While they primarily are focusing on offices, these structures have been designed to suit various applications, one of which is small floating houses.  Here is their typical office setup with a conversion couch to bed.

Typical specs include:

• a compact design giving enough space for one or two people to work in comfort
• a “private” working area
• a “breakout” area
• an external sun deck
• a kitchenette
• a pull-out berth (for overnight stays)
• plenty of storage space
• bathroom

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This interesting Micro House is an interesting approach to the needs of day to day life.  Taking space utilization to an extreme, the designers have taken very practical approaches to meeting the needs of the resident.

From the outside, the micro compact Paco House is a tiny cube, measuring three meters square. The contemporary prefab home boasts a minimal white facade devoid of details, yet it’s oddly intriguing. Designed with space efficiency in mind, Paco House was created with a minimal footprint – both physically and environmentally speaking – in order to blend into its environment with little impact to its surroundings. Because of its small dimensions, Paco doesn’t require an infrastructure. Eighty per cent of the home is manufactured in a plant, allowing for customization to the home and virtually endless possibilities for geographic placement. Paco House packs alternative energies into its small but oh-so-sweet design. This eco-friendly self-contained accommodation features solar and wind energy, water recycling and a biodegradable toilet.

Not Safe For Work (nothing too bad, just not work appropriate) More photos / Via

Safe for work here

Many of you are familiar with the book An Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan.  What you might not know is that he built a little cabin in the woods to write much of that book in.  His Tiny House is mainly for writing check it out!

Wanting to have a place of his own where he could think and write, Pollan decided to erect a small structure in the woods behind his house. Fancying himself a modern-day Thoreau, he wanted to build his “dream hut” with his own hands, even though he had no carpentry skills or experience. We learn very little about how to build a small structure; the majority of this book is devoted to Pollan’s pretentious musings about a variety of architectural theories and about his interaction with the architect and carpenter who helped him (wasn’t this supposed to be a simple structure?). Although it cost Pollan $125 per square foot and took him two and one-half years to build, ultimately it is the reader who works the hardest.

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Here is a camping pod that could easily take the form of a Tiny House. It reminds me a little bit of a Vardo. With simple lines and a interesting roof line, The Pod has several locations through out England, these are designed to be mini cabins. Many are not even tied into the grid, making for an inexpensive mountain getaway. There isn’t mention of cost, but I would venture a guess between $5000-$10,000 to have one built for you and delivered.

Well it’s a rather well built, insulated wooden hut that provides basic accommodation much in the way of a tent. They are of a modest size with good headroom, an interior floor area some eight feet wide by nine feet long and a forward projecting porch to provide some shelter if the doors are open. In most cases there will be a raised area of timber decking extending the ‘living area’ and providing somewhere to sun-bathe, prepare food or when the weather is bad, lose the wet gear before going inside.

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We all know and love Jay’s amazing design that truly sparked the imagination of thousands.  When most people say Tiny House, we see in our minds an image of a Fencl or a Lusby, but it is important to remember that Tiny House come in all shapes and sizes.  This is important because by choosing a Tiny House we are breaking out of a mold, but sometimes we find ourselves in a new mold.  The out-of-the-box thinking that started Tiny Houses must be continued to improve an already great idea.   I submit these five improvements of the Tumbleweed Houses, but the face of Tiny Houses isn’t limited to Tumbleweed by any means.

Radiant Heat Floors

The Tiny House is typically heated by a small boat fireplace, which can run close to $1000, must be vented (which means cutting a hole in the roof) and I don’t like the look of the chimney.  Now radiant floors for those of you who don’t know, are wires inlaid into the subfloor to heat from the bottom up.  This gives a nice cozy feeling for your feet and since heat rises, you are heating the space as a whole.  It has been successfully done in the PAD (portlandalternativedwellings.com)

The best part about this option is that it adds about ½ inch rise on your floor level, which is unnoticeable, while the boat fireplace takes up a lot more space.  The downside to this is you will need electricity.  At 50 square feet (remember you don’t heat areas you don’t walk on) running an hour will need around 6 amps at 120 volts for a total use of ~750 watts.  Most folks are going to have power, so this is pretty reasonable when combined with a programmable thermostat.

Lockers

I came upon this idea over at Jonathan’s blog (http://gungy.livejournal.com) and it just made sense.  Upstairs in the loft he has created small “lockers” that line the side of his bed.  This frames the mattress, adds storage and keeps things looking neat while still having access to it.  He did an excellent job at taking the existing structure and integrating the storage to match.  The added bonus of this is that your mattress will have less room to shift as you climb in and out of bed.  I would take this option one step further by adapting one of the “lockers” near the head end to have a power outlet inside of it with holes to run cables to the top, this would create a way to charge your cell phone and ipod etc. neatly.

On Demand Water Heater

This one will certainly take a bit more expertise and planning, but there is one thing I would miss after a long day in the garden is not having a hot shower.  These water heaters are really small, can fit just about anywhere and mean that you only expend energy when you are in need of hot water.  Take all that and top it off with tax credits and it sounds like a great idea.  What is the catch?  You will need electricity (albeit a small amount and propane), which I feel is something that most Tiny House people have, either solar or grid.  You certainly can design it so you can bypass this when you are running off the grid.

Integrated Jacks

One thing many people don’t realize is that if you are going to be setting up in one spot with a Tiny House on a trailer is that just letting it sit there can lead to tire shock, which will put flat spots on your tires or break down the walls faster.  It is probably a good idea to jack the trailer up and remove the tires, this way people can’t steal your house. With jacks you also have a more stable floor, it could be argued that it is safer too.

Integrated jacks aren’t anything new, look at trailers and popup campers, but for $100-200 you can get some nice looking jacks that can be integrated into the trailer so you are never without them.  Be sure to take into account what weight they will be holding, 4 tons per jack will be overkill, but you will never have to worry about it.  The added benefit of these are if you ever get a flat tire on the road, these are already in place and are safer because they are welded to the frame.

Flexible Shelves

This one is a bit of a stretch, but I decided to add it anyway.  Jay’s craftsmanship is nothing short of beauty, the quality is superb, which is why he is a premium brand.  I felt the need to have my storage in these to be a bit more flexible.  With moveable shelves, rolling shelves, etcetera you are able to accommodate a wider range of items and have them tucked away out of sight.  See my photo here and take a look around my blog for lots of ideas.

Here is a Tiny House that comes from the Designers at Ecospace.  They design a full range of building from small office pods and bigger.  Using SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) these houses can be put together fairly quickly.  At only a few hundred feet, they pack a ton into this thing.  At around $55,000 this is a premium house, but I feel it serves to provide good inspirations for your own design.

Made from sustainable cedar wood with an optional plant covered roof, low-energy heating, lighting and insulation, it’s right at home with the environment as well as your garden. Use it as your office and the garden commute will do wonders for your carbon footprint too.

Click link below for more photos!

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This Tiny House, well truth be told it is a Tiny Apartment, with a small floor plan it sits at 303 square feet.  Located in Soho, you can bet this place is a pretty penny to rent, but it has great charm with an even better location.  Here is what Valerie said about her Tiny House:

Though I’m a native New Yorker, I lived in Maui before moving to this light-filled studio seven years ago. Hence my love for things like bamboo (the lampshades and cabinets are covered with placemats from Pearl River) and an organic-zen, “planty”, green, life-filled feeling.

Being in such a small space also inspired an obsession with clean lines and efficiency going vertical with the Shelfshop shelf-desk-combo was nearly life-altering.

Though I’ve gradually matured the space by replacing street-found and Surprise! Surprise! furniture with grown-up stuff (by weird, cool circumstance Todd Oldham helped me pick out fabric for the Snap sofa himself), I still love meaningful, often DIY, whimsy hence the purple birds, funky angel doll, and horse-head lamps.

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The Chair Street Posters designed by JWT Auckland are flat-pack style chairs made plywood.   Folks walking by are then able to pop them out and assemble. They go up on commuter lines for large events in the summer such as concerts etc.  This could be neat if you had a set of four that was clicked into the bottom side of a table.

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Interesting video with the Director of Transportation for DC.  He is well know for his contributions in Zip Cars.  Among many parts of a “multi-modal” system as he refers to it, is a bike share program.  Annual fees to have access bikes are $40.00