Social Bite Homeless Tiny House Village Project Guardian Feature

Social Bite Homeless Tiny House Village Project Observer Feature

Posted on Posted in Architecture, eco-friendly, news, Press, Small House, Social Architecture, sustainability, Tiny House, Tiny House Scotland

Excerpt from the Observer article about Social Bite’s founder Josh Littlejohn:

Half an hour outside Edinburgh, in a tranquil spot in West Lothian, Jonathan Avery sits drinking tea in his prototype NestHouse. It is a dinky place but full of thoughtful touches. There’s a compact, Japanese-style deep-soak bath, a cute mezzanine bedroom with views through a porthole window, and a very hygge wood-burning stove – all within a building just 3.4 metres wide. The exterior is clad in thermo-treated Finnish spruce and the insulated front door clunks shut with the authority of a bank vault. Avery wears rimless spectacles, chunky work boots and a lime-green T-shirt that matches the kitchen chairs and the front door. Is that on purpose? “No, it’s not deliberate,” says Avery. Then he whispers, “Yes it is, it’s deliberate. I’m a designer!”

When Littlejohn first imagined a village for the homeless, he saw the residents living in modified shipping containers. He admits that sounds “a bit shit”, but he’d seen an episode of Grand Designs where a young architect in Northern Ireland welded four together to create a luxury house. But the more Littlejohn investigated it, the more problems he came up against: cutting windows into containers quickly becomes expensive, and the buildings often fight a losing battle against condensation. “We could have done a glorified shed quite easily,” he says, “but it just would have failed because I think the living environment has to inspire change.”

A Social Bite employee found Avery’s website, Tiny House Scotland, and forwarded it to Littlejohn. Avery had been inspired to build his NestHouse after reading about the “tiny house” boom in the US. The movement was born as a response first to Hurricane Katrina and then to the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008: small (under 500 sq ft), cheap and cheerful accommodation that could be moved around if needs be.

Jonathan Avery of Tiny House Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Observer
Jonathan Avery of Tiny House Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Observer

 

 

Avery, 55, had personal experience of the economic downturn: he had been looking to expand his high-end kitchen design company, which had shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow, into London, but his bank suddenly declined to support him. He closed the business and decided to work on a smaller scale. Then Littlejohn and Social Bite came along. “It’s funny,” says Avery, “because going back to my furniture business 15 years ago, I’d have been making these for rich Edinburgh clients as a playhouse in the garden. Now I’m not so keen on that. There are other ways to use architecture; it should have a reason and a purpose.”

With a house design found, Littlejohn’s village started to take shape…

Read the full article.

Small Homes the new book from Shelter Publications / Lloyd Kahn

NestHouse features in Small Homes New from Lloyd Kahn

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Nesthouse, Press, Small House

I am very happy that my NestHouse has ended up in Lloyd Kahn’s new book - Small Homes - the Right Size - on sale as of 1st April 2017. Especially having heard Lloyd speak in Kirkcaldy last year. Shelter’s first building book in three years, it covers homes from 400-1200 sq. ft., smaller than a typical American home, and larger than a tiny home - in other words - just right! There are 65 buildings shown, with a variety of designs, materials, and locations.

 

From Lloyd Kahn: This is, I think, the best building book we’ve ever done. (Yes, I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it keeps re-occurring to me.) Shelter is everyone’s favorite; it captured the times; it inspired thousands of homes. Builders of the Pacific Coast is in some ways, my best book. It’s an odyssey of discovery where the reader rides shotgun with me over a two-year period — cohesive and focused.

BUT Small Homes is so useful to so many people in this era of astronomical home prices and rents, that I think it’s hugely important. It offers alternatives to people looking for rentals on Craigslist or homes on Zillow. Here are 65 very different homes, of different materials, in different parts of the world. The idea, as with all our building books is to use your hands to create your own shelter.

Small Homes the new book from Shelter Publications / Lloyd Kahn
Small Homes the new book from Shelter Publications / Lloyd Kahn
The Bathe Module in the NestHouse.

NestHouse Bathe Module

Posted on Posted in Nesthouse, Small House, Tiny House

I have finally photographed the bathroom in the NestHouse Bathe Module - no easy feat due to its ultra-compact nature!

James at Omnitub.
James at Omnitub.

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!

NestHouse bathe Module - basin and deep soak bath.
NestHouse bathe Module - basin and deep soak bath.
Visit the NestHouse for a Tiny Consultation!

Private Visit & Consultation at the NestHouse

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Design, Nesthouse, Small House, Tiny House

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.

Book your visit here.

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.

København - the place to experience the essence of hygge.

NestHouse hygge house!

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Houses, Small House, Tiny House

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.

Read the full article here…

Tiny House Scotland's NestHouse features in Campfire Magazine.

Feature in Campfire Magazine

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Nesthouse, Small House, Tiny House

 

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.

Jonathan's hand crafted interior of the NestHouse prototype from Tiny House Scotland.

Sneak peek at the NestHouse interior!

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Design, Small House, Tiny House

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.

Summer Midnight at The NestHouse

The NestHouse at Midnight

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Cabins, Nesthouse, Small House, sustainability

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 in it's new location next to the orchard.

The NestHouse meets new friends!

Posted on Posted in Architecture, eco-friendly, Nesthouse, Small House

We had a family party this weekend with friends and family travelling long distances to visit and celebrate Jo’s birthday. As a by-product, this also amounted to the NestHouse’s debut public event with around 40 curious party-goers taking the tour!

Mind you, it has had quite a few previous visits at various stages of construction by potential clients, but not in it’s new location and virtually finished (we won’t mention the bathroom yet!).

It was an exhausting but rewarding couple of hours showing people around and explaining the ideas behind the NestHouse. The feedback was tremendous and at times embarrassingly fulsome and gushing (for me)! Those familiar with my design styling and details over the years certainly spotted them and declared it totally “Jonathan”. There were several people ready to “move in immediately” and a couple of possible sales leads too. All in all a reassuring debut for the project…I’m a happy boy!!

Lloyd Kahn Talks Shelter in Kirkcaldy

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Cabins, Design, eco-friendly, Small House, sustainability, wood

I have been looking forward to this for a while and it was not a disappointment! Lloyd Kahn is in the back of many self-builders’ cerebral toolboxes for his seminal works as Editor in Chief of Shelter Publications, California. His 1973 book ‘Shelter‘ is an incredibly detailed catalogue of building techniques through the ages, illustrated with the personal stories and evocative photos of small houses and cabins collected on his travels throughout the USA and Canada as well as Ireland and the UK. It sits alongside my copy of Christopher Alexander’s ‘Pattern Language’ at the core of my own inspirational library, so it was a real thrill to hear Himself speak of his life publishing, building, surfing and skateboarding. Yes skateboarding! - in fact he only stopped skateboarding this year when he broke his arm…and let me just point out he is 81 - what a cool dude!!!

We started the evening with at a reception at the Kirkcaldy Galleries to see the exhibition ‘Shelters’ curated by Bobby Niven from the Bothy Project and instigated by Fife Contemporary Art & Craft. This fascinating touring exhibition features what turns out to be small selection of the vast body of work collected by Lloyd over the decades.

We then moved on to the Adam Smith Theatre for the main event of the night - Lloyd’s talk. It started with a thought-provoking introduction from Bernard Planterose about Lloyd, Self-Building, small Houses and the recent excellent progress of Reforesting Scotland’s Thousand Huts campaign. Bobby Niven then spoke in glowing terms about Lloyds impact on his own work before introducing Lloyd who spoke for over an hour with a superb selection of slides, anecdotes and pithy truisms.

It’s no wonder Lloyd is a legend…from his involvement in the Whole Earth Catalog - the American counter-culture’s magazine and eco-product catalogue published by Stewart Brand, Lloyd started building timber frame structures then turned to geodesic domes when these were the coolest thing in California and beyond! He subsequently wrote 2 bestselling books about domes but then when he realised that they really didn’t work, characteristically withdrew them from publication and went back to timber framing! As he said “admitting I was wrong was a major step forward in my life”.

We finished up with an enthusiastic Q and A and then after hearty applause wandered away into the gloaming of Kirkcaldy War Memorial Gardens with twinkling fairy lights in the blossom heavy cherry trees and more than just a sense that we had witnessed something truly special - an ongoing celebration of Lloyd Kahn’s fifty years being inspired by building with wood and natural materials and the complex art of creating simple shelter whilst inspiring generations of self builders to be creative themselves.

Lloyd Kahn talk
Lloyd Kahn talk

Kitchen Sneak Peek

Posted on Posted in Furniture, Nesthouse, news, Small House

The NestHouse kitchen is now finished, so here is a tiny house tiny detail to hopefully whet your appetite!

I suppose it’s a new interpretation of one of my Jonathan Avery kitchens, but this time with the added contrast of natural plywood edge finish to my usual JA Paint colours. I am amazed and flattered to still be getting Kitchen enquiries (6 years after we closed production!!)… but regret to say that JA Kitchens are ONLY available as part of a NestHouse from Tiny House Scotland.

I am now moving on to the larder storage area and under stair storage/furniture modules. Not far now!