In Japan, Living Large In Really Tiny Houses

Really cool designs, but the sizes themselves arent all that impressive IMO. A 300sqft lot with 3 floors can probably be at least 800sq ft of space, which isnt that bad at all. I was much more impressed by the converting apartment in under 350 sq ft of space that was posted on HN a few months ago (<a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1294480" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1294480</a>)

I know I'm suppose to like this feel good small houses thing. It makes a lot of sense to sleep in a small house if that is within your means. But you know, I still like my average sized american home. Although I used to live in a tiny studio and loved it because it was only me. I could not imagine myself raising a family in a small place like that. I like small living spaces if I'm by myself. I need a bigger space for my family.

I prefer to have lot of lands and lot of space to conduct scientific experiment, build rockets and train network and generally engage in hacking physical stuff.<p>Still, I might make use of small space design principle for my imaginary hacker mansion, if only to make use of it more efficiently and make my house feel larger than it really is.

Ick. I'm not sure I'd like to live in a giant cinderblock, especially not one with tiny windows spread all over the walls. It looks so disorienting, I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable in a room like that.

Tiny houses that still, mostly, look to be half empty due to a minimalist aesthetic. Except the 6' wide house, they all look roomier than mine and I've got a wife and baby kicking around :-)

That's really cool! I want one :)<p>In all seriousness though I think if my property was 6' wide my first move would be build a basement and sub-basement and sub-sub-basement. The ground floor would be for my motorcycles, kitchen on the 2nd floor, den in the basement, sleeping in the sub and storage in the sub-sub. You'd barely need any square footage, especially if you use ladders instead of stairs.<p>I guess you could say I'm thinking like a submarine designer?

Wow, those are some inspiring living spaces.