I am delighted to have the NestHouse featured on one of the USA’s biggest tiny house blogs Tiny House Talk. For any of you interested in small living - there is a lot of inspiration on their site!
You can see the article here.
I am now building my next prototype, this time directly for a client - it’s called the NestPod - a road towable multipurpose tiny house on wheels.
This one is going to be 6.6m long x 2.55m wide and will be the progenitor for an additional range from Tiny House Scotland. With lengths from 3.6m to 7m and many conceptually similar features to the NestHouse they will be built to the same high specification.
We are well into the design and concept phase and it’s going to be an exciting journey!
There may be some teasers available along the way - check the blog or Facebook page.
I have finally photographed the bathroom in the NestHouse Bathe Module - no easy feat due to its ultra-compact nature!
The bath is a superb Japanese style deep soak tub from Omnitub which is only 1050mm long.
The Omnitub is a high spec. superbly crafted product and although very compact, it is much deeper than a standard bath so the theory is, you can submerge up to your neck. It might not be to all tastes and you could easily have a shower cubicle in its place - but the beauty of a prototype is being abled to experiment with such things and follow one’s instincts!
The only element missing in the bathroom now is the toilet. I have researched every form of composting toilet to death; several times!!
The problem is I am still not convinced by any of them - from the £20 bucket to £3500 incinerating types. We have had long discussions about poo, wee and skid marks (!!!) and I am still of the mind that if the Romans could do toilets why should we go back to the stone age? OK, that’s not strictly correct, but for me personally, the idea of a waterless toilet (excepting ‘Long Drops’) is just foul. Anyway that’s just the tip of the pooberg, I wasn’t intending to discuss this at length here…just show the Bathe module!
Tiny House Scotland is now offering a more structured Visit & Consultation at the NestHouse.
So if you are contemplating commissioning a build from TIny House Scotland or are preparing to self-build, or perhaps you are just curious about Tiny Houses, why not come and receive a one-on-one guided tour of the NestHouse followed by a two hour consultation to discuss your own project.
You can pick Jonathan’s brains and benefit from the two years worth of research and development that has produced the NestHouse as well as his 30 plus years as a craftsman, designer and builder.
In line with his passion for Small Living and its potential place as a solution in the housing crisis, Jonathan is also happy to host tailored visits and talks for non-profit educational and environmental organisations.
Hygge (pronounced “Hoo-guh”) is a Danish word which far from having a single translation is an umbrella term for the Danish ritual of enjoying life’s simple pleasures - friends, family, graciousness, contentment, good feelings, a warm glow; in short a sense of well-being! It actually originates from a Norwegian word meaning well-being and found its way into Danish writing in the 18th century.
Hygge is intrinsic to the Danish lifestyle - the long cold winters and up to 17 hours of darkness mean spending a lot of time indoors staying warm and cosy! It works best when there is not too much empty space around you - an intimate space - in which you can feel cosy, relaxed and try to forget life’s worries - concentrating on the moment and sharing basic pleasures with family or friends, often over coffee, beer, pastries or other treats.
Things seem to be coming full circle…I’ve been designing small tiny houses for a long time now; I drew this one in 1995!
Sign of things to come?
It is great to see Tiny House architecture being seriously explored as a potential tool in the context of homelessness, NFA (no fixed abode) and the Housing Crisis. I did an interview with the Big Issue last week and the NestHouse and I have been featured in the article.
This all chimes very much with my own view that Tiny and Small Houses whilst they may invariably elicit an “ooh how cute!” response, could have a more weighty purpose for certain housing groups. They are not holiday cabins, sheds or caravans but proper houses, so if we can iron out the Planning and Building Regulations issues (sigh/groan) there is tremendous potential for first time buyers, empty nesters, rural homesteaders as well as social housing applications in the community rental sector.
I for one am committed to fighting this corner and have several proposals simmering away for the NestHouse which would benefit society at large.
Please support the Big Issue - digital download available here.
Online version of article here.
I am super-stoked (!) that my NestHouse will be featured in Lloyd Kahn’s next book which is currently in preparation. Called ‘Small Houses’ it is the latest in an influential line of architectural tomes which have formed the backbone of ecological self builders’ inspiration world-wide for decades.
Here are some of my favourite Lloyd Kahn books:
I received some lovely appreciative comments in a blog post the other day. It is very gratifying as a designer/maker to create objects that people relate to and treasure; I suppose it gives meaning to my instinct for fine detailing…putting love and care into creating a tangible, object-based language. Furthermore such things create relationships…Ruth and Young were Jonathan Avery clients who we have come to consider dear friends and whose exploits we love to follow still, even though they are now in Tasmania - read Ruth’s excellent writing at DorkyMum.
The NestHouse and I are happy to have been featured in an article in Campfire - the online magazine for those who love the outdoors. They have written an excellent little article about Tiny Houses which gives a good contextual overview of this US phenomenon which has been part of my inspiration to create an innovative and sustainable new housing form.
Read the article in Campfire Magazine.
Happy 4th of July to all our American Tiny House friends!
image ©jonathan avery 2016
Just to flag up a potential resource for all those interested in the Tiny House Movement as it develops in the UK; this page is an excellent grapevine for possible communal efforts to create a tiny house community etc.
I would love to see a small group of NestHouses together!
You can join the Facebook Group here.
Thanks for the amazing feedback on the last post - I am humbled and amazed!! It’s hard work being self-motivated on such a comprehensive project for so long, so it’s great to find that maybe I haven’t gone mad and lost the plot! PS. there’s a full size shot in the gallery.
So here’s a view in the opposite direction towards the bathroom and sleeping loft. I am still working on the sleeping loft although it’s not far off, but the bathroom is still a bomb site having been finished once and then redesigned and ripped apart again (twice!) - oh well, that’s what prototypes are for!
#tinyhouse #TinyHouseScotland #affordablehousing #sustainability
I have been working on the interior photography of the main space in the NestHouse this week - so here’s an early release to whet your appetite!
Now you could just have your NestHouse completed to shell finish - so it is ready for you to furnish, or, I could design and custom build every furniture item in the house - as demonstrated in the prototype; total Jonathan Avery style from inside to outside! More photos to follow soon - checkout the gallery.
I had a delightful twilight photoshoot with the NestHouse last night - here’s a preview! I suppose it is a bit if a sneak peek of that well kept secret - the interior… I hope it looks inviting?!
See this image full size in the gallery.
image ©Jonathan Avery 2016 All rights reserved
#tinyhouse #nesthouse #tinyhousescotland #affordablehousing #sustainability
The NestHouse and I have just been featured in an article at the on-line Tiny Living Magazine by US journalist Pamela Palongue who visited me in February.
It’s called “The House That Jonathan Built” - Read the full article here.