Small houses

I don't know if it's because I grew up in East Asia, surrounded by examples of small houses (and small apartments), or if it's because I find the idea of highly efficient space allocation to be intriguing, but I've gone ga-ga over many of the postings about small buildings at various (non-architecture) blog rolls to which I subscribe. While waiting for a student to show up to office hours (and with an interest piqued by another article about a tiny home), I decided to look for some blogs about tiny houses and tiny homes, and found two that look kinda fun:

Tiny House Talk
Tiny Home Builders

There's something that I just love about the aesthetic of a tiny, hand-made home that maximizes the inside space. (Perhaps it's one reason why I wish that I had the ability to have built the little cabin in which I currently reside...) However, these tiny homes are truly tiny and many use multi-purpose furniture and innovative floor design to maximize space, function, privacy, and comfort.

Although I really like them, though, I can't see myself living in one for more than a few weeks at a time...