While this strange, tiny house is far from a cozy Hobbit home, it is intriguing. The experimental Truffle, by the Spanish architecture firm, Ensamble Studio, was built on the Costa da Morte over the course of several years using an interesting mix of local soil, hay bales, concrete and a calf named Paulina.

The Truffle started out as a hole in the ground and the interior was created with straw bales that were covered with a concrete shell and soil. The mound was then left to cure for several years as essentially a large boulder. Over that time the land and weather provided the concrete with its texture, color and form and the concrete and snugly wrapped hay bales created what would become a future room.

When the architecture firm came to unwrap their experiment, they used a quarry machine to chop off the front and back of the mound. A small calf, Paulina, was brought in to chomp away at the compressed hay bales. She fed on the bales for a year and walked away a fat and happy 661 lb. cow.

With the new, bovine-assisted interior, the group designed a clean, minimalist getaway with a sink, a fireplace, lighting and a bed with a view of the ocean. You can see the building process in the YouTube video below.

Photos by Ensamble Studio

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]