Who said downsizing has to mean living out the rest of your life – or, at the very least, the foreseeable future – in a cramped residence where everything is always within reach and you can't ever find some privacy? That's what park model tinies are for: to bring extra comfort and even a dose of luxury to tiny living.
While tiny living might feel like a new thing, it's just the current craze that's new. In reality, tiny living has been around for more than two decades – closer to three, actually – with roots in sustainability and an effort to provide more alternative housing solutions for those looking to minimize their carbon footprint.
Today, tiny homes aim to bring more advantages than just a lowered carbon footprint. They also offer freedom to move around at ease, freedom from a 30-year mortgage, and reduced monthly costs together with a more affordable purchase price compared to a standard brick-and-mortar home. The freedom to move around or their degree of mobility is dependent on the size of the units, but even the larger park models can still be relocated – under special conditions and with special permits.
The Marrakai is one such park model tiny, and it's one that could put counterparts in the U.S. and Europe to shame. It's more than an oversize tiny: it's a massive home on wheels and it's using all that extra space to craft a luxurious interior that would create the feeling of a proper home.
Photo: Iconic Tiny Homes
Based on a triple-axle trailer, the Marrakai is a whopping 10.5 meters (34.5 feet) long, 3 meters (9.8 feet) wide, and 4.3 meters (14 feet) high. It's longer and wider than standard park tinies, and that's all to do with Australian towing laws. As such, this unit only delivers across its home country. But looking won't hurt, we promise.
This is the latest addition to the lineup of builder Iconic Tiny Homes, a relatively new presence on the tiny house market but a certified member of the Australian Tiny House Association. Iconic boasts of making "Australia's most modern, spacious tiny homes" that combine functionality and luxury in equal measure.
Their stated mission is to prove that tiny living can be both comfortable and luxurious, starting with more space to move around and even enjoy privacy. If you're reading this, you're probably not new to the whole tiny house frenzy, and you know that privacy is among the first compromises you make when downsizing to such a mobile home. Unless you count as "privacy" the ability to go number two behind a closed door.
Photo: Iconic Tiny Homes
Due to its size, the Marrakai delivers all the creature comforts of a home, a bedroom with a closing door for privacy, and a communal space for dining and entertaining. Like most other tinies, it too uses an open-plan layout for communal spaces, but they are larger than standard to allow free movement without bumping into others.
Sitting on a Trucore engineered steel frame, the home is clad in cedar shiplap on the outside and MDF lining on the inside, with hybrid timber laminate on the floors. It's insulated throughout and comes with low-E glass windows with aluminum frames, a Mitsubishi mini-split for heating and cooling, and a gas water heater.
In short, it has all the necessary stuff to live there on a permanent basis. Perhaps most importantly, it offers the space to make the experience a nice one on a day-by-day basis: the lounge is spacious, the kitchen is well equipped, and the bathroom is large, and it even integrates a laundry station. As a bonus here, you get a second entrance, allowing you to use the bathroom as a mudroom. We all like to play outside, but no one really likes to have to clean up the house afterward, let's be honest.
Photo: Iconic Tiny Homes
That said, what makes a house like Marrakai stand out from the countless others out there is its size and the way it's used to create a space that feels less like downsizing and more like luxury living. Iconic Tiny Homes says that their motto is "luxury meets minimalism," and the Marrakai model seems to fit that bill.
It only "seems" to do so because, as of this writing, there is no Marrakai tiny save for the unit shown in renders. As a recently introduced model, it doesn't look like Marrakai has been developed beyond renders, at least for the time being.
Most tiny house builders will craft a unit on commission and if it turns out great and they deem it of interest, only introduce it as a model afterward. Iconic seems to go about it the other way around, not that there's anything wrong with it. The only downside is that that we don't have the visual support to back the company's promise of this being the tiny that will be a "unique space that reflects your taste and style" unlike any other.
Photo: Iconic Tiny Homes
The Marrakai model comes with an introductory price of AUD145,000 (US$96,600), which means you can further add or remove features until you make it your own. Lead time is six to eight weeks.
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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