With space at a serious premium in many cities, some think that downsizing may be the answer to housing growing populations. Few homes come much smaller than the Tikku (which is Finnish for Stick), by architect Marco Casagrande. It has a footprint of just 2.5 x 5 m (8.2 x 16.4 ft), making it roughly the size of a standard car parking space.

The Tikku was recently built for Helsinki Design Week 2017 and has a total floorspace of 37.5 sq m (403 sq ft), split over three floors. The prototype model shown is divided into a work area on the first floor, a bedroom upstairs, and a small greenhouse/living space on the top floor.

It includes a dry toilet and electricity comes from solar power, but there's no running water or kitchen. The idea is that thanks to its location in a city, the occupant should have easy access water and food and whatever else they need.

However, Casagrande has bigger plans for the Tikku and envisions it also serving as an office, shop, workshop, hotel, and more, swapping out the interior and amenities to suit. He's already started selling units and the starting price for a basic model comes in at €35,000 (US$41,500), not including transportation costs (nor of course some land to put it on).

Casagrade imagines the Tikku serving as office, shop, workshop, hotel-room, and more Jenni Gaestgivar/Iltalehti

Casagrande reports that it can be built within a night and that its CLT (cross-laminated timber) construction also means that no insulation is required, even during a Finnish winter.

"CLT is five times lighter that reinforced concrete," says Casagrande. "With normal streets Tikku does not require any foundation, it will just simply stand on the street. There is a sand-box in bottom balancing the building. 10 cm [4 in] CLT is plenty for the structure and 20 cm [8 in] CLT is sufficient even for cold winters. No added insulation is needed."

The Tikku isn't the first parking space-sized home we've seen but seems a bit more practical than the SCADpad, even if it isn't for everyone.

Source: Casagrande Laboratory