Design

Over the past year I have seen many tiny house plans designed by Architects. These plans are mostly experimental, intended to stretch the envelope and catch some buzz. I would however not be able to characterize most of these plans as live-able however. See my posts New Small House Plan Available Today! and New Tube House Lands From Outer Space! for instance. But here comes a very small home design by Architect Toyo Ito and Associates that I might be able to see used as a second home, or a first home for a single or young couple. It is out there a bit with it's metal skin and modern shape. But inside is a workable studio plan that can accommodate living, cooking, eating and sleeping. The extensive use of wood really warms up the interiors. And an entire wall of glass brings the outdoors in. By the way - if you are looking for real honest workable house plans check out the following: small house plans

I live in  the  Twin Cities area of Minneapolis / St.Paul ,  where we have one of the  largest Parade of Home tours in the country.  Every year I look through all of the Parade offerings to see if I can identify any new trends. A couple of things have struck me;  1) how  very similar many of these house s  are and 2)  this  economy  can   not be a great environment for  many home  builders.    The question begs to be asked;    i f you are   by-and-large  building  the same house as your competition, how is  your   much sought after  customer going to decide which  house to purchase?      Right ,   pretty much on price alone.     This doesn't seem like a good business formula to me. As an architect  I have worked with a number of builders that understand the benefits of  a creative and well thoug...