Looking for a small place? A really, really, REALLY small place? Well then, you might want to consider this Italian getaway. For the low price of $68,000, this 55 square foot location can be all yours. You’ll get a tiny bathroom and a bed in a sleeping loft. They even manage to fit in a window!

OK, so it’s not terribly practical, but the location is amazing. The world’s smallest apartment is on the Piazza di Sant’ Ignazio and is right behind the Prime Minister’s residence. Who knows, it might be just the thing for a Roman holiday or sleeping the night away after living la dolce vita. Besides, think of the bragging rights that come with owning the word’s smallest apartment!

Image courtesy of The Telegraph.

At 1600 square feet it is a modest project, but this Santa Rosa, Calif., house caught the judges’ attention, however, and they labeled the MD Residence Best in Show for the 2010 Architect’s Challenge.

The judges said:

This home is a crisp contemporary glass pavilion. Just as the home floats above its California hillside site, the bowed roof form floats above the open and spacious interiors, surrounding the residents with the drama and beauty of the gorgeous setting. The arcing transom windows allow the floor to ceiling fenestration to visually ‘set in’ to the exposed wood ceiling. The resulting pavilion character is the product of the seamless relationship between indoors and out.

Proof that the best things don’t always come in large packages! The MD Residence was designed by Kent Chilcott of Kent Chilcott Studio. Marvin products in the house include clad patio doors, casements, awnings and custom curved-head fixed windows.

We’ve covered smaller living spaces before, but it’s worth another look.

By now we’re over a year into the current recession. Despite some green shoots of recovery, the future is far from certain. Combine that with a new interest in sustainability, and the footprints of new homes have been shrinking.

Inhabitat’s recent post on small house living features some interesting statistics, such as that home square footage has been steadily decreasing since 2007 and that census statistics indicate that newly constructed homes now have less bedrooms.

Obviously people are heeding the call of the recession and living in less space. However, that does not necessarily mean less money is being spent. As designers like Sarah Susanka have pointed out, quality over quantity can be very valuable when building or remodeling a home. For those that are building less house and putting on smaller additions for the sake of money though, the question is if this new-found aesthetic will last when better times are here.

Or we may continue to see smaller houses as people continue to want to live in certain areas. There’s only so much land, as Japanese builders have known for a long time. We featured this narrow house in a post a while back, but it’s getting some attention from NPR. Who knows? These ultra-small, super-innovative homes might become the wave of the future here!

What do you think of small houses? A necessity or a virtue? Or both?

Wow…that’s all we have to say about this. A 2.4 cubic feet kitchen. Yes, you read that right: 2.4 cubic feet. For a kitchen.

It’s the Superconductor from Avanti and it contains a fridge, sink, two electric burners and two drawers. It even has a nice backsplash. In one tiny bit of space, you can store perishables and other food, cook on a stovetop and even wash dishes. Add in a microwave and a toaster oven, and you could have a complete kitchen that could go in a corner of your house.

The Superconductor could work for a variety of situations: dorm rooms, apartments with roommates, offices, even regular homes that need a little more kitchen power. What an amazing product! Do you think that you could get used to cooking and using such a compact kitchen?

Image courtesy of Avanti.

Spring has sprung (at least for the moment), but here’s a look back on a winter pastime.

When the snow falls in record amounts, what on earth do you do it? Ed Hagele decided to build an igloo for a good time. But it needed a final, special touch. In order to let the sunshine in, Ed decided to add a window to his building masterpiece. Luckily, Ed had an in when it comes to windows. One of his parents, Re Hagele of Hagele Architects had a sample of a Marvin window that he could use.

Ed’s beautiful igloo was a great addition to the Hagele backyard until the snow melted…and one of the more unusual “applications” for a Marvin window!

The New York Times recently featured an Alaskan couple living in a yurt (a Mongolian tent) in their Home & Garden section. This couple’s commitment to living a sustainable lifestyle might be extreme, but it is admirable.

Many aspects of their life, such as lack of running water or central heat, make it seem downright old-fashioned. But there are a lot of modern touches: unlike traditional yurts, which are made with wool, their yurt is made of Duro-Last with Tyvek insulation. There’s also Broadband Internet access, which brings this lifestyle into the modern era.

What’s important to you? If you want to live a sustainable lifestyle, how far will you go? What will you give up? What can’t you live without? What makes your life more pleasant, but isn’t totally necessary?

We may not all decide to live in yurts, but if we are strategic about greening our homes, we can live more sustainable lifestyles.

Photo of a traditional yurt courtesy of dwrawlinson on Flickr.

Many people dream of more square footage when thinking about building or remodeling. But there are those who take the term “downsizing” to a new level. Cal Finder featured some small houses that are big on style. The advantages to living in such a house are many, including energy savings (less space to heat and cool), less time spent cleaning large rooms and overall simplification of life (objects that go in the house must be truly loved). Let’s take a look…

This modern marvel is only 77 square feet. Its cube-like architecture disguises that fact though. Looking at this picture, it’s easy to think that it could be 1,000 feet. No doubt its structure keeps the interior spacious.

If you want some bragging rights, you might want to look into this house: it allegedly is the smallest in Toronto. It is 300 square feet and cleverly uses the space of a driveway.

Don Botsford has 20 acres of land in Ann Arbor, Mich., but his house occupies a very small part of it. It isn’t even on the ground. It’s a small, beautiful and completely livable tree house, with a sleeping loft and solar-powered lighting.

If you have been wondering how to downsize your house, take some inspiration from these homeowners!

Photos courtesy of Cal Finder.

New England? No, this house is located in the heartland of Madison, Wisc. It takes its inspiration from the shingle-style houses of the 1800s, with a modern twist.

This lake cottage is a modest house — only 2,190 square feet. But it packs a wealth of features into its space. Designed by Arleta Chang of Jarvis Architects in Oakland, Calif., the house’s rooms have bright pops of color and distinctly designed personalities.

Since the house is located on a narrow lot in an urban area, it was important that the property allow passersby to also enjoy the lake view.  The entrance is two steps above the main level and has a lake view, but the horizon is revealed only after stepping down to the living spaces. A garage and boathouse complete the luxuriously simple lake life.

Numerous Marvin products were used in this lake cottage, including clad in-sash round tops, eyebrow and half-circle units, casements, awnings and French doors. To learn more about this project and see more pictures, visit the Architect’s Challenge page.

Floating house, solar-powered “microhouses,” new kitchen products and ideas for “bump-out additions” — plus we squeeze in a little Brad Pitt. Read on for today’s link love post.

What are you reading this week? Anything interesting you’d like to share with us? Leave a comment below!

Brad Pitt Unveils Flood-Surviving Float House for Make It Right Foundation
Inhabitat
The Make It Right New Orleans Foundation, founded by Brad Pitt, has unveiled its most recent project: a floating house designed by Morphosis Architects. As Inhabitat writes, “In case of flooding, the home can literally break away from it’s moorings and rise up up to 12 feet on two guideposts. It won’t float away, but it will act as a raft and provide the family with enough battery power to allow them to survive for up to three days until help arrives.”

Solar-Powered MicroHouse
Curbly
We’re fans of doing great things with tiny spaces, so we like to see this nice little off-the-grid, solar-powered home. It’s only 100 square feet, but think of the freedom! And it’s nice-looking, too.

New Kitchen Products
The Kitchen Designer
Certified kitchen designer Susan Serra offers her thoughts on a handful of new kitchen products, including a sleek faucet, stylish lighting fixtures, some knee- and back-friendly floor mats, and a ready-for-primetime ice maker. Be sure to stay tuned to her blog for more great kitchen design and decor advice.

Bump-Out Additions — Small Spaces, Big Impact
Remodeling Guy
The Remodeling Guy offers some thought-starters on what a little bump-out addition can do for your home. In part, he writes: “It’s really kind of amazing how much of a difference a space like this can make. The uses are only as limited as your imagination! Here are a few ideas: More cabinet or seating space in a kitchen, a light filled breakfast nook, a window seat in a bedroom or office, a small little corner to paint or do crafts. The list could just go on and on. What would you use it for?”

This beautiful room looks like it belongs in an average- to large-sized house, but it’s actually nestled into a 500-square-foot space in Tuscon. The folks at the Tiny House Blog featured this home, which may look little, but it has room for everything the owners need!

When the owners, Richard Steen and Jefferson Bailey, were ready for something new, they moved into this little gem next door to their old house. They’ve discovered that downsizing can be liberating, saying:

It’s hard at first, because you go through a box and go, ‘Remember when . . .?’ and you put it in the ’save’ box. But it got to be really easy after a while, and you could breathe easier with each thing you tossed out.

In keeping with today’s downsizing trend, demonstrated in Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big House” books, this house may be small, but it is luxurious. A grand piano sits in the living room, there’s a gourmet kitchen, the bathroom has a steam shower and a pool sits in the garden. Lots of built-in shelving and cabinets help keep everything tidy.

This little house packs a big punch! For more small house inspiration, visit the Tiny House Blog.

Photos courtesy of A.E. Araiza and Tiny House Blog