Micro-House: 3 Scenes of Home is a 25 m2 dwelling in Beacon, New York, that organizes domestic life around a single wooden cylinder. Three fundamental programs, sleeping, dining/cooking, and washing, are embedded as discrete, rotating scenes, brought into use by turning the core toward a daylit zone. The device compresses the plan to eliminate corridors and reallocates area to primary activities, pairing time-based occupation with a compact footprint.
Micro-House: 3 Scenes of Home Technical Information
- Architects1-2: Supra-Simplicities
- Location: Beacon, New York, United States
- Gross Area: 25 m2 | 270 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2022 – 2022
- Images: © Supra-Simplicities
We treated the house as a calibrated instrument. By rotating a compact core, daily life unfolds as a sequence of precise scenes that align program, light, and attention within a very small footprint.
– Han Kuo
Micro-House: 3 Scenes of Home Photographs
Condensed Domestic Program as Three “Scenes”
The scheme reduces the dwelling to three essential functions: sleeping, dining, cooking, and washing, and locates them within a single cylindrical volume. Each scene is treated as an autonomous module with its own fittings and storage, yet all are dimensioned to the same radial geometry, allowing them to occupy the same footprint. This approach privileges temporal sequencing over simultaneous use and reframes adjacency as a matter of rotation rather than linear proximity.
At 25 m2, conventional rooms and circulation would quickly consume available area. Programmatic condensation removes hallways and lobbies, replacing them with a central organizer that determines access by turning. The cylinder acts as both a boundary and an index of use. What is typically a plan of multiple rooms becomes a time-based plan, in which scene changes, rather than door thresholds, measure the dwelling.
Rotational Platform as Spatial Sequencer
The three scenes are mounted on a rotatable platform that functions like a theater stage. Only one scene faces the active zone at any given moment, concentrating space, daylight, and utilities on a single task. This sequencing reduces distraction and encourages a clear partition of domestic routines. The floor around the cylinder becomes a shared apron that is reinterpreted according to which scene is brought forward.
The kinetic strategy foregrounds technical questions. A robust bearing and indexing system must control rotation with precise stops to prevent drift and to maintain alignment of thresholds and services. Power delivery can be handled through slip rings, while water supply, drainage, and ventilation require flexible connections or rotary joints with reliable seals. Fire safety, emergency egress, and safe manual operation require fail-safe locking, tactile cues, and clearances that prevent fingers and toes from being trapped. The long-term viability of the mechanism hinges on tolerance management, maintainable hardware, and access panels for inspection.
FOH/BOH Daylight Strategy and Thresholds
A shoe-box insert at the entrance docks into the cylinder to establish a Front of House zone oriented to daylight and a Back of House zone held in comparative shadow. The arrangement sets a legible gradient of light, privacy, and exposure. Each scene becomes usable only when rotated to engage the daylit FOH, aligning active functions with view and ventilation while allowing inactive scenes to recede into the BOH.
The insert consolidates entry storage and forms a fixed threshold between the perimeter shell and the moving core. This threshold absorbs tolerances, frames the aperture of each scene, and mediates sound and air leakage as the cylinder turns. The daylight strategy limits glare by controlling the angle at which openings meet the rotating face, providing a stable orientation that helps users navigate a space whose internal geometry is in flux.
Materiality, Fabrication, and Lived Experience
The cylindrical enclosure is realized in wood, laminated plywood ribs, and curved panels that serve as both enclosure and cabinetry. Wood’s machinability supports tight radii, integrated pull handles, and concealed hardware, while its warmth counters the mechanical character of the device. The core can thicken to incorporate storage, structural stiffeners, and service chases without adding partitions. Continuous rotation requires careful detailing at the floor and ceiling rings to prevent binding, squeaking, and dust accumulation.
Domestic performance rests on a series of pragmatic details. The washing scene requires waterproof liners, vapor control, anti-slip surfaces, and a drain that can tolerate rotation without siphon loss. Staggered seals and dense backing behind paneling handle acoustic separation between scenes. Codes affecting moving partitions and egress compel predictable locked positions and a guaranteed clear path when the core is in any index. The lived experience favors adaptability over simultaneity, suiting a single occupant or a tightly coordinated pair, and invites users to treat routine as choreography where focus, light, and equipment arrive on cue.
Micro-House: 3 Scenes of Home Plans
Micro-House: 3 Scenes of Home Image Gallery
About Supra-Simplicities
Supra-Simplicities is an architecture studio based in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, founded in 2022. The studio explores inventive spatial strategies through minimal but transformative design gestures. With a focus on compact living environments, Supra-Simplicities seeks to reimagine domestic life via kinetic and adaptable systems, blending technical precision with theatrical spatial narratives.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Architects: Han Kuo, Carol Chao
- Client: Private
