Tiny, Energy-Efficient House Rotates to Soak up Sunlight

Architects have been following the tiny house trend for a while now, mainly because the diminutive dwellings (think 100 to 400 square feet) are inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and are said to force residents to focus on their lives—not their stuff. Recently, Portland-based design firm PATH Architecture built their own scaled-down, 144-square-foot residence called the ‘359’ house, Design Taxi reports.

PATH Architecture’s portfolio is filled with sleek, sustainably designed homes and buildings. However, the ‘359’ house boasts a unique feature: It sits on a revolving base, and it can be manually rotated—you guessed it—359 degrees so it can soak up every last bit of daylight. On the flip side, you can move the home's windows away from the sun to keep it cool in the summer.

Right now, electricity and water connections keep the home from twisting an entire 360 degrees. However, Benjamin Kaiser, who owns PATH Architecture, tells Treehugger that his firm is working on a new version that can spin all the way around on its axis.

In the market for a tiny home, and wondering if the '359' house is right for you? The home is reportedly so well-balanced and so light that anyone—even children—can shift it, and it also comes equipped with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom loft on the second floor. If you really want to go off the grid, you can opt for a composting toilet or solar panels, Inhabitat reports.

Watch a demonstration of how the house works in the video above, courtesy of PATH Architecture.

[h/t Design Taxi]

Banner image courtesy of PATH Architecture.