to create a living area that feels more defined and purposeful.

Similar to the standard apartment studio, this one comprised of an open area for the bedroom and a small kitchen, and a small hallway that leads to a separate bathroom.

The module’s sectioned-off area for the bed features a large glass window that opens the module up to the rest of the apartment.

At night, the bedroom becomes a cozy, cave-like space, and stairs on one end of the module lead to the apartment’s hallway.

A remodeled bathroom features a floating sink and full-length mirror.

This rickshaw packs a mobile home with a detachable shop and terrace!

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Tiny houses are all the rage right now with the skyrocketing real estate prices – and honestly, I am all for it! Solo 01 is a portable tiny house which is at the peak of our millennial lifestyle with its quirky visuals inspired by the South Asian local tricycle – the rickshaw. The designer, Arun Prabhu NG, has taken a wildly popular transport icon and essentially packed up a modular house in its trunk.

The Solo 01 was inspired by Arun’s own dream to travel the world and own a house – a dilemma everyone in this generation can relate to. It is a compact 6 x 6 feet space that includes all necessities that a person needs to turn a house into a home they can comfortably live in. It is the perfect modern home on wheels for the solo adventurer, “This ingenious small space design transforms a customized 3 wheeler into a comfy mobile home/commercial space. We’ve maximized the total area to give you value that isn’t minimalist but fully utilitarian. The concept is the fruit of research into actual needs; we’ve outwitted complex challenges with simple solutions” says Arun while describing his project. From the humble look of the house, you cannot gauge the exterior’s full strength – it is built to endure most constraints such as topography, material, aesthetics and weight balance with design details that allow for plenty of natural ventilation.

Like any house, this includes a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, toilet, foyer, terrace area and also additional space if you run a small on-the-road business. The lower level is where you will find the kitchen, bathtub, toilet, foyer, and living area, while the sleeping zone and workspace are 3.5 feet up on the mezzanine level. The upper level has a solar panel (600w) and a water tank (250ltrs) installed but given that Arun is a millennial like us, he has also made space for a cozy lounge with shade on the terrace. The most interesting part is that the upper deck is completely detachable, you can unscrew the 6 bolts and put the set-up aside when needed which makes it a very versatile structure that can transform based on your needs. Born into a trader’s house, Prabhu is the first graduate in his family, “Most poor families live, eat and sleep together in a cramped 50-100 sq feet tenements. This takes a heavy toll on health and hygiene,” he says speaking from personal experience that molded the Solo 01’s functionality.

The layout of the Solo 01 is open and flexible to your lifestyle which makes it a long term investment. While being cool is great, being sustainable is more important and the Solo 01 is made using scrap metal that was discarded from old buses or buildings which is the reason why the costs for this house could be kept low. The bright earthy tones bring in cultural Indian aesthetic while brightening up the small spaces. Apart from the dreamy nomad stereotype, the Solo 01 is an affordable option for artists, small scale vendors, young adults with a small reserve of savings or even those who have jobs but are homeless because they can’t afford rent on minimum wage. The concept of this house is to cater to all economic residents of the society and the community can be innovative in its use.

Designer: Arun Prabhu NG

Student-friendly furniture designs that make your room insta worthy!

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When you’re living alone, you tend to choose home spaces that are compact and tiny, befitting the needs of one. Hence, it becomes extremely important to fill up your living space with space-saving and efficient designs that help you make the most of your living situation. Designers have been coming up with cool and innovative designs that not only meet all your solo household needs but also manage to look pretty aesthetic! Check out our collection of bachelor-friendly designs that will take you one step closer to your dream home setup!

Designed to be compact enough to fit into any space, yet comfortable enough to have you sink right in with your favorite book, the Conch comes with a molded-plywood inner body and a dual-density foam outer body, giving it structure as well as supple softness. The chair’s form conforms to the contours of the body, allowing you to sit comfortably, while also conveniently having a storage unit right under you for everything from books to a cushion to other bric-a-brac. It’s the perfect reading spot for one!

The Drawer mini-fridge snugly fits underneath desks! Looking more like a piece of furniture, than a home appliance, Drawer can be easily placed under a desk or any other convenient nooks and crannies in your home. With sufficient space to store beverages, bottles and some food items, Drawer is perfect for a single-person household wherein refrigerable items are few. However, Drawer’s most interesting feature would be its cooling cup holder!

When it comes to kitchen appliances such as microwaves and ovens, they do tend to be bulky and space-consuming. However, the Wall-Mountable Oven is a smart microwave, that as its name implies can be mounted upon a wall. You simply press a button that brings down its front cover, which doubles up as the platform to place your dish upon. You then pull down the main cover, enclosing your dish within the microwave!

At first glance, Elmer looks like a simple storage cabinet, and though it is one, it also doubles up as a desk! When the door is shut, Elmer looks like a regular cabinet, upon which you can place miscellaneous items. However, once you open it, it reveals spacious storage space, with the door functioning as a neat little desk. It’s the perfect multifunctional piece of furniture for tiny living spaces!

The Bed For One by Dominic Wilcox is, well, perfect for one. For those bachelors who live by themselves, and have no need for larger beds, the Bed For One is ideal!  Though I do wonder where it truly stands when it comes to the comfort level, all said and done, it is indeed an intriguing one-of-a-kind bed design.

The Book Chair by Sou Fujimoto is in fact a bookshelf with a chair embedded in it! The chair can be slid in and out, due to a chair-shaped section in the bookshelf. When fitted into the shelf, the chair acts as a storage space itself. But when pulled out, you can hop onto it and read your favorite book in peace. This multifunctional piece of furniture is perfect for single-person homes whose residents are major readers!

The Low Table IV by Kai Takeshima has a little secret! Once you lift the tabletop, you can easily access a compact storage space, add its wooden Japanese-inspired aesthetics to the mix, and it could be the perfect minimal addition to your compact living space.

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In just a couple of simple steps, SHO transforms from sofa to sofabed in seconds by taking control of the cushion! The design utilizes a unique metal frame that snaps together to hold a twin-size latex mattress in an upright position that’s perfect for sitting and reading. Simply undo the clasp and unfold the mattress to create a proper lounger where you can extend the legs and relax while enjoying the back support. With its small footprint, it’s perfect for the micro-est of micro-living spaces!

The Corner Desk is a space-saving compact desk that will fit perfectly in one corner of your home. Designed by Michael Hilgers, the powder-coated aluminum piece provides a private spot for you to sit and work peacefully in. Not to mention it saves a whole lot of precious space!

The Bloom Phone Vase by Stak Ceramics not only perfectly displays fresh flowers, but is also a cool spot to store your phone. Keep this on your bedside table, and wake up not only to your phone alarm blaring away but to some beautiful flowers!