There are a many tiny house builds happening around the world. One project I am drawn to is the leaf house in the Yukon Canada. The creator Laird Herber has just released tiny house version 3.

“I’d been in the territory a few years and had been paying really high rent for pretty shoddy northern housing. I had construction experience and I decided that, instead of putting all this money into rent, I’d try to build a tiny house and see where it went from there.”

The latest version is a super-insulated, 9m2 (97f2), efficient, small-space living that is also easy to move, thanks to carefully selected materials and furnishings that kept the overall weight around 2200kg (5000 pounds).

The 16-foot-long structure was built with vacuum-insulated panels, quad-pane windows, and a Lunos E2 heat-recovery ventilator, which uses the heat in the outgoing stale air to warm cold air that is being drawn in from the outside. Highly efficient radiant heaters help keep the Leaf House warm in the bone-chilling Yukon winters while holding monthly utility bills in check.

Leaf version 2 is made to fit a family of four plus boasts recycled materials, natural finishes and eco-friendly building products inside and out. Features a tin roof that is sloped to shed snow, and also doubles as a lofted sleeping space.

"In my mind, the leaf house epitomizes the creativity of the owner-built home. It is what happens when we look at building beyond the conventional norms - beyond stick framing and vinyl siding; beyond the real estate market; beyond housing simply as a means to make a buck."