Tiny houses are brilliant examples of creativity in design. After all, where else can you better test the limits and come up with new solutions than on a mobile home with the most compact footprint and so many requirements?
Whether the tinies you're thinking about live like mini-mansions on wheels or the most basic of shelters, they are, without a doubt, excellent studies in creative design. Most of these tiny homes have to be suitable for long-term or even permanent living, so they must include all the basics for a comfortable life, from kitchen appliances to showers and toilets and plenty of storage.
The units that are meant to house entire families for extended runs are the most impressive from this perspective, to be sure. Whenever you're planning a house for kids – or anything, for that matter – there are challenges. However, a home that aims to do the most with the smallest space is also outstanding, and this is where the Terra m3_Tiny House on Wheel comes in.
As its name hints, this is the third Terra model from a series of units designed and built by Portugal-based woodworking studio Madeiguincho.
Photo: @jrcarranca_photography
It's also the last entry in the series and comes to join the other two in the Alentejo region of the country, where it will serve tourists looking to get away from the proverbial maddening crowd by cutting off and going minimalist. It's downsizing in its purest – and most extreme – form, and because of it, it marks a return to the roots of the tiny house movement in a most surprising way.
Like its predecessors, the Terra m3 is also inspired by the surrounding landscape and the country's history as the world's largest cork provider. This means that it blends into the surroundings through the use of all-natural materials, it opens up to the same surroundings and offers outdoor living, and it is wrapped in cork.
The house sits on a double-axle trailer of just 5 meters (16.4 feet) in length, which makes it positively puny in comparison to the park models favored in the U.S., Canada, or New Zealand, where a 28-footer (8.5-meter) has become the norm.
Photo: @jrcarranca_photography
Despite the ultra-compact dimensions, though, the Terra m3 is still able to squeeze in a lot of basic features, reminders of the full-size ones you'd get in a brick-and-mortar home, down to the existence of three different levels.
It would be an exaggeration to say that the home has three stories, but it wouldn't be a complete lie. To make up for the compact footprint, the designers at Madeiguincho have added double lofts at different heights and a sizable roof terrace that is walkable and might even be made to accommodate a coffee table or a lounger of some sorts.
The ground floor holds the kitchen and the bathroom, both of which are the very definition of "basic." The kitchen is suitable for throwing together easy meals since it only offers a sink and storage space. Admittedly, you could stow a portable cooker or a sandwich maker in there, but you couldn't fit in a fridge, so you're probably looking at a salad-based menu either way.
Photo: @jrcarranca_photography
The bathroom is a wet one with a shower, a toilet, and a sink, but it opens up to the exterior deck, which gives it mudroom functionality. The second door that opens onto this deck is the kitchen door. The terrace itself is large enough to serve as an outdoor living area, with room to spare for a couple of guests.
The indoor living room area is located opposite the kitchen on a platform that hides storage shelves underneath. The removable ladder you use to access this lounge also serves as access to the rooftop terrace, to which you climb directly from this area. You use the same ladder to get up to the main sleeping area, which sits above the kitchen and the bathroom.
In every one of these spaces, furnishes are minimal: cushioned seats placed directly on the floor, a mattress, pillows, and the occasional potted plant.
Photo: @jrcarranca_photography
Both lofts are typical for compact tiny houses in that they offer no standing height and are bare-bone spaces with limited functionality. In this particular unit, they stop short of being spartan thanks to the all-wood construction and plenty of glazing that floods the space with natural light.
Make no mistake, though. Even if the Terra m3 is not spartan in the most negative sense of the word, it's definitely minimalist.
This is a tiny home that offers basic functionality with exactly zero frills, bells, or whistles of modern living, which takes pride in it but is able to do it while retaining personality and a clear appeal. It's shockingly minimalist even if you consider its stated goal of offering "seclusion for a season or just a few days," and it stands out for being as bold as to go all the way there.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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