Kent at Tiny House Blog has been assembling a great resource page of tiny house plans. One of the newest additions is this Little Red Cabin which was featured in his Little House in a Landscape series.
Category: Archived
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A House for Khayelitsha – Update
I posted an update of the design for A House for Khayelitsha on Tiny House Design. It measures 16′ by 16′ (5 meters by 5 meters), has a sleeping loft, and simple passive solar design. The structure is made up of simple 2×4 and plywood panels.
I’m working to finish the plans quickly so that the house could be built, assuming it meets all their requirements. I’ll also publish the plans online in case anyone else wants to build this simple prefab solar house.
A House for Khayelitsha – Update
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Moving the Mini-Mobile Cottage
Jeff and Arlene have completed their tiny house and have pulled it up from California to Seattle. After a safe trip the house is now sitting in its new space in Ballard, the neighborhood in Seattle where they have settled. The house design is a Tumbleweed Fencl and you can see construction photos on their blog.
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Solar-Powered Green Microhouse
I really love cube shaped tiny houses as long as they have some kind of pitched roof. I realize that technically the addition of a pitched roof means they are not really cube shaped but for me pitched roofs are a requirement.
So when I saw this solar cube I was really impressed. I suspect the roof of the cube itself is weather-proofed but the second pitched roof is doing most of the work, both shading the house from the sun and keeping most of the rain off the house.
Solar-Powered Green Microhouse
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Pot House
I’m really trained and educated as a potter so when I saw this tiny house made from a giant piece of African pottery I knew I’d have to share it with you this week on Tiny House Living. Be sure to read more about it at Shedworking.
Oh and for those of you hoping to see a Tiny Hemp House, I’ll keep my eyes open for one of those too.
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Old Fashion Simple Living
This isn’t really about a tiny house but instead old-fashion simple living. Dick and Bonnie Cain live out in a remote part of West Texas without running water, electricity, or any other modern amenities. They live like folks used to live back in the 1800s and their story is really inspiring.
YouTube: Pioneer Couple
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PreForm Prefab
This is a 500 square foot modern prefab home built by PreForm in Canada. The builder takes extra care to use reclaimed, recycled, and FSC lumber to keep the homes green.
PreForm Prefab
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Cabana Village Cabin Kits
Here’s a cabin builder in Wilmington, Delaware that sells cabin kits. They seem reasonably priced and would make it a bit easier for novice builders to setup a small cabin. The cabin pictured here is a 12×12 kit with an 8×12 interior plus deck. I really like the slightly whimsical design.
Cabana Village Cabin Kits
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Wee Cabin Company
While doing some research on Thoreau’s Walden cabin I accidently ran across this cabin builder in Ely Minnesota. They build some really nice storybook timber frame cabins that range in size from 10′ by 10′ to 14′ by 18′.
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A House For Khayelitsha
Over the weekend I was contacted by a fellow named Neville Montgomery, a business owner in Cape Town, South Africa. He owns a high-end retail store in downtown Cape Town and has an employee that came to him asking if he had any spare plastic tarp she could use on her house to keep the water out.
Neville contacted me just looking for ideas on solutions so I gave him all the information I could think of and I’m now in the process of designing a tiny panelized house that is four times larger than the homeless shelter I designed last week. It will measure 16′ by 16′ (5m by 5m) and be made of 4′ by 8′ panels. Neville will be using all new building materials but wants a house that can be assembled and disassembled by the women that will live there. The house will also feature a sleeping loft, simple grey water system, rain water collection system, composting toilet, shower, kitchen, and a passive solar design.
If the design meets their needs and can be built within their small budget the house will be set-up in Khayelitsha, an informal housing community of two million people just outside Cape Town. Informal housing communities have a long history in South Africa which is better read about on wikipedia than explained here. In a nutshell they are incredibly diverse communities with every type of small house from cardboard shacks to concrete government built homes. Some have plumbing and power but many do not.
In a few days I’ll post the plans on Tiny House Design for feedback and hopefully generate more good ideas for making the house functional, simple to build, and low cost. If you’d like to learn more about communities like Khayelitsha here are some resources.
- Khayelitsha on Wikipedia
- Google Map of Khayelitsha
- A low-cost housing project in Khayelitsha
- Photos on Flickr
Update: I’ve posted a preview of the house design at Tiny House Design.
