The living room sports a panoply of wood: Douglas fir for the ceiling, hemlock for the walls, and stained oak for the floor. The sofa is the Neo model by Bensen and the rug is vintage.

White plaster walls and a curved ceiling play up natural lighting, while minimalist decor and furnishings (many of which they designed themselves) make the small space feel larger.

The Ecocapsule fits inside a standard shipping container, and it’s lightweight enough to be towed on a trailer by a passenger car.

Apart from cabins, saunas, and outdoor showers, Iglucraft has also used their hallmark structure to make offices, bars, and detached bathrooms. If none of these quite fit your needs, Iglucraft invites inquiries about bespoke projects.

A good dose of inspiration from Luis Barragán turned a dark and beleaguered midcentury house into a family home for the ages. The paint colors chosen by the residents and architect Linda Taalman are American Cheese and Blushing Bride, both by Benjamin Moore, creating a tapestry of color and texture.

The dwelling is raised on three marine-grade, aluminum-alloy flotation tubes, each with five sealed compartments for extra safety.

The 200 square foot house takes advantage of a tiny strip of greenery outside the front entry to the home. The sliding glass window allows for interactions with their neighbors and those passing by on the street. The entry to the home is actually off to the side.

A lightweight frame enclosed with taut fabric and sheets of Jobert Okume marine plywood are used for this 44-square-foot hybrid prefab trailer house.

The Hammerfest Cabin is perched high atop a rocky slope.

The small cabin's cross-laminated timber (CLT) shell, composed of 72 unique wooden panels, is designed to withstand severe arctic storms and heavy wind conditions.

The curving glass and steel wall, designed by Deam and executed by Sand Studios, is a tour de force of engineering and design.

The Futuro House is a spaceship-like tiny home originally conceived by Finnish designer Matti Suuronen in 1968 as a portable ski chalet. Today, there are less than 70 Futuros left in existence.

Vagabond Haven's most economical option, the Nature Pod sits on a glulam-beam platform and is framed with Thermowood: pine timber treated with heat to improve its longevity. Asphalt-coated fiberglass shingles are used to line the roof.

“It was a natural choice,” says Adrian of using reclaimed and rescued wood. “I didn’t want to chop down a whole lot of trees.” The walls and ceiling are lined with planks of butternut harvested from diseased trees in Vermont.

The ground floor is split between Gloria’s bedroom and the kitchen and living area, with a bathroom at the center.

The house that Fleetwood Fernandez Architects designed for contractor Mehran Taslimi and his wife, Laila, embraces its surroundings. “They wanted doors that they could just throw open,” designer Hunter Fleetwood says of the retractable wall system from Vitrocsa.

Hexagonal and pentagonal panels come together to form this cabin’s oblong envelope. The unique architectural skin mimics the rock formations that surround it.

In the cheerily outfitted office, a Herman Miller Embody chair lets Shino stay comfortable on business calls that can last for hours.

Architect Lukáš Kordík gave his own 516-square-foot flat in Bratislava a modern makeover. For just a little more than $23,000, he transformed his home from a thicket of small rooms into a continuous, light-filled abode. Busting through a few walls took up much of the scant budget, but Kordík—who works for the Bratislava firm Gut Gut—also managed to redo the electrical, pipes, sewage, and heating while imbuing the place with a hip, old-meets-new vibe.

Italian prefab company LEAPfactory built this alpine shelter off-site and had it flown in via helicopter. Cantilevered off the edge of a mountain, the structure features a living room, a dine-in kitchen, bunk beds, storage closets, and an integrated computer to keep mountaineers and climbers up-to-date on the weather conditions.

Built as part of a functional farmhouse, the original building's ground floor was used to store food and animals, a situation that didn't exactly call for expansive views or large amounts of natural light. Vieira da Silva maintained a similar layout over the two-story home, with social areas on the upper floor and bedrooms on the ground floor, but opened up the lower level with large windows. "With the pre-existing stone walls we created patios, keeping a distance [between the walls] so we could have big openings, and create a close and intense relationship with the landscape and the ruin itself."

Get wrapped up stargazing from inside your bubble.

The Ecocapsule is a mobile, self-sufficient micro home that utilizes solar and wind energy. It was designed by Nice & Wise (formerly Nice Architects), a studio in Slovakia.

The Ecocapsule has a steel frame, a fiberglass body, and high-quality polyurethane foam insulation, which helps it “achieve a performance almost at the level of a passive house,” says the company.

The open plan, high ceilings, and white walls all amplify the light that streams into the living room, accented with a Barcelona Couch by Mies van der Rohe for Knoll and two Blythe Pony Cube ottomans by Gus Design.

Designers Christopher Robertson and Vivi Nguyen-Robertson conceived their house as an unfolding sequence of simple geometric forms: a low concrete wall, a concrete cube, and a boxclad in Siberian larch.

In the house’s front room Monkman relaxes on a stool from local retailer Andrew Richard Designs. A new window system draws in sunlight and views of the front courtyard designed by local landscape architect Terry McGlade, the building’s former owner.

When it came to paint the 40-foot-long curving steel-and-glass window wall designed by Chris and fabricated by Sand Studios, the Deams turned to Steve Bauer of Baumar, who specializes in custom paint finishes, to get the job done. Metallic automotive paint stands up well to the elements—from blaring sunlight to heavy rain—and comes in an almost infinite array of colors.

A brick fireplace feature creates a low window from the kitchen into the living room to keep a connection between the rooms without relying on a completely open floor plan. Energy-efficient MR16 halogen lights are recessed into the wood ceiling to further emphasize the clean lines throughout the interior spaces.

Gloria Montalvo’s weekend getaway on a reserve in central Chile is just 580 square feet, but the entire forest is its living room. Designed by architect Guillermo Acuña, it features a transparent facade over a skeletal pine frame.

Located off of the kitchen, Vivi’s office disappears behind sliding walls covered in black chalkboard paint from Behr. This is one of the best home office setup ideas if you're short on space or if you're going for a minimalist look.

With a comfy bed, a built-in kitchenette and plenty of storage, this tiny trailer will provide all the amenities needed for a quick getaway.

Dotted with colorful footholds, a climbing wall covers one side of the home, allowing roof access.

The Binkerds raised the skoolie’s ceiling height two feet so it now measures eight feet, which gives the tiny home a feeling of spaciousness.

Designed in the 1950s by British firm Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon, the Barbican Estate in East London is one of the largest examples of the brutalist style. Construction extended through the ’70s, and the complex was officially opened by the Queen in 1982. Today, it remains highly coveted for its unique aesthetic and convenient location.

The copper-covered volume extends from the first floor, where it contains coat and shoe storage.