Living in a tiny house (or small house) doesn’t mean you have to give up all of life’s luxuries. Take Passion House for example. It’s a small house at 549 square feet. It includes two sleeping areas, a stylish living room, kitchen and bathroom. Oh, and a sauna.
Designed by the Estonian firm, Architect 11, this prefab house was created as a possible add-on to an existing house (of the same series). I think you could forget about the existing house altogether – what’s the point in having a main house and a second smaller home? I don’t get it, especially when this house has everything you need in a compact, beautifully finished space.
Architect 11 states that the house can be set up in just 1-2 days. It will arrive at your chosen location with a fully finished interior design and appliances. The only thing you’ll need to do is prepare the gravel pad, make arrangements to hook the home up to the electrical grid, and make some minor adjustment to the furniture fittings. Hey presto, you now have an awesome small house.
The Passion House has been designed as part of a series of homes which range in size from 40 square meters, to 500 square meters – the granddaddy of McMansion’s. From the architects:
“Design of the series has grown out from a concept to mix a prefab structural insulated envelope with on-site reinforced concrete. During developement we decided to go for faster installation times on site – the intention is to minimize the time and works on plot.”
“Houses are equipped with high standard ventilation systems, full automation and management systems, they are designed to utilize a solar heating during spring and autumn, have shelter from sun during summer months, thus not requiring a cooling system. Used building materials are in most parts wood, walls are vapour permeable and facades are ventilated. Structural frame is made of glulam, walls have rockwool insulation, internal walls are made of cross-laminated-timber panels, windows are wood-aluminium and furmiture is either painted or laminated MDF boards.”
All in all it’s a great small house with some added luxuries. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a price for the home, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be cheap.
If you liked this prefab house then you should check out ÁBATON’s ÁPH80 which is a similar high-end prefab house. You also might want to take a look at the L41, an affordable prefab home by Michael Katz and Janet Corne.
The answer to your question: “what’s the point in having a main house and a second smaller home? I don’t get it, especially when this house has everything you need” is living with your wife’s parents! No house on Earth is large enough for me and my mother-in-law for more than three days – actually, the world is not (large) enough! How’s that for a reason?
Nevertheless, it is a good-looking standalone small house. I’d rather go with a fold-out table and four folding chairs for more free space.
What’s with the two showers? Even if two people decide to take a shower at the same time, they’ll use only one of them, even if they had an argument before ;-)
However, I didn’t get something important: the access for the shower(s) and the sauna is through the bedroom???
This looks neat and perfect if I didn’t need the room to do massage. If I bought this home, the only thing I’d change would be OFF the grid, NOT connected to the electrical grid….
Jane – Off the grid, now that’s the dream isn’t it! :) You could always get rid of the sauna and reduce the size of the bedroom and double shower, maybe then you’d have enough space for massage sessions.
Mugur – Lol sounds like a pretty good reason; I’m sure there are plenty of husbands out there that would vouch for you. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) it didn’t occur to me. Probably because I don’t live with my wife’s parents (although I would need to find a wife first ;)).
It’s funny isn’t it, the priorities in this house. They’ve given the toilet, showers and sauna almost a third of the home’s floor plan. And instead of a single shower they’ve got two – “it’s madness I tell you!”. Yeah I picked up on the caravan style access to the sauna/showers through the bedroom. It’s odd and I don’t know what to make of it, but perhaps it was simply the best solution for the home.
Niall – NO! You don’t need to find a wife! No man should! Back in the good ol’ days before the Internet and mobile communication and the whole IT world, it was a saying: “Why should I buy a book if I may read the entire Municipal Library?” I guess nowadays you may replace “library” with “scribd” or “docstoc”, but the main idea is the same! I know it’s a little bit off-topic, but sometimes the tiniest piece of advice could save a life!
BTW, Jane, I like the way you think! Get off-grid, light up the candles, and start the massage sessions!
I say get rid of two showers and make it a claw footed tub with shower attachment and that way I can heat up my own water with pot belly stove and save on heating up water. I do that now to save on the fuel oil bill. I heat up dish water too, for the amount you use to do dishes. It’s such a waste to use the fuel oil to heat the water. I love the sauna though. I think the reason they put toilet separate is because like me, I hate even friends even thinking they can use my shower and such. So rather they just use the water closet. I am kind of a neat freak about my bathroom and so don’t like sharing my tub with anyone that doesn’t live in the house.
Rose that sounds like an awesome idea – does it take long to heat up enough water for a bath? I’ve never had the chance to heat my water in that way, but it sounds like a bit of an adventure into off-grid living. I’d imagine you aren’t the only person that’s a neat freak about their bathroom lol.
Mugur don’t worry I’m in no rush! And LOL @ “Get off-grid, light up the candles, and start the massage sessions!”
your work is beautiful!!! whats the price tag and do you believe 2-3 of these units could be set up to run off of a single solar unit? how about hook-ups for potable/sewage water and where the heck are these babies manufactured? lotsa questions :-) thank you (in advance) for your time and knowledge!
mellanie
Hey Mellanie, this actually isn’t one of my designs (although I sure wish it was ha ha). This home was developed by Architect 11. I don’t see why you couldn’t power several units with PV cells, but the size of the solar array will vary depending on how much electricity you use daily (there are some online solar calculators that can give you an idea). The M1 that’s shown here will set you back at least 86,000 Euros (about $116,000!) according to their website. and they’re manufactured in Europe. Check out this site for more info: http://www.passionhouses.com/en/