Stylish Tiny Houses With Tiny Prices to Match: Examples from Around the World

With global property markets continuing to rise at an incredible rate, the race is on to create affordable, comfortable homes that don’t take years to materialise. Architects and developers across the world are rising to the challenge, creating amazing prefab microhomes and modular dwellings that are easy to assemble and don’t cost a fortune. Here are some of the best designs from across the globe.

Casa Invisible – Slovenia

One of the most popular trends with these new prefab houses is to cover them in mirrors to help them blend into any landscape with ease. This ‘invisible’ house has a modular interior which can be arranged in a multitude of different ways to suit the inhabitants, and the entire dwelling can be moved around on the back of a lorry. It costs just £88,000, including interior furnishings.

Koda House – UK

A group of Estonian designers known as Kodasema has brought a prefab micro home to the market in the UK, as it attempts to encourage a self-build culture amid a housing crisis. The entire thing costs just £150,000, including the cost of planning regulations, preparation of the site, full installation and connection with utilities like water, sewage and electricity. The design was launched last year, and now the first ever Koda House is up and running at the BRE Innovation Park in Watford.

Jim Vlock Building Project – US

This flexible prototype started out as a project by students at the Yale School of Architecture. The two-storey home is spacious and comfortable enough for a family to live in, and it even has a pitched roof, in traditional New England style. The home is built around a ‘core’, which houses the staircase to the upper level and the main kitchen unit. There are a currently no plans to make the home available to the public, and the original prototype was recently snapped up by a family who have lived in the area their whole lives.

Happy Cheap House – Sweden

Of course a Swedish design would be featured on this list. One of the accusations levelled at many prefab homes is that they’re generic and boring – but that could never be said about this intriguing design, which has a distinctly sculptural appearance. The irregular roof creates interesting spaces inside, and clients who purchase the microhome can play around with modular elements to create a home that is uniquely their own.

S House – Vietnam

This amazing house by Vo Trong Nghia Architects is small and lightweight enough to be transported in a shipping container, but sturdy and hardwearing enough to withstand earthquakes. The structure can be up and running within just three hours, and the team behind it are currently working on a slightly larger prototype which could double up as a secure clinic, shop or classroom.