Nano House: Innovations for Small Dwellings

by Phyllis Richardson

Forty examples of advanced, ingenious, and responsible homes―each with fewer than 650 square feet of living space. Space is at a premium in growing cities. In the countryside, we want to preserve nature and the landscape. In impoverished parts of the world, the necessity for sustainable and economical shelter is stronger than ever. Lifestyles and daily routines are also changing. We live in an interconnected world in which digital communication, information, and entertainment are pervasive. Yet basic human needs remain a roof over our heads and somewhere to cook, eat, and sleep. Increasingly, we look for ways to occupy our habitats more ecologically, flexibly, and efficiently.

Digital design tools, sustainable materials, and new prefabrication technologies have led to an explosion in innovative ideas for designing domestic spaces, particularly those in tight surroundings. All the homes in Nano House are drawn from a broad array of climatic and environmental contexts, building methods, and spatial innovations.

This lively book is the perfect resource and inspiration for designers, architects, builders―for anyone looking to maximize living space with minimal environmental impact. 250 full-color and 50 black-and-white illustrations

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Design

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2011

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading about smart design, whether it's houses or cars or cities, and this book has some neat photographs of tiny houses. I spent a pleasant morning paging through this book and was impressed by the various ways people had managed to build such small and efficient homes. Beautiful photographs, but not as much information as I had hoped.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this from the library. I love the concept--I love the minimalist, neat, spic and span sort of thing. But after reading through it, I got the feeling that most people don't actually live in these homes, they're just design ideas or something.

Even still, I enjoyed flipping through it for the pictures... but there weren't enough of those included for every house, either. :\ I'm going to try Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter next. I haven't read it yet but it seems more like what I'm into/interested in.

[Katie Mcsweeney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book :( I wanted it for maybe three months but couldn't justify spending the money on it. It was waiting under the Xmas tree for me and I was delighted... Until I read it. There wasn't enough information on any of the dwellings and the pictures were insufficient. I would not reccomend anyone else spend money on it. Browse it in the bookshop or the library but don't bother buying it because you won't open it again once you finish.

[Sara Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flipped through the images, mainly, and read some of the details. The book's primary purpose seems to be coffee-table eye candy. Most of the houses really did not have enough information or visuals to be useful, though there were some interesting ideas for materials and mobility.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas here, but most of the homes are far more modern than I like.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting concepts.

[Melanie Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd recommend reading this book AFTER a more basic book about tiny houses, to learn about the houses first and then to cull Nano House for even more variations on a theme. This book has many very cool tiny dwellings from across the world, including an environmental competition in Spain. It's amazing what some of the student teams envision and accomplish with space restrictions. The only thing I missed was the personal element (interviews with those who build and/or live in the houses). Aesthetically, I love the size of this book-- smaller than a coffee table book but with a sturdy, hard cover and full-color photos. :) Overall, an imaginative and practical guide to small houses of various kinds. 3.45/5, so I'll round up to 4. :)

[Hecka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful images of modern and innovative small spaces to live in. I especially loved the places that integrated with nature over the more "apartment styled" city dwellings. Interesting ideas on how to make the most of a smaller space and how to do so efficiently for the environment. I didn't see much mention of the use of hemp in building these Nano homes, which is lame because the book does emphasis on it's environmental concerns about architecture. I went online and followed (stalked) the architects from the book and I was not disappointed. Lots of inspiring people from the world over.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered this book in the "new" section at the Library. The title caught my attention & I just had to see what it was all about. This book provides inspiration for someone who wants to build something that is, "off the beaten track". I have no practical use for it at this present time, however, it was fun to explore the different designs for small dwellings from all over the world. FYI: the internal area of each dwelling is less than 807 sq ft. There are lots of great pictures!

[C.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty book from an architecture stand point but doesn't really fit into the movement of downsizing for simplistic living. A lot of these house were mock houses or vacation homes.
Don't get me wrong- they are beautiful and I'd live in most of them in a heartbeat but this is definitely the more luxurious, lucrative side of the Tiny House movement.

[Cat Fithian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very swanky tiny homes. These would pretty much all cost what my "regular" home cost in Ohio. Not sure it's really any kind of savings, but boy, the pictures are cool. Many of these are for competitions like Solar Decathalon, etc., so they're experimental houses and not necessarily dwellings that people are living in.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I was hoping that more of these would be houses people lived in, and not what just looked like experiments or art projects. And the ones that were really interesting just didn't have enough pictures.

[Wendy Holliday · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sort-of obsessed with tiny houses. ..