When it comes to climbing the rungs of the property ladder, it’s sometimes worth thinking outside the box. While most homes are positioned on permanent foundations, others offer the opportunity for you to take them with you when you move. From modular houses that can be erected wherever you can find the space, to sky-high treehouses that have a minimal impact on their surrounding environment, click or scroll through these incredible portable homes that are sure to inspire a new way of thinking.
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Scandinavian modular home
For this modular home, UK-based architectural firm, Koto, teamed up with US-based backyard home builders, Abodu, to design a Scandinavian tiny home with a Californian twist. The picture-perfect micro dwelling can be delivered to sites across the states in as little as two weeks, making it both beautiful and highly efficient.
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Scandinavian modular home
Perfectly designed to slot on the back of a truck, the Koto x Abodu One model has a width of 14 feet and various installation methods can be used in order to move the house into position. Plus, thanks to its petite size, the modular pad can be installed without the need for planning permits, making it an easy and speedy way for homeowners to build their dream home.
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Scandinavian modular home
Each cabin is clad in weathered timber siding and topped with a sheet-metal gabled roof, to increase the interior space. Inside, the turn-key timber framed cabin is chic and stylish, with a definite Scandi vibe. A monochrome color scheme, streamlined work surfaces and Nordic furnishings make the interior simple, practical and elegant. Prices start from $199,000 and custom-design elements are available for buyers seeking a truly bespoke finish.
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Scandinavian modular home
Offering just 500 square feet of inside space, the cabin features a light-filled open-plan living area with a dining room and a galley kitchen, as well as one bedroom and a bathroom. There are plenty of clever space-saving additions, such as hidden bench storage, while a floor-to-ceiling pivoting glass wall allows the lucky occupier to create a seamless flow between their interior and exterior spaces. What’s more, the home has a 60-year lifespan and comes with a 10-year warranty.
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Prefabricated treehouse
This prefabricated treehouse was designed by Bali-based architect, Alexis Dornier, who along with seasoned start-up entrepreneur, Florian Holm, set up a company dedicated to the creation of beautiful, movable homes. The pair founded Stilt Studios after Florian hired Alexis to design and build his new home in Canggu. During the design process, the pair realized there was a gap in the real estate market for stylish, custom-designed homes that were also affordable.
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Prefabricated treehouse
The partners designed four models for people to choose between and this one, Treehouse A, is one of their best. The sky-high, single-level structure offers a clever interior that maximizes space. There’s a bathroom, a kitchenette and a lounge, while the bedroom is elevated off the ground on a centralized mezzanine level. 360-degree windows allow for light and airy spaces, while the exterior balconies enlarge the living space and create a seamless transition between inside and out.
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Prefabricated treehouse
Starting from just $50,000, these prefab structures are created offsite and can be erected and dismantled in a short period of time. They can also be built on awkward plots with difficult terrain, thanks to their stilt legs. This makes them ideal for remote locations and means their construction has minimal impact on the environment. If the need arises, the treehouse can also be taken apart and moved to a new plot.
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Prefabricated treehouse
Spanning just 387 square feet, the prefabricated treehouse is also entirely eco. Sustainable features include the exterior overhangs that minimize solar-heat gain, cross ventilation, rainwater harvesting and energy-generating solar panels. Food can also be grown beneath the house, allowing the resident to live completely off-grid. Currently made from steel, Alexis and Florian hope to move towards cross-laminated timber (CLT), to make their creations even more environmentally friendly.
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The Plain House
The Japanese retail company, Muji, is known and loved for its innovative homewares and clever life-hack consumer goods. Yet the company has now branched out into property, creating a prefabricated micro home to encourage indoor-outdoor living. The property was launched in January 2020 and has been named Yō no Ie, or Plain House. Smart, sleek and simple, this movable dwelling is anything but ordinary!
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The Plain House
Inside, the Plain House features 796 square feet of living space. Segmented into a lounge, dining area, kitchen and bedroom, the property has no fixed divisions, but instead boasts shifting walls that can be moved to zone off areas for different tasks. The compact single-story home was designed with complete flexibility in mind, allowing the owner to reconfigure its layout to meet their changing needs, making the property ideal as a forever home.
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The Plain House
In keeping with the company’s characteristic pared-back style, the home’s interior is finished with natural timber and sleek white accents, while built-in storage and multi-functional furnishings maximize the inside space. Designed to be installed almost anywhere, including urban spaces, the property is available in different shapes and sizes, to suit a range of plots.
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The Plain House
The home’s living space is extended further, thanks to its spacious exterior deck, which comes complete with a seating area and a sunken fire pit for cozy nights under the stars. Currently only available in Japan, the Plain House could be yours for just $152,000.
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The Lee by Movable Roots
Offering style and substance inside its compact frame, The Lee is one of the finest portable tiny homes in the world. Designed by the experts at Movable Roots, the petite property sits on a 32-foot trailer, meaning it can be positioned in various locations and moved whenever the need arises. Plus, depending on the customization options of your tiny house on wheels, The Lee can be built from scratch and delivered to your plot in less than three months.
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The Lee by Movable Roots
Inside, the portable property is chic and spacious, thanks to a simple, stripped-back color scheme, natural materials and plenty of clever storage hacks. From drawers hidden in the rungs of the stairs, to the mezzanine level that sits neatly above the main living zone, this tiny home makes the most of every inch of space. The main open-plan communal area offers a spacious kitchen and a snug lounge with air conditioning and plenty of windows.
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The Lee by Movable Roots
The Lee comes with two bedrooms, one on the loft level and one at the far end of the tiny home. The main floor master bedroom comes with an abundance of built-in closet space as well as a custom-made timber bed and a full-size private ensuite bathroom. The room also offers an alternating step staircase, which leads to the second floor loft space, making it perfect for a family.
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The Lee by Movable Roots
The bathroom comes equipped with a walk-in shower and plenty of storage, as well as a utility zone with a combination washer dryer. Plus, with prices starting from just $114,999, this beautiful and bespoke building will also set your finances free!
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Koda concrete movable home
A micro-home from Estonian firm Kodasema, the KodaConcrete movable home can be assembled in just a few hours, and moved to another location with relative ease.
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Koda concrete movable home
It ships in prefab sections, arriving on site in sections to be assembled. The floorspace is small, 282 square feet, but carefully designed for comfortable living.
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Koda concrete movable home
In practice this means rooms are carefully separated. There is a large open-plan living room and kitchen area on the ground floor, in addition to a ground floor bathroom, while upstairs is the bedroom and laundry room.
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Koda concrete movable home
The Koda is designed to be an efficient, sustainable home. The windows are quadruple-glazed, and the solar-panels mean the unit is almost self-sufficient for electricity. Though it does need to be linked up for water and sewage.
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Peter Jurkovic’s lakeside house
This simple Slovakian lake house was designed by architect Peter Jurkovic for a family of five, as a bolt-hole in the country, rather than being lived in full time.
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Peter Jurkovic’s lakeside house
The building has been designed without corridors to make the most of the small space. Making the most of a studio layout, ladders lead up to sleeping platforms on a mezzanine level.
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Peter Jurkovic’s lakeside house
The main area is open-plan, with folding doors and living elements, such as the kitchen counter and fireplace, arranged around the edges of the room to leave as much central space as possible.
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Peter Jurkovic’s lakeside house
At either end of the living space partitions separate out the bathrooms, and clever built-in shelves provide ample storage. The inside walls are made from masonry blocks that absorb and radiate heat from the stove to ensure sustainable heating.
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Sustainable modular build
This modular home was designed by sustainable building experts Anchor Homes. A popular method of home building in Australia, this dwelling has a modern feel thanks to the slick lines and simple design features.
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Sustainable modular build
The available models have between two and four bedrooms and can be one or two stories high. The designs are originally off-the-shelf, but they can be flipped, altered and tweaked to individual specifications.
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Sustainable modular build
One of the benefits of this style of property, is they can be constructed in the best position on different sites, to ensure they make the most of natural elements and sunlight.
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Sustainable modular build
They can also be constructed in sections, so you can add to the development as you go – though of course this makes it less easy to dismantle if you choose to move.
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Heijmans ONE movable homes
Heijmans is dedicated to providing young people with affordable and stylish homes, on temporarily empty urban areas and derelict sites in the Netherlands.
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Heijmans ONE movable homes
Originally in Rotterdam, these temporary homes are helping to rejuvenate areas, attracting new cash, building a community and identity as well as improving safety.
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Heijmans ONE movable homes
Each house has all the essential facilities – kitchen, bathroom, living space and a separate bedroom, as well as an outside patio. And the prefab creation can be constructed in just a day. They can be transported to a new destination on the back of a lorry.
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Heijmans ONE movable homes
Heijmans ONE project’s homes are also designed to be highly energy efficient, generating as much of their own energy as possible and with comprehensive insulation.
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Allsteel movable homes
These Australian relocatable homes and cabins use the company’s own ‘supaloc’ steel framing system for durability, and ‘thermaloc’ insulation to ensure a low energy, sustainable home that’s affordable and high performance.
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Allsteel movable homes
This model has three bedrooms, a separate study area and space for a family, with outside decks around an open-plan living area.
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Allsteel movable homes
Customers who buy the movable home need to ensure that they have a level, compacted building platform of ‘road-base’ material at least 6.5-foot wider than the footprint of the home they’re buying.
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Allsteel movable homes
Inside the homes look just like normal properties, and can be plumbed in and connected to the local grid if more energy is required than solar produces. At much lower cost than traditional property, these homes could certainly be the housing of the future.
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ÁPH80 portable home
ÁBATON is a Spanish architecture studio, based in Madrid, that has developed small(ish) homes that are designed to be transported on the back of a lorry. While not technically considered tiny homes, these compact structures are entirely portable and can be positioned pretty much anywhere in the world.
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ÁPH80 portable home
The ÁPH80 unit is designed to be assembled in a single day, and can be disassembled and moved to a different location as desired – perfect if you’re looking for a home with spectacular views. The outside of the home is clad in grey cement-board panels, which keep it safe during transportation. Once in place, the panels can be replaced with sliding glass doors or windows, thanks to the multi-functional hinged openings that surround the building.
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ÁPH80 portable home
The ÁBATON team spent a long time studying proportions, to ensure that each room is different and feels more spacious than you might expect. At 290 square feet, the compact building fits perfectly onto the back of transportation lorries, but offers a comfy home that’s perfect for two people. The ÁPH80 was also designed with well-being, environmental balance and simplicity in mind, resulting in a chic, comfortable and minimalist design.
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ÁPH80 portable home
The winner of two A+ Architizer Awards, the ÁPH80 portable home features three zoned interior spaces: a living-room and kitchen, a full bathroom and a double bedroom. Its gabled roof is almost 12-foot high, enhancing the impression of space and removing the sense of claustrophobia often associated with tiny homes. What’s more, most of the home’s materials are sustainable and recyclable, making ÁPH80 both beautiful and entirely eco-friendly.
