Micro Homes: Zero House

From Specht Harpman Architects, an absolutely fantastic micro home: the zeroHouse! The zeroHouse was designed from the ground up to be a completely self-sufficient and comfortable home.

The zeroHouse was designed as a small, prefabricated house that can be shipped anywhere and quickly setup. It contains a complete kitchen, bathroom as well as all the necessary elements to support four adults. But the truly interesting feature of the zeroHouse is its ability to operate independently, without the need for any external utilities connections.

High-efficiency solar panels produce power and store it in an onboard bank of batteries. A rainwater collection system gathers and diverts water into a 2700 gallon tank. All plumbing fixtures are gravity-fed, which eliminates the need for pumps, that consume far too much power. Another interesting feature is the organic waste processing, which is performed in a special "digester unit", which is located beneath the house. It converts the waste into clean, dry compost that needs to be removed only twice a year and can then be used to improve the soil for agriculture around the home.

The zeroHouse is also fully climate-controlled, with a high-efficiency combined air-conditioning and heating system. The walls, roof, and floor are all insulated with closed-cell structural foam, and achieve a thermal rating of R58, which is pretty impressive.

A great feature of the zeroHouse is that it can be installed in places that would unsuitable for standard construction, including water up to ten feet deep, or on slopes of up to thirty-five degrees. By using a system of helical-anchor foundations that touch the ground at only four points, the zeroHouse requires no excavation.

Visit SpechtHarpman for additional information and complete specifications on the zeroHouse.

Micro Homes: 2+ Weekend House

There's just something about really small homes that really sets my imagination off! And this one really combines two aspects that I really like: micro homes and shipping containers.

Created by the architect Jure Kotnik, the 2+ Weekend Home is a simple, two shipping container micro home designed to be set up quickly and effectively. Contrary to many homes designed with shipping containers, the ones used in this design were specifically manufactured for this home rather than recycled from a freight company.

The layout is simple and tasteful, with enough room for a couple of people to live quite well:

A thoughtful balcony has been added, accessible from the second floor, as well as front and rear decks at ground level.

A nice effort to get the housing manufacturing sector to begin the process of mass producing these great little homes!

Micro Homes: Micro Compact Home

The Micro Compact Home, or m-ch is the brainchild of a team of researchers and designers based in London and at the Technical University in Munich. It was developed as a way to meet an increasing demand for short stay living for many different types of users, including students and business people.

The m-ch is a timber frame structure with anodised aluminium external cladding. It is insulated with polyurethane and fitted with aluminium framed, double-glazed windows and front door with security double lock.

The m-ch measures 266cm x 266cm x 266cm. The ceiling height is 198cm and the door width is 60cm. The unit weighs 2.2 metric tons (this is an important factor since the m-ch can be shipped pretty much anywhere in the world). 

The interior, although small, is entirely multifunctional:

The m-ch features include:

• two compact double beds, each measuring 198cm x 107cm, with covered cushions
• storage space for bedding and cleaning equipment
• a sliding table measuring 105cm x 65cm, for dining for up to five people
• flat screen television in the living/dining space
• a shower and toilet cubicle
• a kitchen area, which is fitted with electrical points and features a double hob, sink and extending tap, microwave, fridge and freezer units, three compartment waste unit, storage shelves, cutlery drawers with gentle return sprung slides and double level work surfaces
• thermostat controlled ducted warm air heating, air conditioning, water heating
• fire alarm and smoke detectors

For more information, feel free to visit their site at www.microcompacthome.com.

Micro Homes: Cell Brick by Yasuhiro Yamashita

When thinking of small living spaces and micro homes, Japan is often a country that jumps to mind. With real estate at a real premium in most of Japan, this type of architecture is really becoming popular in this country. One of the very interesting microhomes to come out lately is Cell Brick by architect Yasuhiro Yamashita (not to be confused with the Judo champion of the same name). Built in Tokyo, this small home is unique in many ways:

One of the truly interesting things about this very small and modern home is the fabrication, which is made up of steel bricks that are interconnected by bolts and also serve as accessible interior storage spaces:

Each box measures 900mm wide × 450mm high × 300mm deep, with appropriate spaces left between some boxes to serve as windows. The exterior is clad with ceramic, which serve to improve the thermal performance and efficiency, reduce ambient noise and is very low maintenance. The interior is another story:

Although small, the home includes a living room, kitchen and bedroom on the main floor. There is an upper floor, a roof deck as well as a small basement. The primary advantage of this building technique is a drastic reduction in the need for furniture, as the steel boxes themselves make excellent storage areas.

Pretty amazing things coming out of Japan's exaggerated real estate prices. By saving money on a much smaller piece of land, a more unique and functional home can be created.

Micro Homes

Having always been interested in architecture and more specifically with small living spaces, I thought that I would establish a new column on this blog, on that very subject. Every week and more often when possible, a new Micro Home will be discovered and shared. My goal is really to get people thinking and talking about smaller homes and how they use their living spaces.

I hope you enjoy and encourage you to share any information you might have on some Micro Homes that might not have been discovered yet.