How Tiny is Too Tiny?

A friend recently shared a link to Grist article entitled "There is such thing as a too-tiny house, and this is what it looks like." The Grist article fed from a PetaPixel article by Michael Zhang which showed bird's eye images of Hong Kong cubical apartments. The photo shoot was commissioned by the Society for Community Organization to draw attention to cramped living conditions in Hong Kong, which was rated as the most livable city in the world by the Economist last year.

I imagine my friend sent this link along with the single word "Thoughts?" because he was curious about the reaction of an enthusiastic tiny house dweller. Over the past year and a half I’ve downsized from an 832 square foot 2-bedroom house to a 121 square foot tiny house on wheels to a 113 “round foot” yurt. (Check out Oh, the Joys of Homeownership, Tiny Home Improvement, and Home, Sweet Yurt to learn about these places.) These days I feel like I’ve found my limits in terms of both actual size and amenities. I’m currently designing my own tiny vardo on wheels, which will probably be right around 100 square feet. Yet I have all sorts of ideas to make this wee space comfortable and highly functional, even though it will likely be even smaller than my current abode.

I am well aware that people in big cities throughout the world – and particularly in Asia and Europe – live in apartments that would raise the eyebrows of most Americans. Tiny housers like me often look to these little spaces around the world for inspiration. (I'm especially fond of Christian Schallert's Lego Apartment, a Transformer Apartment in Hong Kong, and, of course, Graham Hill's Life Edited Apartment.) However, in some cases people live in spaces that are uncomfortably cramped. The spaces profiled in the PetaPixel article seem uncomfortably cramped to me. Rather than being efficient, these spaces feel claustrophobic. This crowding feeling is definitely exacerbated by too many people sharing a small space. I’ve even heard of situations in which people have to resort to sleeping in shifts! I think a living space is too small when it restricts rather than liberates people’s activities and lifestyle.

What do you think? What would be too tiny for you? Have you ever tested your limits with tiny-ness?

Tiny House Workshop Weekend

It was a pleasure to be part of the Portland Alternative Dwellings Tiny House Workshop this weekend, along with Derin of UrbaNest, Brittany of Bayside Bungalow, and Chris and Melisssa Tack of Tiny Tack House. Tiny house enthusiasts from around Oregon and Washington joined us at the Historic Kenton Firehouse for the workshop. A few workshop participants even travelled internationally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! Thanks for dedicating your weekend to tiny houses everyone. We're so glad you did!

The two-day workshop covered everything from framing and tie-downs for mobile structures to the “sticky wickets” of how wee structures are addressed by code. We were lucky to have so many experienced tiny house designers, builders, and dwellers present to share different approaches. Dee Williams led most of the workshop sessions and asked us to chime in throughout. I'm so glad we've been Partnering with PAD. In one session Derin used a life-size model to demonstrate his super energy-efficient building strategies. In another session Brittany shared information about her greywater system and humanure composting system. Chris and Melissa described their kitchen layout, appliance selection, and how the two of them share the small space they designed for themselves. I addressed regulatory considerations, moving a tiny house down the road, zoning and building, and creating tiny house community. On the second day we wrapped up with a visit to Pod 49 to tour a tiny house.

It was a treat to meet more tiny house enthusiasts and to learn about everyone’s ideas and hopes. It’s so fun to see the tiny house community grow!

Hello, Ford District

A couple weeks ago I started a new job, as the Planning & Communications Coordinator for the Ford District, and I’m thoroughly loving it! I found out about the opportunity at the end of last term when Mike Tevis of Intrinsic Ventures sent an email over the urban planning listserv saying that he was offering a dream job to an ambitious planner. Intrigued, I contacted him and we chatted on the phone for a few minutes. He introduced himself as a property-owner with a vision to create a transit-oriented, mixed-use hub in central Southeast Portland through adaptive reuse and some ground-up residential. He was speaking my language.

When Tevis told me that the Ford Building is one of his, I was instantly excited. I’d been to Ford Food & Drink for team meetings for my Site Planning class and I love the vibe there. The Ford Building was built in 1914 as a factory for Model Ts, and the building today retains much of the gritty charm of an old factory, but it has been updated and modernized. It now houses 90 small businesses including artists, entrepreneurs, and independent professionals. (Everyone from messenger bag manufacturers and branding experts to hair stylists and artisan pickle makers!)

When Tevis and I first met, he told me he wants to do new construction to add housing to his properties, too. I told him about micro apartments and he was instantly on board. “Your generation is so smart!” he told me. “You have already figured out that it’s not about all the stuff but about having a cool place to call home and everything you need nearby.” I grinned. I love the synergy of a city. I know inner-city living isn’t for everyone, but I think a place like the Ford District will be home, sweet home to folks like me who want to live the Little Life in an urban environment.

I met with Mike Tevis the day he closed on his latest acquisition, The Dairy Building, and he invited me to walk through it. That sealed the deal for me. I could see in an instant that this building with its incredible exposed beams and natural light from a plethora of skylights would be phenomenal when Tevis is done with it. “I love old buildings,” he told me. “They’re better this way!” Some people would have had trouble seeing through the pigeon poop, but Tevis envisions the potential and I can see it, too.

At Friday at the Ford, I had the opportunity to meet some Ford Building tenants, including Nutcase, Old School Stationers, and Fat Pencil Studio. Several of my classmates joined in the fun, too. Thanks for coming out to mix and mingle, fellas! The Ford Building has an amazing community of talented folks and I can’t wait to meet all of them. Want to hear about the next Friday at the Ford and other Ford District happenings? Like Ford District on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

My work in the Ford District will be the perfect counterbalance to Partnering with Portland Alternative Dwellings for tiny house, ADU, and pocket neighborhood consulting. While the latter are great infill options for existing neighborhoods, the Ford District is an opportunity to create a more urban mixed-use area right next to the light rail, streetcar, and Clinton bicycle boulevard going over Portland’s new transit bridge. Our cities need both type of space-smart, resource-efficient housing, so I’m excited to help make both happen here in Portland.

Partnering with Portland Alternative Dwellings

A few months ago Dee Williams and Joan Grimm of Portland Alternative Dwellings gave me the heads up that they would be restructuring their company. With Katy Anderson, PAD had been doing design and building work for tiny houses, but Katy has moved on to other projects so Dee and Joan decided to focus on workshops, education, and consulting for tiny houses and pocket communities. Check out the new PAD Tiny Houses website!

I was delighted when PAD Tiny Houses asked me to join them as a Consulting Partner and a team teacher for some of their workshops. In partnership with PAD I’ve already had the opportunity to do consultations with several folks dreaming about tiny houses. They live across town (howdy, Cully!), across the country (hello, New England), and around the world (cheers, Australia!) It’s really exciting to have Dee Williams to bounce ideas off and double-check my work as I do concept and schematic design work.

PAD has also partnered with Derin and Andrea Willimas of Shelter Wise, a tiny house building and energy-efficiency consulting company. We had a great time presenting together last fall at the Build Small, Live Large Summit, which got us talking about working together in a more intentional way.

Today all of us gathered to discuss our working relationships and scheme about shrinking the world. We’re excited about the upcoming Tiny House Workshop later this month (join us!), building a tiny house at the Casa Verde festival in April, and participating in the first ever Tiny House Fair hosted by Yestermorrow Design-Build School in Vermont in June 2013. Stay tuned as we carry out our plans to make the world a better place, one tiny house at a time!

PAD Tiny House Workshop in February

 

PAD Tiny House Design Workshop February 23 & 24, 2013 (9am-4:30pm) Historic Kenton Firehouse

Are you dreaming of building your own tiny house on wheels but don't know where to start?  Are you wondering what other people are doing and how to avoid common pitfalls?

If so, join Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings (PAD) for a two-day workshop packed with information about how to securely anchor a stick-built structure to a trailer, control moisture, and properly ventilate your tiny house. We’ll discuss electrical, gas, and water system design options, finding a place to park, and how to cultivate a place to call “home.”

You’ll also get a chance to tour POD49, a pocket community that includes a tiny house.

Cost is: $325 for 2 Day event/$175 for 1 Day. Deadline to register is Feb. 9, 2013. Space is limited.

To find out more and to register, visit the PAD Tiny Houses website. 

Ten Year Olds Design Awesome Tiny Houses!

This morning I had the opportunity to present a tiny house workshop to an incredible bunch of fifth graders at The Island Schoolon Bainbridge Island. I was lucky enough to have Doug Clawson as my fifth grade teacher, so I have very fond memories of fifth grade myself. I was pleased to be invited to Mike and Betsy’s classroom.

I got to Island School a little early so I could tape out the footprint of the 8x18 tiny house on wheels I lived in last year. I enjoyed the chance to visit with the teachers before the kids arrived. (It turns out it’s a tiny world after all: Betsy’s daughter interned with me for three years when we did volunteer coordination together!) While the kids settled in and completed their morning activity, I got to work memorizing their names.

We began our Tiny House Workshop by mind-mapping the relationship between our houses and our use of resources. I shared photos of tiny houses from around the country for inspiration and gave them a “walk-through” of the tiny house I’d taped out on the classroom floor. After a quick discussion of our basic human needs, we did an activity to explore our needs and wants. One of the kids felt like she could let their TV go pretty easily while another said his X-box is his most prized possession. One girl pondered whether or not she could give up her books since she has a library card. Others recognized how important their instruments, pets, or art supplies are to them. We marveled at how different our lists were from our neighbors’ and I pointed out that one of the greatest things about designing a small space is tailoring it to an individual’s unique needs and wants.

Keeping all this in mind, we began our design studio. I gave the kids a simple program and we got out the modeling clay, paper, colored pencils, and scissors. Half an hour later the kids shared their design concepts with their classmates. One of the girls sketched out a floor plan, elevations, and sections to think about the house in three dimensions. One boy designed an underground hobbit house. A small design team modeled a tiny house with paper walls and colorful clay furniture. We saw creative ideas ranging from a tree house to a zip line and from multifunctional furniture to a special room for Raffi. I was blown away by how well-thought-out their ideas were, especially considering the short timeframe!

We wrapped up the morning by going around the circle to share something we’d learned. It was very inspiring! I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to teach and learn from these kids. Thank you Island School Fifth Graders!

Sightline & Grist on Living Large in Small Spaces

During finals Alyse Nelson sent me a request to answer some questions about tiny houses for a piece for Sightline. Alyse did a lovely article that features me as well as my heros Dee Williams of PAD Tiny Houses and Eli Spevak of Orange Splot.

The Sightline article Living Large in Small Houses is available here. The story was also picked up by Grist for crossposting. Woohoo! Here's the Grist version of Living Large in Small Houses.

To think I thought I was getting my Fifteen Seconds of Fame a year ago when I got my first press request. At the time I was pretty camera shy when I was interviewed by a Canadian reporter. It's been lots of fun advocating for the tiny house movement the past year!

Little Life Captured Tall & Skinny

Last spring Hannah Doyle, a journalism student at the University of Oregon, interviewed Brittany Yunker and me for a story she was writing for OR Magazine. OR Magazine is an annual publication that captures the uniqueness of Oregonians. The format of OR Magazine is really unique, very tall and skinny, because it is published in an iPad format. Just zoom in to read the article. Hannah shared the Living with Less story with me and I wanted to share it with you.

You can read it right here: Living with Less. Enjoy!

Build it Tiny Workshop on Saturday, 11/10

Dee Williams's tiny house design and consulting company Portland Alternative Dwellings will be hosting a Build it Tiny Workshop on Saturday, November 10, 2012. I attended on of PAD's workshops in June of 2011 and it was a fantastic experience. If you're interested in tiny houses and would like to learn from a tiny house guru, I strongly recommend you attend!

Here's more info:

This workshop will focus on tiny house planning and design considerations and particularly on the 'sticky wickets' of code restrictions, insurance, wastewater/water, and siting. We’ll provide case studies, first-hand knowledge and an opportunity to learn from experts and pioneers in the Tiny House Movement. You’ll meet other like-minded tiny house enthusiasts and find out what they are dreaming up. We'll tour a tiny house in a pocket community after the workshop. The class size is limited, so sign up soon. For more information about PAD visit our website: http://padtinyhouses.com

Saturday, November 10th 9am-4pm  (5:30-7pm Tiny House Tour) Historic Kenton Firehouse 2209 N. Schofield, Portland, OR 97217 Registration online: $175

Build Small was BIG!

The first ever Build Small, Live Large Summit was a big success! Approximately 300 people attended the conference on Friday, October 26th at Portland State University, which was hosted by Cascadia Green Building Council.

As Jordan Palmeri introduced the summit he described the DEQ study that showed building small is our single greatest green building strategy. Jordan explained that the study results inspired the Accessory Dwellings website and formation of the Space Efficient Housing Workgroup, which includes folks like Eli Spevak of Orange Splot and Kol Peterson of PDX ADU. I've been privileged to be part of this group for the past year as we've discussed ways to mainstream small as a sustainability strategy. Coordinating the Build Small, Live Large Summit was a big step in the right direction.

Ross Chapin presented a fantastic keynote address about how pocket neighborhoods have caught on as people seek a balance of community and a little place of their own. The rest of the sessions addressed challenges to building small, financing small spaces, and design tricks for maximizing small spaces.

I was delighted to be among the presenters as I shared the stage with Derin Williams of UrbaNest Northwest and Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwelling for the Biggie Smalls: The Notorious Tiny House session, which explored radical smallness. We had a great time sharing our stories and responding to the audiences questions and comments.

You can sign up for meeting notifications of Oregon DEQ’s Space Efficient Housing Workgroup by sending an email indicating your interest to Jordan Palmeri. You can also read Kol's perspective on the Summit in his blog post on the Accessory Dwellings website.

Three cheers for small houses! Hip, hip, hooray!