The Sunday Read

Recent news about off-grid life from around the interwebs

A Jupe all lit up and with no place to go.

Special homes edition

Step into my space pad

For US$99, you can place a downpayment on a pre-fab cabin that looks as if it originated in another galaxy. Designers from Tesla, SpaceX, and Airbnb have created the “cosmos-inspired urban escape pods,” according to Business Insider. The best part? They’re already off-grid ready.

New Atlas reports that the 111 square-foot structure is prewired with a battery, solar panel, and electrical and USB outlets, along with a LED light system. Options include a WiFi router, speakers with Alexa voice support (“Alexa, pour me another drink, please”), a cooler, and a front porch.

Jupes cost $17,500 with the first ones being released into the wild in March 2021. The frame-supported, fabric structure features floors “finished in Baltic birch wood tiling,” and comes with a choice of a single queen-sized bed or two twins, along with a “desk, chair, and ottoman,” New Atlas notes.

About that odd name? Here’s a hint: the release of the first one was timed to the “great conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn in late December. Cosmic, man.

Unfolding a tiny Brette Haus house.

A tiny Haus house

Who knows what might unfold in 2021. Why, it might even be a tiny house, a tiny Brette Haus house. (Yes, I’m well aware haus is German for house, and that it sounds redundant, but one is part of the name of the company, and the other English, so while I’m saying house house, I’m actually not. Now that we have that established.)

The Latvian company offers three sizes of fold-up dwellings from approximately 240 to 520 square feet, reports Dwell Pricing begins at around $23,000. A basic model of the hinged homes include plumbing and electrical wiring, while premium options, Dwell notes, offer a full kitchen and “off-grid features such as a prewired solar battery kit.” It takes some three hours to unfold the home.

The tiny haus…er, house folds into a transportable cube while the company guarantees that the hinges will last for some 100 relocations after which I guess they become…uh, unhinged.

A shipping container office designed by Bureau Agreste

The shipping (container) news

A shipping container “office” equipped with a rainwater harvest system and solar panels - making it viable for off-grid use - won a design and architecture competition this past summer.

Intelligent Living's story noted that the “construction industry is accountable for over 30 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and urgently needs to be reinvented.” CAPSA Containers’ competition showcased sustainable designs featuring a small environmental footprint.

The winning entry titled Bureau Agreste and designed by Hugues Hernandez, Ariane Marty, and Morgan Baufils is built around a central shared space with separate meeting rooms. The area beneath the container could be used for parking, among other things.

By locating the office off-grid, businesses could save on the high rents they typically pay in cities, noted Intelligent Living. Of course, this might all be moot anyway given the number of corporations that have switched to telecommuting since the onset of the pandemic.

Pre-fab modular building being marketed as a gym or office

Space of Mind…if you have the necessary equipment

Have a helicopter or a crane? Then you have peace of mind! It’s that easy, according to the geniuses at Yanko Design

According to them, Finnish interior design firm Studio Puisto, along with “furniture brand” Made By Choice and design studio Portos Demos, have come up with Space of Mind. The latter is a “modular micro cabin prefabricated to be stationed anywhere, so that guests can go from their home office to an off-grid mountain studio for peace and productivity.”

All you need to place that cabin is a helicopter or crane. I don’t know about you, but I just happen to have both idly sitting out back.

Absurdly, Yanko Design views this as a potential “fitness hub.” Perhaps the fitness gains come from the long hike up the mountain to reach Space of Mind. Further, Yanko Design notes: “Studio Puisto did not include added insulation to their cabins, asserting that this brings guests closer to the raw elements of the outdoors.”

In other words, when you’ve reached your destination, be prepared to freeze your ass off. It all sounds very 2020 to me.