Dutch designer and tiny house enthusiast Daniel Venneman, who previously bought us the DIY Hermit House, has recently completed a new tiny home on wheels. Dubbed Porta Palace, the 18 m2 (194 ft2) home was specifically designed for Venneman's building partner, Jelte Glas. Glas was wanting to create his very own home that not only would he be able to afford, but would also bring him closer to nature.
"Likein many European countries, there is quite a financial leap to gofrom renting your student apartment to owning your own house,"DanielVenneman tells Gizmag. "Itseems almost impossible to find a nice place of your own, in closercontact to a natural landscape. Luckily Jelte wasn't scared oftaking some risks, so we went on an adventure together. In the endthe project was all about finding a more affordable and qualitativeway to live more sustainably."
Thetiny home most certaintaly won't be a solution foreverybody, but it is a clever model for those who are up for thechallenge of living in a micro space. Described by Venneman as an example of "bio-basedconstruction," the home was built using a timber-frame, steel roof, and is clad with wood that's been pre-treated with a an ecologically-friendly product called Aquawood that enables it to wear naturally over time withminimal maintenance required.
ThePorta Palace comprises of an open multi-purpose living and diningarea which features built-in furniture, storage space and largefloor-to-ceiling hinged glass doors which open outwards, extendingthe living area onto to the surrounding landscape. The sofa in the living area can double as a bed for a guest orchild and also offers convenient storage space. There's also an elevated double loft bed, kitchen, bathroomwith dry toilet and LED lighting throughout. Ifyou're wondering how to access the elevated sleeping area, the stairstowards the bed are actually disguised as a cabinet, with a movableside-table that functions as the first step.
"Itis simply a minimized space with maximum openness," saysVenneman."The living room offers a maximized view on nature. The bedroomand kitchen have a view over the landscape. And quite a generousbathroom with sliding door, which creates the sense of spatialcontinuity. A common reaction when people step in the house is: 'wow,this feels bigger than expected,' proving that living in a Tiny Housedoes not have to feel tiny."
Glashas intentions to add solarpanels and a battery kit at a later stage to the home, which willenable it to supply its own electricity. "Enough to power itsintegrated LED lighting, a small fridge, the ventilator of the drytoilet and to charge a laptop and other small electrical devices,"says Venneman.
Passionateabout continuing the trend of tiny living Glas and Venneman arehoping to create the first of many Tiny Villages in the Netherlands,which would consist of approximately 5 to 10 small/mobile homes onone site.
"Throughmy projects I am always researching new architectural possibilitiesfor living with more autonomy, sustainability and affordability,"says Venneman."Small spaces can also become more personal. Wouldn't it begreat if our homes would fit more to us like a personal shell insteadof being oversized and one-size-fits-all?"
Source: Daans Design and Jelte Glas
I've seen a handful of people on youtube who start with a cargo trailer and insulate and convert it as a toy hauler/camper/tiny home etc. and I think they are likely onto something. The thing has to be built on a trailer frame anyway so a cargo trailer seems like an inexpensive enough platform to start with.
Even on the extreme end of the spectrum massive cargo trailers like this one that's 8.5'x28' are about $6k and heavy duty enough to haul heavy equipment and cars so furnature shouldn't be that much of a challenge: http://sleequipment.com/enclosed-trailer-8-5-x28-white.html
If you feel claustrophobic enough inside that you need to 50% of the surrounding surface area to be windows maybe a larger platform isn't a bad idea. You also can't really put things inside in front of the window so it limits usable interior space somewhat. Instead of having seating on one side and shelving/sink/cabinets on the other side to the ceiling you have seating facing a window forcing all the required utility items to be shoved into the small area that doesn't have a window in front of it.
I think a design like this represents a better use of interior space but like many stick built tiny houses it's expensive at $70,000 http://tinyhousetalk.com/expanding-tiny-house-with-slide-outs-that-will-amaze-you/
There is a demo conversion of a 7x14 trailer to camper here with a budget of I think around $2500 to $3000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWjpFsjqSz0
I think the best idea for people actually considering this is to 1. Get a part time job as a contractor even if for low pay. 2. Get a utility trailer to retrofit it. 3. Watch/study what other people did/purchased for their conversions and DIY
I think it's possible to convert a pretty large utility trailer into a tiny home with a lot of bells and whistles for under 15k and it would leave some room for expansion/upgrade if you didn't want to eat the entire cost up front.
Then again I suppose the entire thing is sort of reinventing the wheel as retired/elderly figured out the tiny house thing a long time ago by buying RV's and living in RV parks with water/electrical/cable hookups mostly year around and moving to different RV parks to avoid harsh seasonal weather. Tiny home communities are RV parks by another name.