A small ‘ecological footprint’ normally indicates that a person occupies little ecological space on earth. But you can also take the concept literally and design your Tiny House on a super small footprint. The result is that you probably have to go up, but that also opens up new possibilities. Refunc and Smaller Architects show that you can build fantastic freestanding small houses with this.
Refunc in Berlin
A second life for a grain silo, but then as a home. That is a special design challenge. Jan Körbes has taken up the challenge and built his own mini skyscraper, including a climbing wall. “That saves another subscription to the gym.”
Jan wanted to build a house with a minimal ecological footprint. He has used an old grain silo and a lot of recycled material. The executive designer built this silo shed in Scheveningen back in 2013 with Denis Oudendijk, his business partner at Refunc. The mobile silo with a floor space of 13 m2 is now very satisfactory in Berlin. Jan lives there with his daughter and calls their place Silo City.
“The design is somewhere between a submarine, a house, a spaceship and a shelter.” says Jan. He got an old grain silo from a farmer and turned it into a real house.”
The passionate architect says: “I grew up on boats. That has almost more impact on my work than my architecture education.” Jan’s affinity with the boat world is reflected everywhere in the design. The way in which he designs his storage space, the handy multifunctional furniture and the smart layout, so that every cm2 is used. Even the line for the lifting bucket is clamped in a sheet block, a tool that you normally only see on sailing boats.”
Refunc has made many more special projects, which you can admire here: Refunc.nl
Photocredits: refunc.nl
Seroro in Seoul
Seroro means vertical. The rooms of this house are stacked, so the residents live vertically, including free workout climbing stairs. Seroro is located in the heart of Seoul, where land prices are extremely high. But this piece of land was so small that there seemed little development potential and the price fell to an acceptable level. A young couple took the courageous decision to build their first home here. Architect Minwook Choi of Smaller Architects says: “This location has many advantages and is convenient to public transport lines, a park and the fortress wall of the old city of Seoul.”
The house was designed by stacking the rooms vertically and planning a room on each floor. You will find the parking lot on the ground floor. With an outside staircase you then reach:
the first floor, a living room with rest area,
the second floor, a kitchen with dining area,
the third floor, a bedroom with the second rest room,
and the fourth floor, a dressing room with a bathtub.
The size of each floor is 16 square meters.
Minwook Choi: “The young couple spends most of their daytime on the first and second floors. They move to the third and fourth floors for the night.”
Creating 5 floors within a home is not common. Still, it’s fine. Minwook Choi: “It turns out to be just as comfortable as any other house. The residents are even starting to appreciate the health aspect of climbing stairs.”
But there is also enough space to retreat to your own room. Even with a pet, in this case a cat, you are fully equipped.
Photocredits: Byun Jongseok
This article is an adaptation for TinyFindy of an article that Marcel wrote for Klein Wonen Magazine.
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