Would you really like to have a different small home experience?  Are you looking for something that wouldn’t just look different, but would feel different?  You might be interested in a Yurt.

A yurt is an adapted version of a shelter from Central Asia used by nomadic tribes for thousands of years.  The circular, tent-like shape is held into place by tension and compression.  This may sound simple, and on one level it is very simple.  However, this simple and elegant design has a myriad of benefits.  The aerodynamic shape flows around the curved sides of the yurt, and over its domed roof.  The structure of the yurt gives it a great deal of natural strength and thus safety.

The simple yurt has a lot going for it.  The structures are lightweight and inexpensive, yet durable.  The Pacific Yurt Company (out of Oregon) has taken this design to a new level.  Pacific Yurt began setting their yurts up on wood platforms that are supported by a post and beam system.

An additional major design change over the traditional yurt, is that The Pacific Yurt Company has added a lattice wall that runs the circumference of the outer fabric wall.  This lattice system is attached to the rafters and center ring overhead, giving the structure considerable strength.  Part of what makes the yurt such an attractive concept is its extremely minimal impact on its environment.

The pricing on yurt’s from Pacific Yurt is extremely competitive and is a true contender for those on a budget.  A 115 sq. ft. 12 foot diameter model cost about $4,500, and the largest 700 sq. ft. model cost about $9,800 dollars.  There are six different sizes in all.

This is definitely a different approach in small homes, and there is no denying it has an impressive price point.  The yurt has some additional benefits that one may not find in other inexpensive small homes, such as lots of headroom.  Some of the larger yurts have ceilings as high as 13 feet. Additionally,  all units have skylights.  The Pacific Yurt website www.yurts.com has a nice photo gallery that even shows several yurts linked together to form a very unique looking “yurt collective.” 

The small home movement is all about re-imagining what is possible concerning how we live.  The ancient yurt may fit in very well in our modern world.

Some ideas just immediately strike you as being great ones.  This is the case with GreenPods modular homes.  These homes just have a “cool factor” that is missing in many small homes.  GreenPods are very similar to what their name indicates.  They are small homes (the “pod” in the name) that are very focused on being green (the “green” in the GreenPod name).

The GreenPod vision is to build energy effective homes that have an eye on indoor air quality as well.  Considering indoor air quality as a major factor in determining design is a very refreshing development.  Medical science is discovering that indoor air quality, while always deemed important, is actually vital to our health.  The degassing from all sorts of building materials, such as carpet, is toxic to humans.  The GreenPod concept treats this seriously, and should be commended for doing so.

Not surprisingly the GreenPod concept also factors in sustainability and strives to keep the homes environmental footprint low.  The GreenPod team is working with designer Suzanne DeVail, who has produced numerous organic, anti-microbial fabrics specifically for use in GreenPod homes.

The Washington state based GreenPod company has small homes that range from as small as 300 feet to as large as 800 square feet.  GreenPod notes that it is possible to combine more than one POD into a larger home.  There SoloPODS come in eleven different designs, each with their own character.  The smallest is the Lopez at 372 square feet and a cost of around $60,000. The largest models is called the Orcas, and has a distinctive barrel roof.  The Orcas is 744 square feet and costs about a $175,000.

Another interesting model, the Ludlow, is $95,000 and is about 731 square feet.  The Ludlow is a really interesting option for those looking for a green small home that it has a great looking design. This model has lots of light exposure and a very competitive price.  If you really want light exposure, check out their Mercer Pod, which has a very grand look that comes across well beyond its 650 square feet.

Perhaps most interesting of all of GreenPods offerings is the Floating Pods.  These Pods are constructed in conjunction with P & T Fabrications and definitely have that cool factor.  The Floating Pods incorporate the design characteristics of the SoloPODS but, well, they float!

GreenPod is creating some impressive homes with some truly impressive interiors.  Their combination of design and focus being green, make them a true contender for anyone thing about buying a tiny or modular home.  There website is loaded with great photos and more information.  www.greenpoddevelopment.com

Much to my delight, my copy of Jay Shafer’s new release, The Small House Book, showed up in my mailbox two days after I ordered my copy from TinyHouseBlog.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering the aethetics of the author, but The Small House Book is diminutive in size and stunning visually.  It is packed full of glossy, full-color pictures of Shafer’s designs and examples of small architecture.

For anyone who’s familiar with Shafer’s earlier three-volume release of The Small House book, some of the original material is included in the new release but there is also a bunch of new information, much of which is the same information Shafer covers in his two weekend workshops.  This is especially true of his design workshop.  If you are thinking of building your own tiny house and you’re not going to be able to attend one of his workshops, I’d highly recommend picking up a copy of the book and also the construction DVD I hear Tumbleweed is currently developing.
What I appreciate the most in Shafer’s new edition is the expanded section on his thinking about where we are currently as a society in terms of housing and neighborhood design, and what more modest architecture might be able to offer as solutions.  I also appreciate now having a collection of Shafer’s work in one, concise volume (rather than the three prior volumes, a separate portfolio of his homes, handouts from his workshops, and a bunch of print-outs from his website).

While I didn’t mind paying the $37 price tag for a 196 page book, I could see this being an issue for some purchasers.  Especially considering the book is only 7 x 7 inches and 197 pages. No doubt, the many color pictures in the book drove production costs up quite a bit.  One thing I think the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company might want to consider is offering a second, lower-cost black-and-white edition of the book which any pictures that aren’t needed to support the text.  (Or possibly even a PDF or E-book version that could be downloaded from their website.)  Considering many of the readers may already be familiar with Shafer’s work, I suspect many would be willing to forgo the photographs for a lower cover price.  However, with Shafer’s unrelenting standards toward beauty, I have no idea if he’d be willing to consider such a thing.

I also found myself wishing there had been several more chapters on Shafer’s thoughts and experiences with tiny architecture.  I can pretty much guarantee that should he ever publish a longer book on tiny homes, I’ll be the first one in line when it’s released.

All in all, though, The Small House book is a lovely volume and a great addition to the small home literature.

I am delighted to announce the launch of a new bi-weekly webzine, Small Living Journal, which focuses on the Small Home Movement!

Small Living Journal is the joint project of several writers in the small home movement: Greg Johnson, Kent Griswold, Michael Janzen, Tammy from RowdyKittens, Hillary from ThisTinyHouse, Amanda from Constructing a Simpler Life, and myself. Hopefully we may pick up a few more as we go along.

The initial issue provides an introduction to each of the members of the project and how they arrived at their fascination with tiny homes. The next upcoming issue, on April 8th will focus on downsizing.

Granted, I may be a little biased, but I think it’s worth checking out!   SLJ can also be followed via RSS Feed or Twitter.

Eco-Dome is one of those ideas that really grab one’s imagination.  The finished design really conjures up the most exotic imagery of space-age adobe homes. In fact, for most people the Eco-Dome will quickly stimulate the imagination, with its sleek curves and innate possibilities. Cal-Earth and architect Nader Khalili are behind the Eco-Dome concept, which definitely makes use of the energy saving concept of building with what is on hand.

The Eco-Dome idea has a lot going for it.  One of its strong points is that it is very environmentally friendly.  The Eco-Dome concept uses no wood or trees of any kind, instead opting for what are called “Superadobe coils.”  The Superadobe coils are a very interesting idea.  These Superadobe coils are building coils that have been filled with either a mixture of soil and cement or lime and stabilized earth.  In short, with Eco-Dome in turns out that you are building an earth home, partially solidified with lime or cement.  This is a simple idea, but very clever one.

They currently offer plans for both 400 square foot models ($2,400) and 800 square foot models ($3,200).  These prices include no building materials and just cover blueprints and engineering calculations.  However, there is little doubt that a Eco-Dome or Double Eco-Dome could be constructed at greatly reduced rate over a traditional wood or brick and mortar home.

One look at the website’s photos and you realize that the concept has some real power.  This idea could be especially good for warmer climates.  Check out the website at www.calearth.org/EcoDome.htm.

While visiting the site, take a look at one of Khalili’s other concepts for an emergency sandbag shelter.  This structure truly looks like something out of a science fiction film.  The inspiration for the design is to take the beehive or the seashell, which are among the strongest shapes in nature,  and use that as a template.  Khalili states on his site, “The strongest structures in nature which work in tune with gravity, friction, minimum exposure and maximum compression, are arches, domes and vault forms.  And they can be easily learned and utilize the most available material on earth: Earth.”  He makes a great case for his point and illuminates the question, “why don’t we build more this way?”

Each Friday Coming Unmoored will be running a weekly roundup of tiny homes featured on the web and recent news stories that may be of interest to small home enthusiasts.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Tiny Houses Featured in the Past Week:

• Floating Pods
• Sweetwater Bungalows
• Kentucky River Shanty Boat
• Tumbleweed New Vessica
• 1970 Airstream
• MCS Safe Vardo
• Spaces that Play Double Duty
• Method Homes Green Prefab Series
• Timber Frame Tiny House
• Eco Domes

Recent News Stories on Tiny Homes and the Small Home Movement:

• Americans are Moving on Up to Smaller, Smarter Homes (USA Today)
• Venturi Beach House Moved to New Home (New York Times)
• How to Build a Tiny House by Dee Williams (Yes! Magazine)

One of the most exciting developments in small homes is the number of great builders and architects that are joining this quickly growing movement.  Architect Casper Mork-Ulnes and builder Nick Damner are the founders of MODERN CABANA.  They have an innovative and thoughtful approach to small spaces.  Their concept of The Cabana was built around the notion that “adding space should be simple and affordable, yet look great.”  Founded in 2004 in San Francisco, MODERN CABANA has created building options with a surprising degree of flexibility and charm.

There is a lot to like about the MODERN CABANA strategy.  There are five main design options ranging from 10 X10  to 12 X 25,  with prices ranging from $11,500 to $30,980.  Each of these designs comes with the possibility of additional add-ons, such as higher R-value roof and wall insulation, wood or fiberglass French doors and operable side widows.

Some of the larger units come with interesting options such as maple interior wallboard, exposed rafters, environmentally friendly R-13 recycled denim wall insulation, and renewable bamboo flooring.

Part of what makes MODERN CABANA a stand out is that the company has provided customers with a fantastic assembly process.  Most unassembled kits arrive with a multitude of pieces that need to be assembled by the homeowner.  The Cabanas, in contrast, arrive in pre-assembled panels.  Pre-assembled panels are magical words for anyone who has ever had to assemble anything of consequence!

The MODERN CABANA approach to foundation issues, also helps the company stand out above the crowd.  The Cabana’s are built on concrete piers, similar to what one would find in deck construction.  This change is very significant for it bypasses the time consuming, bothersome (and sometimes expensive) prospect of pouring a concrete slab foundation.

There are some issues that will, not surprisingly, have to be addressed by contractors.  For example, electricity is an important feature that needs to be tackled.  Under no circumstances should you try and handle the wiring of your tiny home, or any other home, yourself.  A plumber will also be required to handle installing all plumbing.  It should be noted that bathrooms are only available in the 12X30 and 13X25 units.  The company estimates that installing a bathroom will cost the homeowner about an additional $6,000 dollars.

Anyone considering a tiny home should give MODERN CABANA a serious look.  They have given the entire prefabricated housing concept a great deal of thought, and have created a variety of good options at different price points.  They can even do custom designs.

Check out the website at www.moderncabana.com

Dee Williams, perhaps one of the best known faces of the small home movement behind Jay Shafer, recently wrote an article for Yes! Magazine about the materials she used to build her own 84 square foot tiny home.

Dee designed her house to be a simple and natural as possible and minimized her construction footprint by using several green building techniques. Using recycled and salvaged materials, she spent only $10,000 to build her home, and that includes the cost of a  240-watt photovoltaic (solar) system.

A full copy of the article is available here.  You can also view of video tour of Dee’s lovely little home below.

The most common email I receive from readers of Coming Unmoored are questions on where they can find free tiny home plans.  Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, there’s not much out there in the way of free plans beyond what you can find in the way of designs for backyard sheds.  And even those seem to be limited.

In a prior article we featured the plans made available to the public by the artist Joseph Kenyon.

While I’m fascinated by the tiny home movement, I have no deep, burning design to draw my own designs beyond figuring out how to best configure the space in my own little place. However, I’ve been following Michael Janzen’s experiments in design over at his blog Tiny House Design. Recently Michael has become an absolute mad scientist when it comes to designing things in Google SketchUp.

Since he seems to have a real passion for design (while I do not), I suggested to Michael awhile back that he’d probably be contributing something of great value to the small home movement if he started making some of his designs publicly available to other small home enthusiasts.

I’m excited to say, Michael posted his first free 8 x 8 foot tiny home blueprint last week.  I encourage you to check it out and keep an eye out for additional plans in the future.

Additionall, f you have any suggestions of other sources for small home plans, we’d love it if you shared them!

The official launch date of Jay Shafer’s new tiny house book is April 1st.  However, for the next two weeks you can order an advance release copy via TinyHouseBlog.

The Small House Book is a collection of Shafer’s knowledge and thoughts on designing small homes.  It also includes his personal story and his portfolio of designs.

The book is priced at $36.95 and included several full color photographs.  It’s 7″ x 7″ in size, about a 1/2″ thick, and 197 pages in length.

Admittedly, I’m a huge Jay Shafer groupie, but I think every small house enthusiast should own a copy!  Mine is already on its way.