Designing a home is never easy. But the prospects become significantly easier if the architect is not bound to any required dimensions. Building within an extremely small space of, say, 270 square feet takes real talent. Which makes the winning designs from the fourth annual Ryterna Architectural Challenge Tiny House all the more impressive. Indeed, these three winning designs were able to create a home within the competition's guidelines: composing a space for two people no larger than 270 square feet that integrated a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and sleeping area into one cohesive unit.
The competition—which was produced by Ryterna Modul, a European company that creates modular buildings, containers, and mobile constructions—recorded 150 entries from 88 countries throughout the world. Top prize went to Abdolrahman Kadkhodasalehi, an Iranian-based architect whose design consists of large planes of glass, blurring the line between the interior and exterior of the dwelling. Thanks to this, Wave House (as the structure is called) feels much larger than its 270 square feet. But the curved shaped of the structure also played a role in how people could live in the space more comfortably. "The curved design is organized to provide sufficient space for water supply, such as pumping water and heating water systems more easily," said Kadkhodasalehi in a statement.
Designed by Russian architects Julia Kaptur and Stas Kaptur, the Torii House concept finished second in the competition.
The second place design went to Torii House, a modular proposal designed by Moscow-based architects Julia and Stas Kaptur. The simple structure effectively fits a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom into a 270-square-foot space by dividing the building into four subsections. The center space is the living area, which shares a fireplace with the bedroom during the colder months. On the other side of the living room is an area divided into two smaller sections—one used for a kitchen, the other a bathroom (a wall divides these two). The windows, which basically take the place of two entire walls, can slide open in the warmer months, effectively transforming and enlarging the space.
Trapezoidal Mod, which finished in third place, was designed by William Samin.
Finishing in third place was a proposal by architect William Samin titled Trapezoidal Mod. The structure is stacked so that two floors coexist in one small space. The interior design uses such tricks as concealing the living room couch below the floor so that the homeowners can even sit atop the back pillows, which have been slightly enlarged and made sturdier to support additional weight (as seen in the image below).
Architect William Samin's Trapezoidal Mod concept creatively uses sunken furniture to open up more livable space.
The one consistent theme in these award-winning designs is the ability of transforming a micro dwelling of 270 square feet into an innovative space that, through smart design, feels open to the outdoors yet nestled within a safe environment. For many urban dwellers in high-rent cities such as New York and San Francisco, living within a space under 500 square feet is nothing new. But residing in such a small environment as ingeniously designed as the three which won the Ryterna Architectural Challenge? That is certainly something different.
