This micro home was designed as a prototype for farm workers on small organic and biodynamic plots. Their wages are too low to cover normal rental even in less wealthy parts of the country and we support the integration of sustainable land use and rural settlements. Unfortunately, the planning system does not, and the local authority were negative at the pre-application stage, leaving our client no alternative but the long haul of a mobile home then a minimum four years of productive land use. The planning system is biased against integration of agriculture and housing of low paid workers on the land. It paradoxically supports large one-off houses under the Para 79 designation.
The initial idea for this design came from a feasibility study we did in 2018 for a series of small prefabricated holiday homes for a site in Scotland. Although this never materialized it allowed us to continue work on one of our favorite building types, the small sustainable house.
