Eight of the best tiny houses from around the world

Tiny houses are a remedy for our increasingly complex modern lives. They’re usually more affordable and sustainable than a larger home, can be built in unique or secluded locations, and help foster more minimalist consumption. It’s no wonder they’re the latest living craze.

We searched for the most interesting tiny houses from around the world.

Listen to Mark’s story about living in a tiny house on Somewhere Else:

1. Helsinki, Finland

Finnish industrial designer Robin Falck is no stranger to tiny homes, but Nolla Cabin is some of his best work. This tiny house has been constructed with a minimal carbon footprint and can be completely disassembled and reassembled like a puzzle, making it easy to change its location.

The home is very tiny 10 square metres with a huge triangular window and two small single beds, mimicking a tent-like structure. You won’t find a bathroom or kitchen in here, but that’s meant to be part of the fun of being connected to nature.

2. Yokohama, Japan

Only 33 square metres with a 3.3-metre frontage, Love House was built in 2005 by Takeshi Hosaka Architects in Japan’s second-most densely populated city.

Despite the home being extremely narrow, a long, curved staircase takes precedent, and there are no windows on the walls. Instead, skylights and high ceilings provide light and space in an otherwise small, dark build. Some parts of the second level of the home are neither indoors or outdoors, but instead are “breathing” spaces that provide respite from the tightly-packed urbanism for which the Japanese city is known.

3. Katikati, New Zealand

Built by one of the country’s leading tiny house creators Build Tiny, The Millennial tiny home was their very first project. The house is just 7.2 metres long, on-grid and is made primarily of steel. Until recently, the house was available on Airbnb.

The home has everything you’d love and expect from a tiny house – loft-style bed, clever storage and a clean, minimal Scandi-style design. But there are a few special elements that add the “wow” factor. A custom engineered pull-out staircase neatly slides in and out of the cabinetry, a second loft means there’s enough room for a home office, and a cut out in the floor of the home allows you to fit comfortably in the otherwise small home.

4. New South Wales, Australia

Located outside of Wagga Wagga in rural NSW, this tiny Airbnb house has 360-degree views of the Murrumbidgee River flats and Kimo valley. The “hut” is one of three built on a working sheep and cattle farm — Kimo Estate — and is the most simple and refined of the collection.

The house epitomises the type of architecture you’d find in rural Australia. It is made of local timber, steel and galvanised iron and has a real country feel to it. The home is off the grid and uses solar power to provide water and electricity.

5. Sauvie Island, United States

This home is on the larger size of “tiny”, sitting at 50 square metres, and is constructed almost entirely from reclaimed materials. It’s the work of interior designer Jessica Helgerson and is where she and her family lived while they built their primary house.

The largest room of the house, called “the great home” has the living, dining and kitchen rooms combined with built-in sofa beds for guests. The bathroom and bedroom are smaller rooms with less ceiling height due to the parent’s sleeping loft sitting above them, accessible via a ladder.

6. Victoria, Australia

Some of the world’s best tiny homes are in Australia’s own backyard. Unyoked is a tiny house startup that allows property owners to monetise their unused land by hosting a tiny home rental on it. The ethos behind the start-up is to provide people with a great escape by surrendering to a slower way of living in the world.

They have several locations in both Victoria and New South Wales, but this Scandi-Japanese-inspired tiny house is just an hour drive from Melbourne. Unlike many tiny homes, this one doesn’t have a loft-style bed – a signature of Unyoked homes. It has two huge windows, so you never disconnect from nature as well as a minimalist fully-equipped kitchen and bathroom.

7. Slovenia

Trends in tiny homes usually sway towards creating a house that harks back to more simple times, often a modern take on the humble cabin. This tiny house takes a more high-tech, futuristic approach compared to the others on this list.

Ecocapsule is a solar and wind energy powered house that was designed to be as self-sufficient and practical as possible. The toilet is waterless, there’s a built-in smart-home system, and airconditioning and heating systems. The capsule is made of fibreglass shells overlaid on a steel frame.

8. Tallinn, Estonia

KODA is an Estonian architectural and engineering company known for their minimalist micro-homes. They design and construct four different types of tiny houses, including the KODA Light Float – a tiny house that has been created to float on water.

The house is modern in its design, with two split levels and impossibly high ceilings. It sits on top of a floating pontoon, which also creates the perfect wrap-around deck for taking in the water views. Like any well-considered European home, there’s insulation for the colder months and three-ply glass windows to retain the heat.