Like small house living itself, the network website is simple yet wonderfully complete.

The Mission: “to build a network of real tiny house villages across the United States” where members work to secure “the ability to live in a small, affordable home without breaking any laws in the process,” “the opportunity to ‘park’ that home on a small piece of land,” and the chance “to live with other like-minded people and maybe grow some food together.”

All in all, this networking tool/think-tank looks like a great way to build community and fuel the small house movement. We hope you’ll find it useful.

These cute little hobbit homes (pictured above) are made by Easy Domes Ltd. Inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, Easy Domes are built to maximize interior space while minimizing exterior surface area. This makes for excellent energy efficiency, as less heat is allowed to escape through walls and ceilings and fewer materials are needed in construction. The dome shape also allows for smooth air flow within the home and superb strength–as Fuller wrote in 1928, “These new homes are structured after the natural system of humans and trees with a central stem or backbone, from which all else is independently hung, utilizing gravity instead of opposing it. This results in a construction similar to an airplane, light, taut, and profoundly strong.” Looking for more on the advantages of dome architecture a la Fuller? You’ll find all the fascinating details on the principles behind this early 20th century architect’s geodesic domes.

Can’t get enough? Today we’ve featured only one prefab dome design, but there are loads out there.

Here’s fodder for more exploration:
Shed and Shelter: a great site with links to many dome designers and manufacturers
Prefab home buying guide for dome homes: another great site with consolidated information on various round and geodesic dome homes
Dome home photos at One-Eleven.net
Also check out Solaleya – the rotating green home, Mandala Homes, and Good Karma Domes.

Via Inhabitat and The Buckminster Fuller Institute.

Images courtesy of Inhabitat and Easy Domes.

Learn basic carpentry skills and Tiny House design.

No experience needed, just a willingness to learn.

As a team we will build a 12′ X 16′ house with a loft, and a 12/12 roof. 90% of the material will be pre-cut, allowing us to build from foundation to roof ridge cap in two 8-hour days! Learn floor framing, wall raising, door and window installation, exterior sheathing. Alternative options for wall and roof sheathing, door and window selection, heating sources, water, septic, electric, garden, and greenhouse design will be discussed.

The two-day workshop will take place in the Bridgewater area, VT.
Saturday and Sunday, 7/11-7/12/09; 9am-5pm.
The cost is $250, including cooked meals and refreshments.
Don’t forget a sketch pad and a lawn chair. Camping available.

Please reply via email or call 802-933-6103 for more info.

To see a great green designer call it quits is frustrating enough in itself, but the situation is made worse by the fact that the previously lukewarm green housing market has heated up and was bursting at the seams just when MKD was forced to close. In its first five years of business, Kaufmann Designs sold 40 homes, but upon closing, it had over 100 outstanding requests. The problem, then, was not one of demand; rather, it lay on the supply side. As Christopher Hawthorne reported in the Los Angeles Times, when the financial crisis hit, desiring buyers remained as interested as ever in Kaufmann’s homes, but they couldn’t get financing. Hyper-cautious lenders turned away from anything that wasn’t “conservative,” and green prefab was simply too far off the beaten path (even though the beaten path is probably what we do want to get off). The gloominess overshadowing so many recent articles on MKD’s closing, then, reaches beyond Kaufmann’s specific predicament (after all, she is sure to make a recovery–according to Hawthorne, multi-family and community-oriented projects represent her latest interest). But a deeper disillusionment accompanies the realization that consumers do not, after all, have the final say. In a way, this is old news, but it’s a tough pill to swallow when we finally seem to be getting a grip on what’s healthy for ourselves and for the environment in homebuilding.

Following Kaufmann’s optimism, however, we shouldn’t be deterred by the many obstacles scattering the unbeaten trail. Look for more on Kaufmann in the future, and keep checking her Blog–recent posts include experiences at the Eames Foundation 60th Anniversary Celebration, a review of John Wasik’s The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome; Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream, and a good-humored entry on personal water catchment systems (think inside-out umbrellas).

Via Michelle Kaufmann’s Blog, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and TreeHugger.

Images courtesy of Michelle Kaufmann Designs.

On the inside, the i-house has all the amenities of the trendiest of contemporary homes: from flooring to faucets to light fixtures, everything looks snappy and up-to-date. On the exterior, butterfly-style roofing enables rain collection, optional solar panels account for about half of the house’s energy needs, and low-e windows contribute to making the i-house Energy Star® approved. In short, once you factor in stylishness and energy savings (according to Clayton, about $1/day can cover all electricity and heating costs), the i-house seems like a pretty good deal, all things considered. Comments on various blogs and websites suggest that the i-house might be too “Ikea” for some, but it’s definitely an exciting green prefab model, and it can’t hurt to throw it into the mix. For more on i-house configurations, square footage options, and prices, look here.

Via Clayton Homes and Jetson Green

Images courtesy of Clayton Homes

What are the benefits of a house like this? Lately, Shafer has been referring to small houses as “foreclosure busters.” With low upkeep costs, extremely cheap utility bills ($65 a year has been done), and no mortgage, Shafer’s homes are, indeed, hard to resist. Shafer also emphasizes the versatility of tiny, transportable homes. Not only can they be designed to circumvent some of the more aggravating complexities of current housing laws, but also they need not be conceived only as permanent residences. According to Shafer, small houses are terrific eco-conscious stand-ins for traditional vacation homes, they are ideal work studios, and they can even be tacked on to traditional homes as freestanding additions. And in high-risk geographies, the transportability of Shafer’s homes might yet be leveraged to fill a completely undersaturated market niche. After hurricane Katrina, displaced Mississippi resident Julie Martin collaborated with Shafer to develop a Gulf Coast Model. Needing only an electrical outlet and a garden hose, this model allows people to quickly evacuate coastal regions without abandoning their homes. Shafer’s other designs range from 65 to 837 square feet, so they can satisfy a range of housing needs. In short, if Shafer is passing through your area in the coming days, you won’t want to miss his open houses and workshops.

Here is the tour schedule from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Blog:

Tue May 26 – Reno, NV 6:00 pm
Wed May 27 – Salt Lake, UT 6:00 pm
Thu May 28 – Cheyenne, WY 6:00 pm
Sat May 30 – Boulder, CO 5:30 pm
Tue June 2 – Omaha, NE 6:00 pm
Wed June 3 – Des Moines, IA 12:00 noon
Wed June 3 – Iowa City, IA 6:00 pm
Sat June 6 – Chicago, IL 5:30 pm
Mon June 8 – Indianapolis, IN 6:00 pm
Tue June 9 – Cincinnati, OH 12:00 noon
Tue June 9 – Columbus, OH 6:00 pm
Wed June 10 – Pittsburgh, PA 6:00 pm
Thu June 11 – Philadelphia, PA 6:00 pm
Sat June 13 – New York, NY 5:30 pm

(For a more detailed list of open house and workshop locations, look here.)

Via Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and NPR
Images courtesy of Jay Shafer of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

In London, Container City™ has constructed a jigsaw-like apartment complex of converted shipping containers. Check out the video below for the full scoop on these chic, recycled homes.

Container City™ now has more than 20 projects in the works.

Shipping containers have also been converted into student dorms. In Amsterdam, 1000 students enjoy dormitory units complete with private bathrooms, kitchens, balconies, and high-speed internet access. Dubbed “Keetwonen,” the dormitory in Amsterdam stands as the largest shipping container “community” to date.

image courtesy of KOOL-KINI via Flickr

And in Mexico, PFNC Global Communities (”Por Fin Nuestra Casa” – translated, “finally, a home of our own”) converts surplus shipping containers into affordable housing for low-income families in Juárez and Tijuana. The social mission, as PFNC defines it, is to “to raise the standard of living for families who currently reside in dangerous or substandard conditions.” PFNC purchases surplus containers from the United States and converts them to livable living units with low-cost, recycled materials. Check out PFNC’s website for more information on the projects underway and on PFNC’s recognition in the world of business social responsibility.

And finally, for all of you interested in constructing your own shipping container home, these folks have put together a Shipping Container Housing Guide to satisfy all your shipping-container-related questions. Check out WebUrbanist’s guide: Buying, Designing and Building Cargo Container Homes as well.

More resources:
Check out these Twelve Amazing Shipping Container Houses dug up by Brian Clark Howard for more inspiration. And see this post on Shipping container villages in Amsterdam at This Tiny House for news about shipping container kindergartens and performing arts centers, plus more on Keetwonen. And don’t miss FabPrefab’s ContainerBay for a “complete” compendium of containers (they did miss the EcoPods though.)

Enjoy!

Via Tempohousing and PFNC Global Communities.

In the founder’s words:

How would you like a garden filled with beautiful flowers, fresh herbs and luscious vegetables, all with NO WEEDS and NO HARD WORK? No more heavy digging or all-at-once harvest. Less watering, weeding, and thinning. What’s left is a picture perfect garden you will be so proud of. Put yourself in a rocking chair and start your own Square Foot Garden!

Check out this YouTube video for more about Mel and Square Foot Gardening:

Learn how to start your own Square Foot Garden.

Check out the showcase of Square Foot Gardens.

Learn more about the Square Foot Gardening Foundation.

Their goals are simple and easy to get behind:

To encourage and Foster the Conservation of the Earth’s Natural Resources through composting and practicing Square Foot Gardening.
To share Square Foot Gardening with the entire world enabling all people to live a more nutritional, healthy, and self-sufficient life.

You can donate to the foundation here.

Here are some of our favorite Sheldon Designs house plans:

	Saphire Cabin C582 (Crawlspace & Basement) – $149 $72.00: 20′ x 20′ 2 BR with 2 FB. Porches F+B. 1st floor: 400sf 2nd floor: 182sf Total: 582sf Porch: 320sf Only 16 14 left at $72.00
	Micro Cabin C103 (Crawlspace) – $69 $32.00: 16′ x 16′ with a 8′ x 16′ screened porch. 1 BR with 1 FB and Kitchen 1st.floor: 256sf 2nd.floor: 80sf Total: 336sf Porch: 128sf Only 14 11 left at $32.00
	Micro Cottage CT103 (Crawlspace) – $79 $37.00: 16′ x 16′ with a 9.5′ x 9′ bumpout. 1 BR with 1 FB. 1st.floor: 354sf 2nd.floor: 170sf Total: 524sf Porch: 66sf Only 18 15 left at $37.00
	Surfside Cottage C792c (Crawlspace) – $197 $97.00: 20′ x 20′ with a 10′ x 10′ bumpout. 3 BR – 2 FB + laundry. 1st.floor: 503sf 2nd.floor: 289sf Total: 792sf Wrap-around Porch: 525sf Only 14 13 left at $97.00
	Wilderness Cabin I CW96 – $19 $9.00: 8′ x 12′ with front porch. Perfect backyard getaway. 1st.floor: 96sf 2nd.floor: 212sf Total: 980sf Porch: 320sf Only 28 24 left at $9.00
	Wilderness Cabin II CW192 – $29 $13.00: 12′ x 16′ with 2 bunk lofts and front porch. Perfect cabin. 1st.floor: 192sf Porch: 96sf Only 30 17 left at $13.00