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No Home Address (NoHA) Small Foldable House Design


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This is the No Home Address (NoHA) Small House Design by Richard Perkin.

He wanted to create a foldable 800 sq. ft. home that could be transported anywhere. You can support his efforts to finish the exterior of his prototype on Kickstarter.

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No Home Address (NoHA) Foldable Small House Design

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Images via NoHA

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Images via NoHA

From Kickstarter:

A shipping container-sized unit that expands to a double-storey, 800 square foot house… with a garden in the roof! The design uses a set of bespoke brackets to simplify the construction for DIY assembly, with the rest of the structure comprised of structural timber and standard off-the-shelf materials and components to make it as affordable as possible…

Project founder Richard Perkin, a mechanical engineer and inventor from South Africa, summarizes the motivation behind the project:“I loved the idea of the tiny house lifestyle, and minimalism by necessity, but I wanted more living space. Also I wanted to design something that goes beyond a tiny house just being a smaller version of traditional housing – I wanted to be able to make water, grow food and recycle waste all under one roof – to provide a completely self-sufficient, mobile, off-grid solution.”

This ambitious project aims to incorporate a garden in the apex of the roof, a solar-powered atmospheric water generator that could provide a few gallons of water per hour, and composting systems for all organic waste to provide compost for the rooftop garden, as well as recycling greywater from the shower and sinks.

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Natalie C. McKee

Natalie C. McKee is a contributor for Tiny House Talk and the Tiny House Newsletter. She's a wife, and mama of three little kids. She and her family are homesteaders with sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and quail on their happy little acre.
{ 19 comments… add one }
  • Anthonie
    December 12, 2016, 12:04 pm

    Just WOW! Too cool:)

  • Deb Thomas
    December 12, 2016, 3:15 pm

    Love the concept but as far as being a mobile structure, too many issues. First one being that it is too wide and talk for it to travel down the road and nay even need a commercial driver to do so. second, the weight of the soil (especially wet) is going to prohibit the the amount of movement the whole structure can withstand. Third would be the hydraulics required to fold and unfold it and structural supports (especially the roof) is going to drive up the cost tremedously. And what happens to all the furnishing and more importantly, the roof garden once the the walls and roof are lowered for transport? Will you need a “chase vehicle” to transport all the inners of the house?

    Sorry, don’t mean to be a downer but as far as this home being a “no home address” house seems to be a rather impractical and costly one.

    • Natalie
      December 13, 2016, 7:31 am

      All valid concerns that I’m sure the architect has considered 🙂 He said his main goal was to make it affordable! — Tiny House Talk Team

  • jm
    December 12, 2016, 5:11 pm

    Go Richard go! It’s pretty early in the design process to throw salt in the wounds. With so much ingenuity so far–dragons can be slayed as they arise…

  • Michael
    December 12, 2016, 7:26 pm

    Wow, great idea. However, I have my doubt if the structure can withstand hurricanes and how often it can be deployed.
    But anyway its worthwhile to be further developed.

    • Natalie
      December 13, 2016, 7:23 am

      Agreed! It’s hard to know until we get to see it complete 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team

  • Tom Osterdock
    December 13, 2016, 3:09 am

    I like the idea but the implementation has a lot to be desired. I agree wholeheartedly with Deb. This is a semi truck for conversion but would need an additional semi truck for the furniture, appliances, Water Generator that is not very efficient since it provides only 24 gallons per day. Should use the 100 gallon a day generator that can be piggy backed with other units for more water. But even that would need more solar power. This design is very limited and should be redesigned for effiecency and use. If it is only going to be moved one time why bother just build a building.

    • Natalie
      December 13, 2016, 7:18 am

      It’s innovative, which we always encourage. Sure, there are kinks to work out and questions worth asking, but we always want to encourage folks trying to come up with good solutions! 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team

  • Shirley
    December 13, 2016, 4:43 am

    This is the perfect answer to a question no-one ever really asked…
    It’s an impressive ‘mechanism’ but in order to make it perform in a real world environment (insulation, structural integrity etc.) it will end up being very heavy and/or big (when packed) and/or astronomically expensive because of the need to use exotic materials.
    I think it might be more realistic to forget the ‘mobile’ bit, rather to have an ‘instant’ house dropped off on-site and for it to unfold…

    • Natalie
      December 13, 2016, 7:12 am

      I’ll be very interested to see how it works when complete 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team

  • December 13, 2016, 6:44 am

    Bizarre example of Engineering Good “Orchestrated”.

  • ZACHARY E MOHRMANN
    December 16, 2016, 7:10 pm

    I think the concept sound, but I think it still needs more refinement… But I wish him all the luck in the world…! OH…! One question though what happens to the contents of the house when it’s all folded up…? I don’t seeing it having enough room… But as I said it needs refinement…!

    • Natalie
      December 19, 2016, 11:25 am

      Good question. It’ll be nice to see his finished prototype. — Tiny House Talk Team

  • Shamar Camargo
    June 28, 2017, 8:27 pm

    Awesome build! This is almost exactly what I’ve been envisioning for my dream home! I grew up in a mobile home while my father built our 3 story monster house. This is like a melding of the two! How I would love to have this house…
    First of all to answer people’s questions, there are folding metal bed frames, shelving, tables, chairs etc that can pack very small and if you are going for really streamlined, inflatable beds, cushions etc work as well. This is probably intended for semi permanent habitation, not constant travel. Also there really dozens of hydro gardens that are easy installation if carrying soil is not a viable option.
    The thing I love about this house is the fact that it is the size of a cargo container so it travels “ANYWHERE” in the world. Yet it unfolds to a full size house! This is a much more doable housing solution for a growing family. A lot of these tiny houses on wheels aren’t feasible for multiple people to live in from the span of infant to teenager ages. This is a great option that goes beyond what a mobile home offers. It’s actually truly mobile!

    • Michael
      June 29, 2017, 9:34 pm

      I love the concept and as far as I understand its only 20 ft long. It can be easy put on a trailer, too. Many THOW are similar or longer.
      Weight is always a concern but that’s why he disregarded a shipping container as a base structure. When the structure is properly calculated I don’t have doubts on stability.
      Deb, he don’t need hydraulics and is using four winches instead.
      Zachary, according to his website folding furniture fit into the central section when folded.
      As already said, it needs refinement especially when it comes to off grid capability. But roof top gardens have already proven its capability to recycle water with Wohnwagon in Austria.
      Hopefully he will be capable to raise sufficient funds to complete this fabulous project.
      People thinking outside the box should be encouraged to do so.

  • robert
    July 21, 2021, 12:45 pm

    This is an ingenious foldable house, I’m sure Richard has spent a lot of hours and effort to get it to where it is now… a working prototype that looks good and it works.
    So, for all you people that criticise Richard with all your negativity can go and jump…(of the bridge lol)
    Richard… you keep up the good work and pay no attention to the jealous people that are asking for furniture or hurricane proof foldable house with a price of around 20k, these people must be insane or from a faraway galaxy…lol
    I love your work…!!!

    • James D.
      July 21, 2021, 7:34 pm

      It’s unfortunately often the case that new ideas get knocked down not because they won’t work but rather people just don’t understand how it can work, prototypes often leave much to the imagination, or just think it’s too much work even if it saves them a ton of money, and knock it down before it has a chance to show its potential.

      Like it was ignored he did provide wind model analysis that showed the structure would at least withstand 60+ MPH wind and just needed time to collect more data to confirm it could also withstand 100+ MPH winds.

      This had a lot of potential, a small home people could DIY much more easily than building a traditional structure, but unfortunately, it looks like he never achieved the Kickstarter goal needed to fund further development…

  • jason cotton
    November 18, 2021, 3:26 pm

    Do u sell or give plans away for those of us who want to build and modify this awesome design

  • James Michael Waters
    August 2, 2022, 2:43 pm

    Very interested in plans whether you sell them or give them away. I need a guest house and I don’t need it to be mobile. This idea looks extremely interesting. Accepted the criticism with a hearty “Thank YOU!”, look for changes to easily address the critics without significantly changing your design, move on and keep up the tremendous work. Mr. Perkin, you are a genius! I have an application for your structure, although scaled down, I’d like to talk to you about. How do I get in touch with you? Do you have a patent? If no, you should get one. If yes, how much to buy right to your patent, albeit a scaled down version.

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