Tiny House - Nothing new really!
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?
Tag: tiny house
The Big Issue - Tiny Houses
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.
Feature in Campfire Magazine
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.
The NestHouse at Midnight
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
Moon rise over the NestHouse
I am currently building and fitting the bespoke Jonathan Avery kitchen…not far to go!
Tiny Home Sweet Home
The UN predicts that by 2060 66% of the world’s population will live in urban environments. One of the biggest challenges ahead of us is meeting housing requirements for this tribe of city dwellers. Space is limited and expensive so some home developers are thinking small. How does this help as we also consider the needs of those currently without a home?
Last night saw an audience of over 80 people at an Edinburgh International Science Festival discussion hosted by architecture author Jane Field-Lewis, to discuss the hot topic of Tiny Home Living.
Tiny House Scotland’s NestHouse prototype was featured in a presentation by Susan Carleton, a proponent of affordable small housing solutions, as the only moveable modular small eco-house currently being developed in Scotland!
Dr Mike Page from the University of Hertfordshire discussed the Cube Project - now on its second outing to the Science Festival, while Dr Caroline Brown of Heriot Watt University discussed the planning and social implications of small space living. The benefits of a small form factor for disaster relief housing was outlined by Julia Glenn of Extremis Technology. It was great to see the potential of serious small housing getting some attention in the UK!
Squirrel takes shelter in Tiny House!
One of the local grey squirrels sought shelter on the bird table today during a rain shower. Snacks and a roof - what’s not to like?!
2016 - what’s happening at Tiny House Scotland?
What’s the state of play at Tiny House Scotland as we enter 2016? Well I’ve had a restful break over the Xmas period after building non-stop for the previous five months.
The NestHouse prototype is now fully finished externally - I finally got on to the lathe over Christmas and turned the roof finials (no, really, turning IS restful and meditative!!) so they are now in place on the roof - the last tick on that list!
So now I have to get my act together and crack on with the inside. The shell is complete and the interior spruce ply lining has already been cut and fitted, first fix electrics are all in place, the stairs to the sleeping loft are complete and the bathroom door is built. Now I just need to make the final decisions for the decoration of the panels - some will be natural and some will be painted.
After that it should be plain sailing to do the final fit-out. Well maybe not plain sailing; this is a prototype after all - so there are still a lot of decisions to be made, decisions which are fundamental to the ethos of the project. The electrics are 240 volt from an external 16amp pluggable supply but I will be adding a hybrid solar feed to this to allow off-grid use as well.
There is a wood stove to fit and a Jonathan Avery kitchen - the first in a while! In fact I think I will be building all the furniture for this NestHouse even though there will be very little actually built-in as I prefer a much freer and less caravan-like environment with freestanding, comfortable furniture - I have even designed a sofa so it looks as though I will be upholstering as well!
For those of you who have been following the project from the start, I hope to be able to unveil the finished NestHouse over the next few months, sorry but there will not be any photographs of the inside until it is sufficiently complete. There are orders for two more NestHouses in the pipeline… so it’s going to be a busy year!! Happy New Year to all!
(g) Utter Heaven!
The eagerly anticipated Swedish steel guttering has arrived from Lindab - it is superbly engineered and looks gorgeous. Utter heaven / gutter heaven!
NestHouse in the rain
The NestHouse is certainly beginning to look more complete externally. . .
Autumn Glory
The rear elevation of the NestHouse 4.8 from Tiny House Scotland basking in the autumn sun and colours. Another day or so and I should be finished with the exterior…just awaiting delivery of the gutters and downpipes…and then onto internal matters. Looking forward to working in the dry!
The NestHouse Moveable Small House…actually moves!
Moveable Modular Small House System from Tiny House Scotland
Central to the NestHouse concept is the ability to actually move the house when desired….well I am pleased to say the prototype has passed its moveability trials with flying colours!! Time to get on with the external cladding and turn this weird looking UFO into a proper wooden house!
There’s still another 2 tons to add to the build - it’s currently 5 tons - so a bigger tractor may be required!
NestHouse prototype is taking shape.
The NestHouse prototype is taking shape! It’s kind of under wraps though…literally!! Housewrap!
Moveable Modular Small House System - codenamed NestHouse!
I am currently working on my prototype NestHouse Moveable Modular Small House system. This will be available in three lengths, 3.6/4.8/6.0m and two widths: 2.4m Tiny House (road towable) and 3.2m Small House (mobile on site). They range from 8.6m2 - 32.7m2.
I am aiming to have the production version available for sale from September 2015…watch this space for news!
Henry David Thoreau
A clue to the path Tiny House Scotland is taking….
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
1854 - Henry David Thoreau outlines his project: a two-year, two-month, and two-day stay at a cozy, “tightly shingled and plastered”, English-style 10′ × 15′ cottage in the woods near Walden Pond.
Sparrow condo’s from Tiny House Scotland
After seeing a great piece by the RSPB on trying to help our beleaguered House Sparrows by putting up communal nest boxes - I decided it was time to ‘Practice what you preach’! These cute little birds were a very common site when I was a child - always nesting and chattering around the eaves of the house, but as with many other species they have fallen on hard times and the way we build now does not give them the same nesting opportunities.
We have quite a population of house sparrows here at Shangri La Farm - usually in and around the beech hedge but I don’t know where they actually nest. So as an act of solidarity with the RSPB I rattled up a triple nest box for them…its just scrap OSB but it will be well sheltered under the house eaves…I have finished it with a coat of Osmo’s superb Country Colour which is very similar to Falu red.
OMG#tinyhouse all in a row ha ha - Tiny House Scotland - IS a housing developer after all!!!
