5 Stunning small homes . . . but would you live in one?

Shrink That Footprint

Each summer my little family of four spends 10 days camping in a tent that is about 5 m² (54 ft²).  It is my favorite week of the year. Yet we live in a home that is roughly 110 m² (1180 ft²).  This begs a question. Would we be happier in a smaller home?

All around the world there is a growing movement of people embracing the idea that for them less home might mean more life. Their motivations may be financial, environmental or even spiritual, but they are all testing the benefits of the same principle: less.

I very much doubt that I’m going to move in to a Tiny House any time soon, but I’m a great believer that in many aspects of life less can be more.  So I’m fascinated by the people pioneering living with less, in particular how less space and less stuff can create more freedom and more time.

While average house size continues to swell in most countries around the world, some folk are bucking the trend by living in small and even tiny homes. For each of these people that journey started with inspiration, so in today’s post I though I’d list 5 small homes that make me wonder . . . could small be beautiful for me?

1) The Life Edited Apartment: 39 m² (420 ft²)

When you think about a small home it easy to default to gable roofed wooden homes on wheels.  But there is perhaps more serious potential for epic small apartments that make the most of limited city spaces.  That is the philosophy behind Graham Hill’s Life Edited Apartment.  The idea got so much traction it launched a business.

Read more at The Life Edited Apartment

2) Broadhurst’s The Crib 23 m² (250 ft²)

I don’t know whether it is the locations, the garage type door or the high ceilings, but I just love this design concept by Broadhurst Architects.  It is obviously designed as a type of weekend shack and in that sense feels decadent.  But one could do worse than live in something like this.

Read more at The Crib

3) Macy Miller’s Minimotives 22 m² (230 ft²)

The real heart of the tiny house movement isn’t populated by famous architects and developers, it’s about DIY dreamers.  Some of these dreamers are great bloggers too, invite you in to understand the guts of their life project.  Macy Miller’s Minimotives blog is awesome for this.  I particularly love her TinyHousers resource.

Read more at Minimotives

4) ÁBATON’s Portable House: 27 m² (290 ft²)

Of all the small home’s I’ve seen that you could stick on the back of the truck this one by Spanish Architect’s ÁBATON speaks to me most.  It doesn’t use vertical space that much, nor is it rocking ingenious storage.  It is just beautiful design embodying the best of simplicity.  I want to plonk one on a mountain somewhere and just watch the weather go by.

Read more at ÁBATON

5) Renzo Piano’s Diogene: 7.5 m² (81 ft²)

Architects are a peculiar breed.  Many of them seem to have an almost monastic calling to reduce a form down to its simplest block.  Even though his office designs some of the most iconic buildings in the world Renzo Piano has found time to realize a student dream that tests the limits of minimal.  Diogene is a remarkable little off grid building that includes a pull-out sofa; folding table, shower, toilet and kitchen.

Read more at Vitra

Tiny, small or just smaller?

The bigger your house the more it costs, the more time it takes to clean and the more stuff you get to fill it.  I not convinced truly tiny living has that much broad appeal.  But I’m sure that most people could benefit from experimenting with less on some level. If these still look crazy tiny to you check these 7 Stunning Passive Houses.

Source: Shrink That Footprint. Reproduced with permission.