The Cube: Living Large In A Tiny Eco Home (PHOTOS/VIDEO)

From EarthTechling's Susan DeFreitas:

How comfortably could a person live in a home that measures approximately 10 by 10 by 10 feet?

If that person lived in the Cube, designed by Dr. Mike Page–engineer and Reader in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire‘s School of Psychology–the answer is: more comfortably than you’d think.

This home is a marvel of efficiency, both in terms of energy use and space.

A lounge area doubles as a dining room, with chairs that sequester storage space beneath seat cushions. A small set of stairs doubles as a closet, and leads to an upper level complete with a small double bed and a kitchen area.

The space even contains a low-energy flat screen television, a washing machine, and a composting toilet.

A tour of the Cube from Mike Page on Vimeo.

All the Cube’s appliances are, of course, extremely efficient, as is the LED lighting employed throughout.

Power is provided in the summer months via solar panels, and the excess fed back to the national grid–which means, as an added bonus, the Cube will pay its inhabitants around £1000 ($1,641.00) a year to live there, via the U.K. feed in tariff for renewable energy.

According to the World Interior Design Network, the Cube–which is believed to be the world’s smallest eco-home–was most recently on display at the Edinburgh Science Festival in St Andrew’s Square, Edinburgh.

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Comments

[torgman3]

02:56 PM on 06/27/2011

We had something like it--it was called a camper!

[brux]

09:52 PM on 06/05/2011

This thing is idiocy. There are so many things wrong with this its hard to know where to start. Possessions? Where do you store stuff, clothes, computer, printer. If you cook food at all you are going to get grease or grime all over the whole inside of this thing ... what about dishes. What about having company? No tub ... no such things as baths in the future. Books? It could be useful for emergencies, but the thing is if you go the other way and look at how much more efficient large homes with shared bathrooms, kitchens and living quarters are in every way you would not even think of this. Entertaining is out of the question, or exercising. So foolish.

[Sennin]

04:26 PM on 05/10/2011

We want to live as kings, not sub-peasants.

[StraferX]

08:16 AM on 05/10/2011

So I actually watched the video and haft to say that this is a cool concept for a person who is agile enough to navigate the steps with laundry and groceries. Great for one person as its to small for 2. Cool for people who want to flip there cooking eggs while still in bed.

I think a shipping container would make a much more comfortable layout and easier to fit out.

[brux]

09:53 PM on 06/05/2011

Fry eggs in this for a few days and your sheets, clothes and everything else will be greasy and smell like eggs. There will be grease all over the walls and in year it will be too dirty to even clean properly. Crazy.

[StraferX]

08:02 AM on 05/10/2011

So a tornado with 8 mph winds would carry this away. This place is the appropriate size of a 2 hole outhouse.

As a general rule of thumb, your house should be bigger than your smart car.

[Cdangers]

05:58 AM on 05/10/2011

When I first moved to Korea, the school I was at provided with an apartment that was about 3mX5m. It was more than enough for 1 person to live in. You should see what most people live in in places like Tokyo. This whole American idea of needing to live in some giant place is unnecessary. You end up with a bunch of extra unneeded space that you will inevitably waste a bunch of money filling with crap that you surely don't need. Not to mention the crazy costs of purchasing and maintaining a large home.

[Twohairydogs]

02:13 AM on 05/10/2011

My kid lived in a converted garage that was a expensive California coast, ghetto version of this place. He called it the "meth shack". After two days with more than one person in residence, somebody needed to leave or you had to self-medicate.

[Kristin Talbott]

05:06 PM on 05/09/2011

I like the Tumbleweed houses:

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

You can buy them ready to go or you can buy the plans and build them yourself.

[KLEENKUT]

06:30 AM on 05/09/2011

This reminds me of a Popular Science project where they competed to build things from one piece plywood.

[Anne Mccormick]

12:12 AM on 05/09/2011

enlarge it so that all the rooms are on one floor. increase the size of the all the living areas, so it doesn't feel like a prison cell, and most importantly get rid of that compost toilet. oh yeah, put in a washing machine and dryer. then maybe we'll talk.

[verflixed]

11:36 PM on 05/08/2011

I guess it would be great for ice fishing?

[diondatta]

06:01 PM on 05/07/2011

I think this is a good example of innovation. Of course, they made it the "worlds smallest" as a challenge and to "push the envelope" There is nothing that says you could not scale this up to twice or three times the size; it would still be much more efficient than a conventional house. One thing I would add would be to raise high enough to create a lockable storage space beneath it for bicycles, tools ,etc. Also, raising it would be a good idea in areas where there may be flooding concerns.
Hey, it's not for everyone; but, the point of the project is not downsizing, it's innovation and efficiency.

[daybranch]

09:24 AM on 05/07/2011

Small is beautiful. This home would be a great design tro incorporate in college dorms, guesthouses around the world etc. Maybe RVs, ships cabins, low income housing, etc. I know a friend who says he has thought about building a small place like this for himself. So if price is right and zoning does not prevent it, it could be a winner.Kudos to the designer.

[Robert SF]

10:11 PM on 05/06/2011

The thing is projects like this are gimmicky. Nobody's going to live in something like that. The time would be better invested designing small but livable spaces that meet conventional building codes.

[Henk]

11:26 PM on 05/06/2011

I wonder if anyone learned anything by building this?

[diondatta]

06:03 PM on 05/07/2011

Codes can be updated and changed to keep up with modern technology. No biggie. It's either safe or it isn't; being smaller than is convention does not matter.

[DrMandible]

08:10 PM on 05/06/2011

Now make it cheap and we can house people in the thirld world.

Wait, you want me to live in it?

[Harvey Lacey]

08:53 AM on 05/08/2011

Anything is good enough for THEM.

[Twohairydogs]

02:02 AM on 05/10/2011

You mean the third world of America?