A new way to look at mobile homes

My wife and I are hoping to move into a home one day, but we both feel that the quality of most homes today leaves a lot to be desired. Spurred by a belief in self-sustainability, environmental friendliness and value, we are looking at home builders that provide these types of features in their design.

One company that caught our eye is the Canadian design firm, Sustain, that provides numerous designs based around a mobile platform. As such, many of their homes are classified as mobile, and may bypass several issues involved in typical residential construction, such as foundations and more. We have known about this company for a while now, and I've even posted some information about the MiniHome Solo, but we wanted to make sure that they would stay in the business and actually build some of the great concepts they came up with. It is nice to see that they have continued the premise of building on a mobile platform. One great advantage of such a design includes the possibility of moving the entire home to another location, which can be an attractive option.

The model above, called the MiniHome Solo, is a bit on the small side, but is fantastically appointed and one of the greenest and most eco-friendly homes available for production today. Take a look here for a gallery of images. And Sustain is expanding and improving, in more ways than one:

Many of the newer designs are based on the experiences learned with previous models and most of the designs share some common ideas, such as external materials that do not require any maintenance or painting, low power consumption and more.

Head on over to their website and take a look a what they've got to offer. So far, we have been pretty impressed and will inquire to get more information.

Modern and minimalist housing...

For those who know me, my obsession with modern and minimalist housing is only increasing with time!!! Good Lord, I should have been an architect rather than a computer geek! Actually, the concept of this type of housing includes several ideas that really appeal to me, such as prefabrication, energy efficiency, use of natural materials and more.

Currently, it seems that there are many, many concepts, but very few actual products for sale. As I discussed in a previous post, architect Rocio Romero has been selling her idea for quite a while now. Some others are doing the same, including a Canadian company called sustain, which has been marketing the MiniHome:

The MiniHome is actually listed as a travel trailer by the Canadian government, so it can be towed to its location, without special permits:

And here is a look at the interior:

The more I research this topic, the more I realise that I am not the only one with this obsession... I wonder what I will find next?

More to follow...

More of my obsessions...

Ever since I got a look at some modern, prefabricated housing, I have been bitten by the bug... This is exactly the type of house that I have been looking for, and I believe that I have found the one!

After doing some extensive research, I have pretty much settled on Rocio Romero's design for the LV house. Although there are several interesting designs available online, this is the only one that I have found that has been built several times, and the layout seems to be the most rational:


One of the main reasons behind my interest in this type of housing is my concern about the lack of thought going into today's North American housing market. Careful research has led me to conclude that most builders in Canada (if not the USA as well) are far more interested in profit than intelligent construction. I have also concluded that most houses do not cater to the needs of their inhabitants, but rather seem to be built to impress visitors more than anything.

Here is a look at the internal layout for the LV house:

More to follow.