The owner’s personality shines through in this Vancouver laneway house. A freelance graphic artist, she asked Lanefab Design/Build to design a small house that would be both her home and her workplace. Small… Continue reading
The western coast of Norway was formed by glaciers scouring the earth down to bedrock, carving deep fjords, and leaving behind thousands of islands. One of those islands is Skardsøya, a two or… Continue reading
A small village on the east coast of Jutland is the setting for this tiny house on a foundation. Designed and built just last year by contractor Simon Steffensen, the home has a… Continue reading
It’s no secret that housing costs eat up a significant chunk of most people’s budgets. Many people are drawn to the small house movement in the hopes that it will enable their dreams… Continue reading
The Two Birds laneway house is somewhat of an anomaly for Vancouver, Canada. Because it is built on a large (for Vancouver) lot of 80′ in width, architect Bryn Davidson of Lanefab Design/Build… Continue reading
Sommerhaus PIU is a modern prefab vacation home by industrial designer Patrick Frey and architect Björn Götte. Inspired by the Scandinavian summerhouse culture, they created a casual, timeless design that would fit into… Continue reading
Rocky topography helps shelter this small modern cabin on a fjord in southeast Norway. Others would have been tempted to open up the site by clearing the bushes and blasting away some of… Continue reading
Architects Luis Velasco Roldan and Ángel Hevia Antuña have built a prototype house designed for Ecuador’s climate and social conditions. The small house is made from locally-sourced, natural materials and uses passive solar… Continue reading
A trio of tiny cabins sits among jumbled chunks of broken granite on Vinalhaven, an island in Maine’s Penobscot Bay. The site was once a quarry but vegetation is slowly growing back, returning… Continue reading
Last week we looked at two vacation homes inspired by Iceland’s traditional turf houses. Today we have another vacation cottage located in the same area, on an ancient lava field, but in this… Continue reading
These small houses blend into the picturesque landscape of southwest Iceland. The two vacation homes face a small lake about an hour’s drive east of Reykjavík. In order to preserve the views from… Continue reading
What would you do with an old stone barn just steps from a ski run at a resort in the Swiss Alps? Turn it into a cozy ski cabin? That might seem like… Continue reading
This vibrant dwelling in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is the home of an artist. She wanted an energy-efficient house with great views and plenty of daylight. To make the most of her site, architect… Continue reading
GreenPod Development is a prefab home builder in Port Townsend, Washington. As the name suggests, GreenPod places an emphasis on sustainable and healthy homes. Their houses are built from structural insulated panels, ensuring… Continue reading
DublDom is a line of wood-framed prefabricated dwellings produced near Moscow. Since its introduction several years ago, the DublDom system has been very successful within Russia. Its modular design and quick on-site installation… Continue reading
Solar Decathlon 2015 just wrapped up in Orange County, California. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Solar Decathlon challenges collegiate teams to design and build a small house powered entirely by… Continue reading
“House Zilvar” is a small wooden house with an unusual shape. The home’s distinctive appearance is the result of what is essentially a shed roof that twists and folds along the length of… Continue reading
Wanting to be closer to her family, Sylvia recently moved from North Dakota to this modern “granny flat” in her daughter’s Seattle backyard. When her daughter’s family purchased their house, they had made… Continue reading
What would you do with just 94 ft2 (8.7 m2) of floor space? That is the floor area of this former mechanical room previously used to house the boilers for a commercial laundry in San… Continue reading
This copper, glass and cedar structure sits in a Seattle backyard. The owners were outgrowing their small house but didn’t want to leave the neighborhood. A relative, the principal of New York studio… Continue reading
This small beach house, or bach, sits on a sand dune near a fishing village at the mouth of the Taieri River on New Zealand’s South Island. “Bach” is a Kiwi term for… Continue reading
This light-filled home sits in a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It was designed and built by architect Michael O’Sullivan for his own family of six.
A child’s dream of living in a treehouse endures into adulthood, as evidenced by the popularity of treehouse hotels. These one-of-a-kind accommodations allow grownups to make the dream come true, even if just… Continue reading
This stone outbuilding in Belgium became a small house with the addition of a steel and glass pavilion. The owners asked Atelier d’Architecture Bruno Erpicum & Partners to transform it into living space,… Continue reading
