Not to be missed…

Submit nominations to Hometta via email.

If Hometta can pull this off the list will be an excellent resource for all modernists, architects and future modern homeowners.

The first round of results of are in, and it’s time to cast your votes for the winner of Inhabitat’s and Dwell’s co-sponsored Reburbia Design Competition.

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In case you’re not familiar with the contest, here’s the full spiel:

“With the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and rising energy costs, the future of suburbia looks bleak. Suburban communities in central California, Arizona and Florida are desolate and decaying, with for sale and foreclosure signs dotting many lawns. According to the US Census, about 90% of all metropolitan growth occurred in suburban communities in the last ten years. Urbanites who loathe the freeways, big box stores and bland aesthetics stereotypical of suburbia may secretly root for the end of sprawl, but demographic trends indicate that exurban growth is still on the rise. In a future where limited natural resources will force us to find better solutions for density and efficiency, what will become of the cul-de-sacs, cookie-cutter tract houses and generic strip malls that have long upheld the diffuse infrastructure of suburbia? How can we redirect these existing spaces to promote sustainability, walkability, and community? It’s a problem that demands a visionary design solution and we want you to create the vision!”

Online voting closes at midnight on Monday, August 17th. Entries range the gamut from futuristic suburban airships to zoning law adjustments.

Here’s a quick look at a few of the finalists. There are 16 others that also look fascinating though, so don’t forget to check out all the top 20 finalists and cast your vote!

Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing the Urban Fabric
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Parasite Catalyst: Freeway Wind Turbines
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Bumper Crop: Converting Parking Lots to Farms
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Big Box Stores Transformed into Biofuel Generators
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Via Reburbia and Inhabitat

Images courtesy of Reburbia.

Noble Homes require more assembly than typical prefab or modular homes, but the designers assure us: “Most people who can swing a hammer and operate a saw and drill can build a Noble Home.” House components are kept to a minimum, and pre-drilled connectors and fasteners reduce the likelihood of construction mistakes. Kits start at $45 per square foot, and finished houses typically cost between $100 and $150 per square foot. As for the features, Noble Homes are built primarily of locally grown wood, compressed straw panels, and aluminum. Depending on dweller preferences, the kits can incorporate rainwater collection, solar and wind power, root cellars, and greenhouses. All homes use passive solar heating (whether through a solar wall of glass or through hot air collected in the roof), and the designers are now encouraging their customers to try out passive annual heat storage (PAHS), a system for single-level dwellings. In the summer, heat collected from the roof is ducted into the ground under the house, where it is stored until in the winter when it radiates back into the home. In the works for the future are ways to harness and store human power, particularly from exercise (how cool would it be to get fit and save on utilities at the same time?!).

Jennifer Morgan Residence and Studio Design, Harwich MA:

(Water spills from the roof into this aqueduct system, which leads to a rain barrel on the side of the house. Ferns on either side soak up whatever splashes out.)

The Bauer-Mayorga Studio in East Chatham, NY:

The Brengelman Noble Home:

Via Noble Home.

Images courtesy of the Greentwig blog, the Bauer-Mayorga Studio blog, the Brengelman Noble Home blog and Noble Home.

Dubbed “rabbit hutch Britain,” much private housing being built in Britain today may not be “fit for purpose”.

The survey of 2,249 householders who bought homes built between 2003 and 2006 in London and the surrounding counties found that 47% did not have enough room for all the furniture they had or would like to have and 57% did not have enough storage.

Angela McGuinness, 39, who bought a one bedroom house in Middleton-on-Sea, West Sussex, said she ordered more take-aways because of the lack of space in her kitchen. “You could fit one saucepan and one plate on the work surface and then you had to start stacking things on the fridge,” she said. “It was like dolls’ house furniture. The bath was miniature too and you would have been better off with a watering can. The living room was so small there was only room for three people to sit down.”

Make sure the read the comments…

What do you have to say?

via Small House Society and the Guardian

Measuring up at 5.2 meters long, 4.6 meters high (when fully expanded), and 2.06 meters wide (when fully expanded), this house on wheels has nearly every amenity one could imagine in a traditional home. On the lower level are two gas burners, a sink, a rice cooker, and a refrigerator, as well as a separate bathroom area with a flush toilet, a shower, and bathtub. The designers describe the extendable upper level as a Japanese-style bedroom, and compared to the eclectic-looking first floor, it has a calm, deliberate feel. Rice-papered windows and skylights filter sun and/or moonlight into the room, where tatami mats line the floor. On their official site, the builders modestly claim not to be carpenters or engineers, but they qualify in our books. The bedroom loft expands by compressed air power, and they’ve rigged up all the wiring and plumbing themselves (separate tanks contain clean, gray, and black water). Other neat features include a retractable outdoor deck, retractable steps to the outside, storage space under the stairs and above the kitchen counter, and all sorts of electronic marvels, like a motorized door lock (not all of us would opt for this feature maybe, but when you build your own house, you do what you want). The camper seats three and sleeps four.

Here is a selection of on-the-road shots as well as interior images:

Via the designers’ official website, Little Diggs, and Dornob.

Images courtesy of the designers (names unknown).

Apart from wiring and plumbing, Reclaimed Space builds almost entirely of locally sourced recovered materials. Following principles of passive solar design, all of the company’s homes feature cross-ventilating windows, roof overhangs, open floors, solar panel compatibility, low-e windows, and heat-reflecting aluminum siding. Single pitch roofs allow for easy rainwater collection, and sink waste water is reused for toilet flushing. They’ve even figured out how to use recycled newspaper for insulation. All in all, it’s an efficiency dream come true. And lest we forget our favorite feature, each model carries a unique story, owing to the history of the materials from which it was built. The home showcased at Dwell on Design, for example, was built from century-old Oak wood rescued from an old barn. With such potential for individuality and differentiation between homes, we think Reclaimed Space is making a very savvy step into an important market niche in the prefab housing world. After all, we all want to know where our food comes from; why not our homes too?

Check out the pictures below. You’ll find more on dwellSpace, preceded by a look at Casita 1, the first model built at Reclaimed Space. In some respects we prefer it to the later for its charming, understated vibe.

Casita 1 Exteriors:

(with flexSpace addition)

Casita 1 Interiors:

dwellSpace Exteriors:

dwellSpace Interiors:

Via Inhabitat, Reclaimed Space, and Jetson Green.

Images courtesy of Reclaimed Space.

Length: 5 days
Tuition: $750 (scholarships available)
Dates: Nov. 8-13, 2009

At the heart of our current economic mess is the ubiquitous “McMansion”, a bloated and unsustainable product. This course presents new paradigms and design strategies for future dwellings. Through field trips, studio workshops, and interactive lecture and discussion sessions, we will provide examples and opportunities to spark your imagination. We will explore various cultures and modalities: from Pueblo to Tokyo; trailers to tree-houses, yurts and domes; historic houses, prefabs, off-grid houses & loft apartments in order to cull ideas that will help you shape your project or concept. You will learn about factors that are specific to new small home design or renovation, how to evaluate the workability of existing spaces, and lifestyle choices that are congruous with small living spaces. Students leaving this course will take home schematic designs that they have developed throughout the course of the week. All Levels.

The Yestermorrow Design/Build School’s mission is to inspire people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process.

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.