Sunday, June 04, 2006

Tiny versus Modular Home Concepts

Let's digress from tech for a moment, shall we?

One of the subjects I first covered as a new blogger was the phenomenon of "tiny homes." These are very small sized homes.

Recently NPR ran an story on how "tiny home" proponents are responding to the needs of those impacted by the recent Gulf-Coast visitors Rita and Katrina: Tiny Houses Find a Friend on the Gulf Coast

Related links:

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
Cusato Cottages: The Katrina Cottage
The Martin House Company: House-to-Go
The Small House Society

There seems to be something appealing in this concept. It is more home-like than a travel-trailer. And there definitely is a "kawaii" factor about them. No getting around the fact it is a major life-style change. You are forced to decide what bits of humanity are essential to your comfort and happiness--all else must be shed and not very conducive to most "family-living" plans.

Following a different flight-plan, Retrothing touched on modular housing. Here, you select the modules you want in your home-design and they put all the elements together. This seems more my style--modern and contemporary and clean--but still with unmistakable logic and order. (Stop laughing at me, Lavie!)

Muji+Infill Modular Housing (Japanese site) - Living in a Hurricane-zone, the concrete appeals to me.
Huf Haus - but it doesn't much compare to the post and beam look of these designs.
Oldcastle Precast Modular Group - Good and sturdy concrete boxes - just need some more work to make them more "home-style" for single-family dwellings.
fabprefab's containerbay - Houston is an international port city. Lots of shipping containers on the road. Considering that and the possibilities of modular homes, led me to this site.
Loft Cube -- Nice design work.

land+living -- modern design website. Not directly related but I liked it anyway.

Enjoy and dream.
--Claus

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