Architecture
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| This rendering shows what the interior will look like and how the storage is planned in such a way that the south face will be open to the sunshine while the north (cold) face will be used for storage so as to use clothes, towels, etc as extra insulation. Some other space-saving amenities are the pantry built into the left side of the kitchen, pull out counter, and cabinets reaching all the way to the roof. One amenity which isn't visible here (see floorplan below) is the floor hatch which will house the chest fridge/freezer. This saves an enormous amount of kitchen space as well as saving energy. |
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| The floorplan was a most interesting exercise in doing more with less. One of the two most important differences between a tiny house like this and a more traditional RV is that the space is designed not to squeeze all the comforts of home into a mobile vehicle, but to provide the same spaciousness of a regular house but on a smaller scale (the other difference is that this space is well insulated and heated by the sun). To that end, some elements are not included in this house such as a dining room, bathroom sink, and room divisions. The key to tiny house living is to find as many ways as possible to get double duty out of something (such as using the kitchen sink as a bathroom sink). One of the most brilliant solutions for the space came from Luke who suggested a rotating bookcase which could form a partition to a guest bed. The same concept was used to create a temporary bathroom divider. |
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| The building section makes clear how tight the constraints were on height. In order to keep the house beneath the maximum vehicle height of 14 feet, the bed loft had to be no higher than 48" (Luke was able to help stretch this). After subtracting for the structure and the height of the trailer (which was about 22" tall), the downstairs area came to be 6 feet tall. This meant that the front door would have to be a custom built unit of 5'-10" high. As explained in the construction page, the area over the bed loft was built with standard rafters because the bed loft would resist the outward force of the roof. However on the east side of the house we had to build scissor-trusses because the house would have felt too constrained with a regular ceiling. |
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| In the South elevation you can see how many of these elements interact. The windows provide maximum sunlight within the height constraints. The roof pitch gives me an almost perfectly equal triangle in the bed loft for maximum structural strength. And finally the skylights provide an enormouse amount of light in a space which would otherwise feel cramped.
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In addition to the passive solar design, the second most important factor in keeping this space as warm as possible is the use of an intelligent wall system. I began with the plan to keep the wall as thin as possible with just a wall of 2x4 studs, a vapor barrier, and an interior finish. However after talking with several people including my friend Simon, it became clear that having an air gap would be worth the slight loss of interior space. As I spent time in the building, it was obvious that there would be enough room that the 1 1/2" of extra wall depth would be no great loss. As you can see in the image, each piece overlaps with at least 1/2" gap. So over the studs and insulation is the mylar sheet. On top of that is the lath at 8" on center. Then I have two more layers of 1/4" plywood over that to create a 3/4" gap. This provides a strong nailing surface and a thorough thermal break to prevent heat from transferring through the wall. | |
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