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Square feet: 172 House width: 8’-6” House length: 20’ Road Height: 12’-3” Dry Weight: 7000 lbs Great Room: 9%‘ x 5%’ Kitchen: 5%’ x 4%’ Bedroom: ІУЇхАУ* Bathroom: 2’x7%’ Ceiling height: 7’ 6” — sizes are approximate РОРОМО The Popomo is different than my other portable homes in that it does not have a pronounced […]

Until building codes catch up with the environmental and social realities at hand, the question of how to meet or beat minimum-size standards remains. If guerilla housing, variances, or pushing to have your local codes changed hold no attraction, going with the flow may be your best bet. Most of the U. S. and Canada […]

Every inch counts in a small house, so knowing exactly how many inches are required for each element is important. Dimensions for the integral parts of a house are listed here. The wall, floor and roof thicknesses listed are for the most standard type of construction—that which uses 2x lumber and half-inch plywood as the […]

So far, this chapter has described the sensibility, the principles, and the tools inherent to successful architecture. This next section explains the actual pro­cess of subtractive design and relevant considerations. Compared to what is involved in producing large houses, planning a little home is relatively challenging. As stated earlier, a smart, little dwelling is just […]

While the principle of procession is still primarily about space, it also pertains to time. The best houses speak to us in a visual language with which we are all familiar. A gate in a picket fence that opens onto a narrow path that leads through a yard to an open porch that covers a […]

Good home design entails a lot of categorizing. The categories we use are determined by function. In organizing a home, everything that is used to prepare food would, for example, most likely go into the "kitchen” category. If something in the kitchen category functions primarily to wash dishes, it would probably be placed into the […]

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment. — Eliel Saarinen Again, the scale of our homes should be determined by the true needs of their occupant(s). Few of us would go into a restaurant and seek […]

If these principles are starting to seem a lot like common sense, it is be­cause they are. It is in our nature to seek out the sort of order that they prescribe. Honest structure and simple forms strike a chord with us because they are true to nature’s law of necessity. Sound proportions strike a […]

In the most beautiful houses, no attempt is made to conceal structural ele­ments or disguise materials. Because wooden collar beams are understood as necessary, they are also seen as beautiful. Whenever possible, features like these are left unpainted and exposed to view. Then there are those hous­es for which attempts are made to mimic the […]

It is ironic that simplicity is by far the most difficult of the seven principles to achieve. Simplification is a complicated process. It demands that every pro­portion and axis be painstakingly honed and that every remaining detail be absolutely essential. The more simplified a design becomes; the more any imperfection is going to stand out. […]