Madrid architect Camino Alonso compares her 290-square-foot prefab house to a Monopoly game piece. Designed for two–and portable, no less–it’s so cleverly laid out that there’s plenty of storage. Really.
If you have a spot to put it–and live within driving distance of the Madrid factory that makes it–you can buy your own tiny house. Prices start at €21,900 (about $24,000).
The secret to making the space feel airy? High ceilings. With its steep roof line, the house departs deliberately from the cargo-container look. After we spotted the design on Architizer, we had to take a look around.
Photography via íbaton Architects.
Above: Alonso, a partner at íbaton Architects, based her design on the silhouette of the house piece in Monopoly: “It doesn’t belong to any certain culture, but anybody would understand it as a house,” she told Architizer.
Above: The prefab gets delivered via flatbed truck and takes only a day to assemble. The design received Architizer’s A+ Award for Living Small and Single-Family House.
Above: The facade has gray cement boards over a timber frame and works well in both natural and urban settings. In contrast, interior panels are whitewashed Spanish fir, and the frames of the large window and door are black steel.
Above: Thanks to the pitched roof, the ceiling at its height is 11.5 feet. “We studied the proportions to make sure that the sensation when you’re sitting in the sitting room is a sensation of being in a house,” says Alonso.
Above: A side wall is detailed with a center window that swings outward to open.
Above: The house features stealth storage, including built-in shelves and cabinets, and is available in a variety of floor plans, all with bath, kitchen, and bedroom.
Above: The mini (but lofty) kitchen.
Above: Alonso’s prefab is ready for delivery six to eight weeks after an order is placed. For more information, including options for solar panels and water tanks, go to íbaton.
Would you like to live small? Some of our favorite cabins and cottages are tiny. For instance:
- The Studio Apartment, Garage Edition
- A Tuscan Cliffside Aerie
- Backyard Bunkhouse, Hollywood Royal Family Edition
- An Island Cabin, Sauna Included
For small-space advice, see Erin’s 10 Tips for Living in 240 Square Feet and read her Survival Guide.
This post originally appeared on Gardenista on January 9, 2015, as part of the New Start issue.
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