# What we learned from a very small house
Author: Hana Sato
Author URL: https://demofolio.superblog.click/author/hana-sato/
Published: 2026-06-13
Category: Studio
Category URL: https://demofolio.superblog.click/category/studio/
Meta Title: What we learned from a very small house · Folio
Meta Description: Thirty-eight square metres, one person, and the rules it taught us about every house after it.
Tags: plans, studio, small houses
Tag URLs: plans (https://demofolio.superblog.click/tag/plans/), studio (https://demofolio.superblog.click/tag/studio/), small houses (https://demofolio.superblog.click/tag/small-houses/)
URL: https://demofolio.superblog.click/what-we-learned-from-a-very-small-house/

![A small living room with one large window](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1657222669925-a3c046866763?ixid=M3w3OTAzOTJ8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHx0aW55JTIwaG91c2UlMjBpbnRlcmlvcnxlbnwxfDB8fHwxNzg4NjM0Nzk4fDA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop)

The smallest house we have built is thirty-eight square metres, for a retired teacher who wanted less. It taught us more than the largest.

## Rule one: one good room

A small house cannot afford a mean room. So it has one room, tall and bright, and the sleeping and washing are alcoves off it.

## Rule two: storage is architecture

Every wall that is not a window is a cupboard, floor to ceiling, built in. Nothing stands on the floor except a table and a bed.

## Rule three: the outside is a room

A terrace the size of the house, with a wall on the windward side. For half the year the house is twice its size.

## Rule four: height is free

Floor area costs money. Air above it does not. The one room is four and a half metres tall and it feels like a bigger house than most we have built.

We now apply all four to houses ten times the size, and they are better for it.


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