The Simple House was designed in response to the AIA Chicago’s 2015 Tiny Homes competition. The competition outlined budgetary, programmatic, technical and site constraints to be used in the development of a small-scale and repeatable dwelling typology to combat the City’s affordable housing shortage.
Homes had to be less than 350 square-feet and include fully-functioning kitchens and baths, while the given site had to accommodate 10-12 units in total. Material and mechanical costs were not to exceed $30,000, while total construction costs of each unit were to remain under $60,000.
The proposed solution was a highly-functional and surprisingly spacious take on the notion of a traditional gabled-roof home. A densely-packed “bar” of services strung together three disparate zones (live, eat and sleep) and offered storage, appliances and amenities well beyond the those mandated by the project brief. The estimated construction cost of a single unit was just over $29,000.
Click here to view the full competition entry.
All images copyright © Geoffrey Diamond.