This contemporary retreat is a two-hour drive from New York City, but it feels a world away.
To pick a site for the buildings, Matt used his drone to scan the site and then Daybreak created a 3D model to test out options for placement.
The Portuguese firm Madeiguincho designed a trio of tiny homes for a regenerative agriculture farm in Alqueva in southeast Portugal.
This Beverly Hills kitHAUS is comprised of modernist prefab modules that can accommodate a variety of uses: from yoga studios to home offices, and from weekend retreats to pop-up kiosks and guest rooms.
The 24-foot RV is six foot shorter than Living Vehicles next smallest model, and sets a new standard in the luxury travel market.
“The name 'Unfinished House' refers to an aesthetic attitude…. Self-finishing materials were selected to reduce resources and reveal the building’s construction. Tile and plywood are the only added ‘finishes’; They cover areas with wiring and plumbing,” the architects tell us. “The building is an all-timber structure with cellulose and wood fiber board insulation. Many of the materials were locally-produced including the wood framing, plywood, corrugated metal, and wood cladding.”
Turkel Design's team works with a local general contractor to get the structure up and running. Constructing this boathouse off site was fortuitous, since it ensured that the owners could move in by summer.
As a standalone suite, the Moliving prefab can be tailored to its location based on the owner's specifications. The process can take as little as three months to complete.
The old fireplace was falling apart, and designer didn’t want to move its location, which would have added to the budget. Instead, Blum chose a Malm with a “beautiful silhouette” to make it a focal point. Blum also found a company that makes custom frames for the Samsung Frame TV, to make it pass for a piece of artwork, and paired with a Siena 75
Located off paved roads, across a river, and up a mountain, Pablo Pérez Palacios’s cabin in the Mexican wilderness has a rooftop terrace designed for entertaining.
After the home was assembled, a local contractor built the outdoor concrete patio and barbecue on site.
After a forest fire destroyed their cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built a new retreat with salvaged, charred timber and a community of friends.
Since moving in three years ago, the family has adapted to the smaller size of the home, especially as the children have become teenagers. “There's a shed outside that was for our gardening tools and surf boards and stuff, and we've just converted that into a living room for them,” says Maclean.
Greg Knapp and Robyn Traynor worked with architect Peter Braithwaite to design a nature retreat for their family on a slice of Canadian wilderness. It has two shed-roofed structures joined by a boardwalk elevated above a preexisting walking path on the couple’s land.
The Tini M bedroom is surrounded by windows. The initial structure includes a bed base with drawers, bedside tables, and a wood stove.
A large deck extends from the front of the home as well.
“The inspiration for Kynttilä was fully derived from its unique setting,” the Helsinki-based firm states. “The place chosen for Kynttilä, in the middle of a pristine forest, on a narrow arm of the peninsula, provides views over the water in both sides of the cottage.”
After renting in San Francisco for a decade, DIY couple Molly Fiffer and Jeff Waldman bought 10 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the pair and their friends built a cabin compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower. The cabin is made from locally sourced, rough-sawn redwood, which the couple stained with nontoxic Eco Wood Treatment to give the panels an aged appearance and a dark patina.
"My goal was to carry on the client’s family legacy by creating a very special place that took inspiration from the landscape,” explains architect Tom Kundig.
Norske Mikrohus tells us that demand is growing for their four turnkey tiny home models—but the company cautions against high international shipping costs.
After more than 15 years spent in construction, high school friends Simon Fyall and Richard Egli started to imagine an architecture that blended in with the landscape of British Columbia better than industry-standard buildings. Soon after, the pair founded Blend Projects to build their vision: crisp gabled homes strung together from eight-foot-long cedar-sided glulam sections.
“We always want to feel the carpentry in our projects. Our goal here was to show the wood of the structure as much as possible,” says architect Jean-Baptiste Barache.
Structural engineering firm Robert Silman Associates was key in helping the couple execute their design, particularly the cantilevered standing-seam aluminum roof.
Summary harnesses the power of prefabrication to create a set of compact homes on a breathtaking site.
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