Tiny Houses

by Mimi Zeiger

With “McMansions” increasingly giving way to “tiny” houses, the desire to downsize and be more ecologically and economically prudent is a concept many are beginning to embrace. Focusing on dwelling spaces all under 1,000 square feet, TINY HOUSES (Rizzoli, April 2009) by Mimi Zeiger aims to challenge readers to take a look at their own homes and consider how much space they actively use.
Ranging from tree houses to floating houses, TINY HOUSES features an international collection of over thirty modular and prefab homes, each one embodying “microgreen living”, defined as the creation of tiny homes where people challenge themselves to live “greener” lives. By using a thoughtful application of green living principles, renewable resources for construction, and clever ingenuity, these homes exemplify sustainable living at its best.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Design, Art, Photography

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2009

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both satisfying and irritating. Satisfying because the trend (if there is one) toward smaller and more sustainable is a good thing (although I don't believe for a minute that sustainability is happening in any major way in the U.S.), and because smallness is cuteness. Irritating because affordability is never mentioned here (how much does each project cost per square foot? - smaller doesn't automatically mean cheaper), because some of these seem only architects' vanity projects, some of them seem to be the whimsies of rich people (the gorgeous tree house), and most of them are situated in either lovely rural/wilderness areas or dense urban areas, both of which have high land costs. None of these tiny houses, for example, sit between a Wal-mart and a barbeque joint in Arkansas. They're more likely to have stunning views of fjords, or perch next to rushing streams. (Most are in Europe.) The projects range from 1800 sq.ft. to 10 sq.ft. (that one's a gimmick - it's a box containing flat furniture that you unpack and assemble - house not provided). A lot of the smallest houses are prefab, driven to the site and assembled. Many are updated "trailer park" or pod-style housing. Which, in today's economy, I think is a good thing. People obviously need to have smaller, cheaper options; but not everything here is actually livable, or even actually housing.

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been fascinated by tiny living spaces - ships quarters, train cars, and little houses. My wildest dreams are realized with the trend of "tiny houses," lighter on the environment with their small footprints, more beautiful than conventional houses because the owners are spending on design, not a two or three car garage. Can you imagine how my heart swelled when my adorable wife checked this book out from the library and put it into my hands? All she said was, "I thought you might like this," and I'm all over again the world's luckiest person. This book is an essay on some of today's most lovely tiny homes. The book starts with the largest homes and works down to the smallest. I was alarmed before I realized this, especially since the first pages are homes at/around/above 1100 square feet. Our own house is in this category, and while it is definitely small, it is far from the truly tiny. Anyway, once the book dipped down below 1000 square feet, the wonderfulness of clever design exploded. The final entry in the book - a 10 foot squared "home," actually flat packed furniture - is cheating, and not in the spirit of the project, but everything else is cool. I only wish there were more pictures alongside more interviews, anecdotes, stories, and homes.

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

jared picked this up for me at the library because he knows that i am obsessed with tiny houses. if i was still single, i would totally buy one of those tiny little victorians that people set up in, like, their uncle's driveway or whatever. but i can't do that as long as i live with jared because he likes to pile enormous stacks of books, papers, dishes, clothing, shoes, curtains, tools, etc on every available surface. i couldn't live with the clutter in a smaller space.

this book is mostly just photographs of tiny houses, defined by the editor as houses that clock in under 1000 square feet. this took me aback. jared & i measured our own house, which is a one-bedroom bungalow most likely built in the 1920s. it's between 700 & 800 square feet. so technically, it's a tiny house. i don't feel like i live in a tiny house though. i feel like i live in a one-bedroom house. it really doesn't seem any smaller than most apartments i've lived in. & it's considerably larger than some...anyway.

combine the rather large "tiny house" footprint with the fact that the author was much more interested in aesthetics than functionality, & you have a coffee table book full of so-called tiny houses that are completely uninhabitable. sure, people can & in some cases do live in some of the house, but a lot of them are just architecture experiments--people mucking around with green materials or unusual window treatments or whatever. i don't really care about architecture so i did not find this remotely exciting. my interest in tiny houses comes from wondering how much space is really enough for a person to live a normal, satisfying life. i think that if you have to find a backyard to park your house in with a friend who will let you use their bathroom, it doesn't count. if you can't cook in your tiny house & there's no cold storage for, like, a gallon of milk, i don't want to hear about it. if you can't live in it when it's snowing or when it's the dead of summer because it's not weather-tight/appropriately insulated, i'm done. pretty much every tiny house in this book was an exhibition piece for an archutectural firm or some kind of weird art project. ugh.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where to start on this review? It is a space (although small) so ripe for comment:
1) Why on Earth did I read this book? I saw it while browsing at the library website and thought the concept of designing a home to be space efficient would be interesting and educational. The weird use of space in homes bugs me (I want more of this and less of that), so I was interested to see what was in this book.
2) The pictures: were frequently lovely and sometimes reflected the space well but other times left me really wondering where the person was standing and wanting more details on the dwelling. The floor plan illustrations were confusing to me at times, which is odd, because normally I'm fine reading floor plans. I still don't know what I was missing there.
3) The "houses" themselves: many interesting, a few had very useful and creative uses of space, and many struck me as an architect's Utopian fantasy that had nothing to do with reality. Allow me to sample: "Essentially it is an oxidized steel-clad box, lined with fir on the interior. There is no electricity and no internal bathroom. But what the house lacks in amenities it makes up for in design and materials." REALLY???!!! (And before anyone gets all "well, in third world countries..." on me, bear in mind that this home is a prefab housing unit in Wisconsin built in 2004. I'm suspecting there isn't a huge market for this home.)

Oddly, it was actually this third point that made this book worth reading. Just for the voyeuristic joy of ogling some really bizarre dwellings (including one in Belgium built "in a former red light district and outfitted with an entirely glass facade," with colorful neon lights around each window to ensure that passersby notice the structure, the inhabitants, and the unenclosed toilet.

Many of the homes leave me saying, "Huh???"

3/5

[Lexidh Solstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very few actual homes. And apparently the place I lived in for 16 years is considered tiny... I had no idea!

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm into the smaller/tiny house trend, and this book has some lovely eye candy (designed by architects, to show other architects how cool they are), but... half of the houses I consider non-livable. Sorry, but a house in which "cooking and bathing" are to be done outside doesn't cut it. Huge houses have gotten away from the idea of shelter. But doing the same with small houses doesn't help the cause. An indoor toilet, shower and cooking are pretty much non-negotiable basics in the US for most of us. We're not going back to a privy and cooking over a campfire. (Have you been in third world cities where people cook outside? Talk about pollution!) Let's not get confused with some kind of primitive/camping/utopian ideal — it's not a long term solution. (One example from the book, Watershed, had a low window to watch the "tunnels under the studio [that] serve as small homes for reptiles..." Read snakes for us regular people. Where I live those are rattlesnakes, and you don't want them cozying up under your house.) We can't convince people to go smaller without a practical vision. And that's not a contradiction in terms, either. Some notable examples in this book: Lowerline residence, Slothouse, Delta shelter, Option house, Minihome solo and Weebee house are all worth a look. For real life examples check out http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/ (Makers of the Weebee house)

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was a very fun book to read. Also i loved looking at all the pictures of them and there explanation of how they live in it.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though true to its name, Tiny Houses read (and looked) more like a minimalist architect's wet dream than a book about the DIY, low-impact ethos of the tiny house movement. While the introduction to the book calls out the “microgreen side of sustainable architecture”—and indeed many of the houses featured in the book are prefabricated and mobile, treading lightly on the environment—few of the structures are attainable for less than the cost of a standard house. The prefab, off-grid Arado WeeHouse, for instance, comes with a steep $60,000 price tag.

Looking for a book of gorgeously architected, minimally decorated homes with small footprints? Five stars.

Looking for a book that inspires the average citizen to pack up their wasteful suburban lifestyle and build a tiny eco-home of their own? This isn't the book for you.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

In comparison to Zeiger's other two books on tiny houses - Micro Green: Tiny Houses in Nature and Tiny Houses in the City - I'd give this one third place; the modern, often sterile feeling, designs seemed to value aesthetics over functionality which, in my opinion, doesn't support the heart of a tiny house's purpose. Plus the cost to build the designs featured in Tiny Houses had to be huge. So, again, not in line with my ideas for tiny living.

2 stars

[Juliezs · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a terrific little book about tiny houses. Such a vast array of architectural styles are represented from intentionally small houses from around the world. A short discussion about the new trend to make small houses on purpose instead of just ever expanding our house size. The three R's reduce, reuse, recycle does start with reduce after all.
Some construction details or reasons for construction decisions made are included for each house. A real emphasis on celebrating beautiful and functional innovative design. The photography is lush, dense and just lovely. There are so many houses in here that I would love to live in. (But, sigh, where would I ever put all my stuff though?)

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but I have to agree with some of the other commentators who complained that some of the houses weren't really livable due to not having basic stuff like kitchens and bathrooms. For me, the fascinating thing about tiny houses is seeing how they can manage to fit all stuff you need for a home - living, sleeping, dining/cooking areas, and bathroom facilities into such a small area. It's pretty easy to make a tiny house that doesn't have a kitchen or bathroom. For me, a one-room building with no electricity or plumbing doesn't really count as a proper house. It's fine as an art project or whatever, but no one is actually going to want to live there full-time.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun "picture book," almost like a miniature coffee table book. The book consists of photos of environmentally friendly tiny houses. These small wonders don't leave much of a carbon footprint on the earth. My personal favorite was the one-bedroom (really a sleeping loft) Weebee House. It is sooo cute. I can picture it on a nice piece of seacoast property. Well, I can dream, can't I?

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost coffee table like, however don't be deceived by all the pictures. I found myself pouring over this book multiple times, not able to return it to the library. Some of the architecture is just incredible, and other times, a bit weird. My favorites tended to be the houses that incorporated a lot of nature into the structure. I was proud to find two of the houses I liked the most (including the cover shot) were buildings located in my home state of Washington! Definitely worth checking out.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this quickly in Powell's Books in Portland last night while waiting for a relative to finish shopping. I'm planning to order it and read it again, more slowly, because it's fascinating. It's hard, but possible, to imagine that someday, all homes may look like this. And that we could be better off because of it.

[Ali O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm fascinated by TINY houses, and love that this book was truly about tiny houses -- a few books on small homes I've come across has included homes in the high 2000 square footage!!!

I love the story blurbs for each house, and that the author found such unique homes to spotlight, but I wish there was more info, and that the layout of the homes were made more clear.

[Dree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book profiles a selection of tiny (and not so tiny) houses with beautiful detailed photography to show highlights.

Thisis an interesting book, but my beef is that they are not all tiny houses. Some certainly are, but others are either not tiny (1200 sf, really?), or they are more appropriately called vacation cabins.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although there is nothing revolutionary here, this is a great collection of small homes. What I appreciate is the sheer variety: urban and rural settings, an international scope, from simple boxes to artistic statements, and a wide variety of aesthetic languages.

[Elizabeth Simons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photos, but not enough on any one house to get a feel for what they are like. Was able to follow up on web with some of favorites for more photos and info. Many of the designs were art projects and not practical houses

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome. It shows how every square foot matters, and every inch of a house can be useful (when there aren't many, they have to be). The sheer cleverness of the designs is amazing, and it really makes me realize how much stuff I have.

[Amanda Radak · Rating 2 out of 5]

They have an interesting definition of "house" as some of these are simply a study or art studio. There is nowhere to sleep or way to prepare/store food.

On the other hand some of them exceed 1000, which I'd call a small house, but doesn't require the same ingenuity I expect in "tiny" houses.

[Kacper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice pictures!

[Jennybeast · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish there had been more pictures of the interiors, so that you can get a sense of what they looked like.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiny, spartan, mostly not what I want in a house. I like the idea of building a small house, but maybe not this small...

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with 100% dreams.

[Miss M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice picture book to browse through, but I was looking for more detailed information.

[Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to dress how they dress in The Sartorialist and I want to live in one of these Tiny Houses, preferably the Snee-oosh Cabin or La Maison Flottante. Other than that, I'm really happy.

[AngelLeah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had beautiful pictures but wasn't what I expected. There was very little pictures of layouts. I was hoping for a book with great ideas for building my own tiny house.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

WANT.

[Cat Fithian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bonus points for including little sketches of floor plans.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but the houses tend to be "art installations" more often than they are places you could actually live. Yet - pretty pictures.