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The Scandinavians really do know how to design a beautiful small home. 

Introducing Hus-1 designed and built by architect and carpenter Torsten Ottesjo.

Tucked in a valley on the west coast of Sweden, Hus-1 was designed to reflect and blend into the surrounding landscape, using materials and energy efficient technology ensuring minimal impact to the environment. 

Wooden materials play a prominent role in the home’s framework, insulation, surface layer and fittings. Overall, the surface layers have been kept untreated or white-pigmented with linseed oil. Despite the lightweight construction of bended and glued dry wood, the building is able to maintain stability. This is achieved by the reinforced board framework and load distribution across larger areas.

Protected from the elements, the exterior walls and roofing have a surface layer of biodegradable, cellulose-based, reinforced board which is wind- and water-resistant. Furthermore, the home can be easily moved and transported to its desired destination. “I wanted to have the opportunity to build the whole house in a hallway in order to lift it easily and transport it, by road, in one piece,” says Ottesjo.

Beautiful.

More information and pictures courtesy of Torsten Ottesjo

Edit500 is really excited about visiting The Grand Village next month at Grand Designs Live, Excel, London. 

‘The Grand Village is back by popular demand at the London show where visitors can explore the latest conceptual, eco-friendly and sustainable structures. There are buildings that you can explore, to see the latest techniques and ideas for self build projects and eco developments.

Set against the background of the Grand Village, visitors will also find the Grand Theatre in partnership with the Green Deal where they can hear from top experts and TV celebrities with hourly seminars as well as real case studies from Grand Designers that have been featured on the TV show’

For your chance to win 2 tickets to Grand Designs Live, simply share our Facebook competition post on your own Facebook page, and tell us which of our Edit500 Custom Build Tiny House builders (for a hint visit: Edit500 Custom Build) will be exhibiting at Grand Designs Live this year (please leave your answer in the comment section below this post on Facebook).

All entries will go into a prize draw and the winner will be announced on Friday morning.

Good luck!

Steve Areen went from cabin crew to master builder in just 8 weeks!

Yep, unbelievably this 500 sq ft dome house erected on a family mango plantation in Thailand took just 8 weeks to build, and at a cost of approximately £5,300 ($8,000)!  

Steve used locally sourced materials throughout and painted the exterior terracotta, blending the dome seamlessly into the surrounding lush flora and fauna.   

With a little creative direction from his brother-in-law's brother, and the help of two builders (and no planning restrictions required) Steve managed to swiftly finish this gorgeous glass roofed dome house that is achingly well designed, cool and I for one am inspired by how magnificent a home can be built, for so little money, in so little time.

A triumph!

More information and pictures courtesy of: Steve Areen

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Another Tiny house project designed and built by Derek "Deek" Diedricksen - using recycled, reclaimed and free materials. 

'RECYCLED MATERIAL: The door was bought second-hand- very inexpensively, and ALL the windows were FREE- found on the side of the road. The trailer was bought used as well- $300. The metal roofing- leftovers I purchased from a woman on craigslist- a HUGE load for $200 (probably sixteen 9-10' heavy gauge, galvanized sheets)- I have used these for other projects, and still have some left over. Total cost on this project is probably somewhere in the ballpark of $2000.00  Oh yeah, the entire deck was not only FREE, but I made money on it in a way.....my old boss hired me to take his deck down and apart for $200- and let me keep EVERYTHING. The deck was only 10 years old. I've used this wood for many projects as well. The deck also serves as a nice work surface, and level building platform during our workshops'

Via: Relaxed Shacks

Elqui Domos is one of 7 astronomic hotels on the planet, and the only one to be found in the Southern Hemisphere.

Elqui Domos is located in the Elqui Valley, deep in the Andes mountains in Chile, which following the new millennium, the cosmic era of Pisces to Aquarius, and the shifting of the earth's magnetic and spiritual energies (30deg south x 30deg north), is allegedly the magnetic center of the earth (previously thought to be Tibet in the Himalayas).  

'Our rooms are 7 geodesic domes that on the inside are furnished in a two storey plan: on the first floor a living room and the bathroom, and in the second storey the main bed and a detachable roof over it'

The design of each dome is simple and intelligent, with fold away furniture maximizing the floor space ensuring the main focus of the domes is upwards, towards the huge sky and clear unpolluted view of the Milky-Way, Jupiter and plethora of other observable stars and planets. 

'We noticed that shapes and philosophy of geodesic buildings, domes, were just perfect for our objective, and that is how we defined the basic elements for the final design: the bed should be as high as possible and over it the chance of a detachable roof, for a dream of stargazing from your bed; and all the comfort you would need inside the room for not getting disturbed on the feelings of such experience'

Elqui Domos also offer four beautifully designed observation cabins in which a party of four can stay for as little as £98 per night.

Exceptionally special.

More information:Elqui Domos

Pictures & video (to follow this blog) courtesy of: James Florio 

www.edit500.co.uk

Designed and owned by Scott Newkirk, a US interior designer and fashion stylist, this truly beautiful cabin looks much bigger than it's respectably small footprint of just 300 sq. ft.

Located in Sullivan County, NY, the cabin is built entirely from salvaged and reclaimed materials and operates off-grid with no electricity or plumbing.  Old notched barn timbers feature prominently in the interior, and large windows connect residents to the surrounding woodland and natural beauty.

Stunning.

Via: Materialicious

www.edit500.co.uk

'Reducing our impact on this planet requires efficiency. Shifting to smaller, sustainably designed living spaces is a necessity to secure our planet's future'  - Jeffrey Greger

Introducing the ZEM (Zero EMission), a collaborative project between architect/designer Jeffrey Greger, and engineers and designers at the San Jose University, California. The ZEM is a sustainably built Tardis of a tiny house which provides all the comforts of a modern home, with a tiny 100 sq. ft footprint. 

Be-decked with solar panels and a green roof, the slanting walls and roof have been designed to work with natural resources, utilising natural sunlight and heat.    

'Making these compact homes affordable, comfortable, functional and attractive is going to be a key factor in their adoption. At this small scale, furniture, interior, exterior, landscape, and construction are deeply entwined'. - Jeffrey Greger

Further informations & pictures courtesy of:  San Jose University

www.edit500.co.uk

A spot of (warming) design porn for Thursday afternoon.  

This beach house is located on the dunes of Cabo Polonio in Uruguay. Running off-grid and constructed from local materials, the interior is extremely elegant in its white-washed simplicity.  

I'm not sure the flimsy structure would survive a winter here in good old Blighty, but it sure is pretty to look at. 

Images courtesy of Espacio Living

Dutch 'garbage architect' Denis Oudendijk  is fascinated with industrial 'stuff', and obsessed with turning it into functional objects. 

One of Denis' most recent projects involved transforming several 14ft offshore oil rig escape pods into a collection of budget floating hotel rooms in the surfers' village of F.A.S.T (Free Architecture Surf Terrain) Scheveningen, Den Hagg.

Glamorous? No.  Way-out-there cool? Very. 

Originally built in 1972 for the purposes of offshore oil rig evacuation and human survival, the pods are *basic in design but a stay is highly affordable - a group of three people can stay overnight for a mere 60 euros (hammocks, mini-library, snacks & 'emergency' chemical loo included).   

Denis Oudendijk's long term vision for the hotel is to add enough pods to create a floating village providing affordable, alternative accommodation for people interested in environmentally sound reclamation and recycling. 

So if you're not too claustrophobic and fancy checking out an incredible reuse of industrial junk, book a night in one of these great pods.  

*With the exception of 'The Luxury Pod', complete with glitterball and sheepskins!

Bookings: Capsule Hotel

More info and pictures courtesy of: Denis Oudendijk 

BREATH IN!

Beautiful 6′-10″ x 8′-6″ micro-flat designed by Madrid based studio MYCC.

Exceptionally clever use of space. 

Pictures courtesy of: Elena Almagro

It took Helsinki based industrial designer Robin Falck  just over two weeks to build *Nido, a stunning micro-cabin located in the Finnish archipelago of Sipoo.

Robin used recycled materials for the majority of the construction, and estimates the entire build cost to be approximately £7,000 (plus man hours).  

'The bottom floor is pretty much a lounge/living room where I lay back and enjoy the starlight along with some smooth jazz. The house is designed to maximize the allowed 96 sq. ft., acoustics and to bring in as much as possible of the natural light and nature during the night as during the day'   

With sleep and star gazing to be had on the 50 sq. ft. sleeping platform directly above the 'bottom floor', it's clear to see that every usable inch of this amazing cabin has been intelligently considered.

...and that deck! Robin, we absolutely love your cabin. 

*Nido, roughly translated into Italian means 'birds nest'.

More information and pictures courtesy of: Robin Falck

Balehaus@Bath.

"Researchers at the University of Bath’s BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials are researching low carbon alternatives to building materials currently used by the construction industry.

Researchers at the Centre are developing new ways of using timber and other crop-based materials such as hemp, natural fibre composites and straw bales.

Straw is the ultimate environmentally-friendly building material since it is renewable and is a by-product of farming.

The crop used for the straw can be grown locally, and because it absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, buildings made from it can be seen as having zero, or even a negative carbon footprint.

Also, due to its high insulating properties, houses made of straw bales need almost no conventional heating, keeping running costs low and minimising environmental impact.

The research team is assessing straw bales and hemp as building materials so that they can be used more widely in the building industry for housing, helping the UK achieve its targets for reducing carbon emissions.

Professor Peter Walker, Director of the Centre, is leading the research. He said: “The environmental impact of the construction industry is huge. For example, it is estimated that worldwide the manufacture of cement contributes up to ten per cent of all industrial carbon dioxide emissions.

“We are looking at a variety of low carbon building materials including crop-based materials, innovative uses of traditional materials and developing low carbon cements and concretes to reduce impact of new infrastructure.

“As well as reducing the environmental footprint, many low carbon building materials offer other benefits, including healthier living through higher levels of thermal insulation and regulation of humidity levels.”

The two storey BaleHaus built on campus is made using ‘ModCell’ - pre-fabricated panels consisting of a wooden structural frame infilled with straw bales or hemp and rendered with a breathable lime-based system.

ModCell is the creation of White Design in Bristol and Integral Structural Design in Bath. Other partners on the research project are Agrifibre Technologies, Lime Technology, Eurban, the Centre for Window & Cladding Technology and Willmott Dixon"

Now to create a build half the size....

Via: Bath University 

More information & video courtesy of: Bath University

Commissioned and built in 1996 by British architecture firm, Future Systems, it's easy to see why Malator House is known locally as the Telly Tubby House.

The structure, originally an old army barracks located right in the middle of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, was magically transformed into it's current guise in accordance with strict National Park prohibitions against visible construction, destruction of the landscape, and disruption of the wildlife. 

Tucked beneath an artificial hill and completely out of sight to park visitors, Malator House is a glass fronted, turf roofed, open-plan living space divided by prefabricated pods. This central pod is brilliantly designed, combining kitchen, washing machine and bathroom facilities discreetly in one area leaving the rest of the living space light and uncluttered. 

A great example of how old, unique buildings can be transformed into contemporary, discreet homes in harmony with nature.