small house design

This is something that has intrigued me for a long time. The minimum amount of space for a person to live in in comfort. Something that could be mass produced or something like that for college students who don’t want to live in the dorms, bachelors looking for a first house, etc… for an affordable price of perhaps $10-20,000. I have had many ideas but never a good design, so I am asking for some ideas from other people.

Some things to keep in mind that I think a house would need, this is of course simply my opinion and based on western values:

a bathroom with at least a toilet, sink, and shower (I’ve found designs that use about 16 squre feet of floorspace, but custom units could be made smaller, for example, as they are waterproof, why aren’t toilets built into showers?)

a kitchen with a sink, stove, and oven, these could of course be smaller than normal (say a single stoveplate and a deep oven that’s only wide and deep enough to fit a 9x13 pan) along with some decent countertop space for letting dishes dry, preparing food, etc… I figure a dishwasher isn’t neccessary, doing dishes by hand is easy, epsecially when it is only one person. A kitchen would also need some decent storage for pots and cups and such too.

a bed (or hammock to save on space, hammocks are also exceptionally comfortable and cheaper than beds with sheets and such)

a water tank/heater (a small 50gal should be suitable, unless those tiny instant water heaters get cheaper)

a cooling and heating unit, perhaps only one depending on where you live

storage space

an easily cleanable and cheap floor (think polished, sealed concrete if it isn’t a manufactured home)

a desk

a table and chairs (2 chairs and a small 2x2’’ table would be sufficient)

windows (large round ones, 4’+ are very good looking in a small space but expensive)

Some miscellaneus things that might be wanted (that I would probably want myself) would be:

infloor heating (efficient and easy to do with a concrete floor)
bookshelves
closet
towel rack
coat rack
a couch (perhaps a futon that turns into a bed)
room for a tv (possible just a large computer monitor with a tv card so the monitor would be dual use, that’s cheaper than a decent tv too)
some room/a desk for electronic/craft work
microwave oven

I have always thought that all this could be put into a well designed space of around 10’x30’ or so, possibly less, possible more, it would probably depend on the person inhabiting the space. I know for me that as long as it is well lit and is capable of being breezy (e.g. has openable windows) then I am fine with tiny spaces.

So tell me, what are your ideas and opinions?

One thing to think about is what can be used to have multiple uses and what can be retractable when not neccessary. You could have your bed that folds up into a wall, and a desk that does the same. The folk at ikea have plenty of space saving pieces in their store meant for smaller appartments.
If you were technical enough you could make it an extremely comfortable place.

Talking about a water heater you could use say a solar heater to heat the water which was then pumped about the flat to warm it up also. - But adjustable of course. Think about gray water aswell if you are thinking of having a garden. I’m just assuming you want it to run economically and with minimal environmental impact.

I don’t think a toilet in a shower is very appealling at all. Although you could get away with having a sink in the shower- maybe the sink actually in the wall - check out some bathrooms on small/medium sized boats.

I met some dude last week, when he was 21 he decided he wanted to build his own house - so he designed it up and got an architecture friend of his to clean and fix up the plans. He started up a faux company (simple business cards etc) and went about buying the supplies at trade prices= 15-25% discount. He employed two builders and worked on it himself for 2-3 months to get it done. I just thought that was quite cool for a 21 year old to have done.

Anyway – is this out of general interest or are you thinking of getting handy?

Matt

I’m no architect, but-
-in Firefly, (yes I know it’s a sci-fi show, but still…) they have a toilet that pulls out from under the sink, both of which slide into the wall to make room for the shower
-if you had a kotatsu (a japanese-designed table, with a heater built in, just high enough to kneel under, and it folds almost flat) you would need no chairs (although you’d probably get cramps if you sit for too lung, untill you’re used to it), you could put it away at night, and unroll a matress/hammock in it’s place (two birds with one stone)
-the table could double as a desk, as long as you don’t need to keep projects on it over night
-if there’s enough wall space, a projecter is always a good way to have a cheap (I think) but large display for both a TV and computer
-small spaces are a lot easier to heat, so not much of a heater would be needed

that’s all I can think of for now, but I have a book, I thinlk it’s called “small spaces” (I’m not at home right now), it has a LOT of good suggestions from people who do this kind of thing.

Again, I’m no architect, and I have little/no experience with this kind of thing, but I’m really interested in it, and would really like to have a very small, low-cost/low-maintenance house.

I am indeed thinking of getting handy :smiley: I want to build a house for my first domicile when I move out. I am already a good builder so to speak, I’ve worked with a lot of different types of contractors and can do just about everything involved in building a house, but I’d need a plan to follow. I am quite sure there are others like me who would like to build a small house too, such as Cap’n Oblivion here. Anyways though…

As for a folding table/desk, for the desk at least it would not be an option I’d think, as that’s where a computer would be, unless one did use a projector and simply used the couch/bed as a computerchair, uncomfortable for actually working or doing drawing and such but definately better for watching tv or movies. A fodling table would probably work though, as a table is usually only used a few times a day for things.

I’d think enough wall space for a projector could be managed, or perhaps the shade for one of the windows could be made from blackout cloth backed with projection grade white material.

The cooking table is also a good idea, eliminating the need for a stove but not for an oven, so it may not save too much space.

As for a roof, I have always been partial to sod, as it looks good, can be used to filter grey water from the house, and is great insulation. On the other hand it prevents one from using solar panels, which would be a good idea to keep down utility costs. Speaking of grey water though, I forgot about something to clean clothes. They make miniature clothes washer/dryer combos, but they are horribly inefficient (think 8 hours to wash and dry a full load, that’s a lot of electricity), a better bet would be just a small washer and a drain in the floor near it, so one could hang a clothes line inside (got to love concrete floors :D) or outside depending on the weather.

I figure everything in the house would be electric, as it is easier to put together than trying to put in a gas tank and piping for the stove and water heater, etc… Electricity can also be cleaner when coming from a wind generator or solar panels (hmm, wind generator, you can make em pretty cheap, but they are ugly, guess it would be a personal thing and depend on your site.)

Lastly, I am not suggesting someone put a toilet in a shower, but in an effort to save space I am suprised it hasn’t been done yet. And about a sliding toilet, it’s a cool idea, but you’d have to waste as much room building a false wall to slide it into as would be used installing a premade wall mount toilet (the ones that don’t have a flush tank on them) Although it would be possible to make a folding toilet with a flexible bowl, a toilet is something I’d rather keep rather traditional save for choosing a water efficient and perhaps wall mounted or built in bidet version.

Acutally, really lastly: sci-fi ideas are fine, there comes a point when they all eventually become real :smiley: some just quicker than others. Like sliding toilets.

Yeah about those sci-fi ideas- I was thinking of The Filth Element how he lives in that small appartment.

You want it small but you don’t want it to look like a gizmo haven / tranformer home with everything folding about and in on itself – now thats sci fi.

roll out.

the big problem with the fifth element apartment, is all the wasted space that the moving parts (refrigerator/shower/who knows what else) have to be in when they aren’t in use. That, combined with the machinery that moves it all around, would pretty much take up an entire good-sized house.

Since we’re talking about tiny habitable spaces here this may interest you.

A literal house in a box

http://www.beyondtomorrow.com.au/stories/ep27/house.html

They also have a link to the architect’s website but the only site they have is in German.

I have actually come across that house in my design related web ramblings, but for a price I believe is 50k euro’s, I’ll pass :stuck_out_tongue: For the $60k+ that translates into I could self build a well equipped 1,000ft^2 house.

Miff: I have no objections to a design that looks all gizmotized, but how efficient and reliable are all those gizmos? And more importantly, how much money? Automation doesn’t come cheap to anything.

So nobody likes small houses or simply has no input on one they might like to live in? Or is it McMansions all around? :stuck_out_tongue:

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sneaky disguised bump

hmm, I work for an engineering firm, and am currently battling my way through designs for small 2 story units, about 140m² both floors inclusive, with the bottom floor either able to be built as a garage, or retail area, with living space upstairs.

This basically leaves me with about 70m² left for bedrooms, kitchen, stairwell, bathroom, lounge and dining, so if I can weasle the plans out of the office I’ll be sure to let you know.

Construction will be concrete tilt panel, with most likely timber floor.
The trickiest part I’m having at the moment, is keeping all the services localised, so kitchen, bathroom, toilet and laundry all discharge to the same area, and I dont have to have an extra thick floor to allow for falls in long runs of plumbing
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