Off-grid housing is almost always relegated to remote areas due to strict urban building codes and access to affordable land, but sometimes self-contained structures pop up in parks, on rooftops and in canals anyway – or the owners of more conventional city dwellings simply cut the cord. There are already a lot of different ways to go off-grid in the city, most explored by necessity due to poverty, others seeking a more sustainable way of life without giving up community and convenience. From rooftop structures and mobile housing to entirely new self-powered city blocks, these solutions work within cities that already exist rather than envisioning expensive futuristic eco-cities from the ground up.

The Mobiators

Somewhere between a DIY cabin, a tent and a mobile home, this strange structure by The Mobiation Project travels through Amsterdam, setting up in locations all over the city as a statement about the increasingly broken global economy and damage to the environment. Built by an artist/architect and a carpenter/designer, The Mobi-01 acts as an interactive, inhabitable, ‘open-house’ example of an off-grid structure that can set up virtually anywhere.

Off-Grid Rooftop Penthouse in Canada

Reclaiming the rooftop space atop urban structures isn’t a new idea, but it’s rare to see them disconnected from the power grid, like this former mechanical room on a 19-floor office building in Edmonton, Canada. Architect Vivian Manasc saw potential in the structure when doing a technical evaluation of the building, and ultimately transformed it into a home for herself. The home horseshoes around an existing elevator core, which warms the space passively, and gets its power from solar panels.

Free Off Grid Camping on a NYC Rooftop

Bivouac is a pop-up campsite rotating to different rooftop spots around New York City, consisting of little more than six waterproof canvas tents with wooden frames and wool floor mats, a kitchen area with a table, and a small library. There’s no internet, electricity or showers, and you can’t have a campfire, but at least there’s access to a toilet within the building. It’s entirely free, and an interesting concept, though one wonders what this project says about accessing urban spaces when you’re well-off just for fun versus the tent cities created by homeless people who have nowhere else to go.

Off-Grid Urban Block for Dallas, Texas

What if entire city blocks could be designed to power themselves, built in areas that were previously disused, like former industrial properties or rail yards? Winner of the Re:Vision Dallas competition, ‘Forwarding Dallas’ envisions a complex of living spaces inspired by rolling hills, with vegetation-covered roofs, solar panels, wind turbines, and passive solar louvers covering the building’s glass facades to regulate heat. The block also has its own rooftop water catchment system, a greenhouse, a swimming pool and other communal spaces. The 40,000-square-meter complex could sustainably house 854 people within the space of a typical city block.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Urban Off Grid 12 Creative Solutions For Self Sustainability In The City

Building a home with traditional methods is a long and drawn-out process often full of delays, disappointments and stress. More importantly, the environmental waste generated by the construction of each home is a burden on the planet. Danish architects 1:1 Arkitektur built an entire eco-friendly home in just four weeks using a revolutionary method that drastically reduced waste, labor, and cost.

Using only a computer and a CNC machine, the team built the house entirely out of wood. The CNC machine cuts puzzle-like pieces out of stacks of sustainable wood; during construction, the plywood boards are slotted together in order.

The method means that homes can be built in minimal time with minimal waste. According to those involved in the project, the CNC building method could very well be the future of home building.

Water towers have been a common sight in cities, towns and villages all across the world since at least the Industrial Revolution. As certain towers fall out of use for one reason or another, they are often left standing thanks to their historical significance. But why leave these fascinating structures empty and languishing? These majestic homes were all once functional water towers but have since been converted into the type of home most of us can only dream about.

Essen-Bredeney, Germany

(images via: Madako, Frank Vincentz)

The aging water tower in the German town of Essen had seen better days, having sat unused for decades. But because it was an historic building, it was protected from demolition. German architectural firm Madako took control of the situation and in 2002 converted the gorgeous old structure into an eight-story multi-use building consisting of an office on the ground floor, a conference room on the top floor and three apartments in between. Each apartment consists of two stories and they are all connected by an elegant outdoor staircase. The integrity of the original building was kept intact so that, aside from the apartment windows, the large structure still looks the same as it always did watching over the town.

Chateau D’Eau, Steenokkerzeel, Belgium

(images via: Bham Design Studio)

This water tower was built in the Belgian countryside between 1938 and 1941, enjoying continuous use until the early 1990s. After a period of disuse, the Royal commission for the preservation of historic sites granted special recognition of this stunning building and ordered it to remain standing. In 2008, Bham Design Studio acquired the project and began renovating the water tower into a fantastic single-family home. The exterior was restored to its original elegance while the interior was given a one-of-a-kind modern makeover that honors the building’s history but moves it firmly into the present day. Among the home’s highlights: a 4.5 meter tall shower and a breathtaking panoramic rooftop deck.

Braaschaat Water Tower, Antwerp, Belgium

(images via: Dornob)

It takes a special kind of person to look at a basic, barren water tower and say “That is my dream home.” There was nothing particularly attractive or intriguing about this water tower just outside of Antwerp when it started out – it was little more than a big metal can on top of spindly legs. But when Jo Crepain architecture firm got hold of it, a truly magical transformation took place. The first floor was encased in a solid surrounding and four additional levels were created by enclosing the legs in translucent casings. The result is a marvelous meeting of modern and historic, industrial and homespun.

Lymm Water Tower House, Cheshire, England

(images via: Archithings)

In what is perhaps the most opulent transformation on this list, the Lymm Water Tower does not attempt to disguise itself as an aged structure. Instead, it envelopes the 130-year-old brick water tower in a stunning modern concrete ring. This is a risky approach for any architect since attempting to combine two vastly different structures in this way often results in disastrously unattractive buildings. This home, however, is spot-on. The smooth stone exterior and floor to ceiling windows only serve to enhance the regal water tower that sits within the newer structure’s embrace.

Jaegersborg Water Tower, Gentofte, Denmark

(image via: Seier + Seier)

Like so many other unused water towers, this one just outside of Copenhagen had become something of an eyesore in the otherwise lovely landscape. In 2004, Dorte Mandrup Architects won a competition for the most promising project to adapt and reuse the existing building. The firm used the space beneath the large water basin to create a complex of 40 new student apartments. Gigantic windows, communal balconies and spectacular views all make this building a sought-after and attractive part of its surroundings rather than an eyesore to be tolerated.

Huntington Beach Water Tower, California

(image via: John VanderHaagen)

This fine example of a water tower was built in the 19th century to provide to provide water for steam engines. It operated all the way until 1974, and in the 80s it was converted to a home by removing the tank, converting it at ground level and then lifting it back up into place. It has served as a family home at times since then, but mostly it has been an opulent vacation rental. Visitors travel up four stories on the elevator to reach the three-story living space, then get to enjoy unprecedented views of several beaches, the San Bernadino Mountains and the surrounding cities.

House in the Clouds, Suffolk, England

(images via: Dornob)

When the town water tower was built in Thorpeness, Suffolk, in 1923, it was called an eyesore and ordered to be disguised. Some clever soul decided to make it look like a house on top of a tower, and the town lived with the charmingly quirky water tower until it had outlived its usefulness. The only logical thing to do, then, was to make it into an actual house…70 feet in the air. Its five bedrooms and three bathrooms make it fit for a family, but the family must be awfully fit to climb and descend its 78 stairs every day.

How many exciting design ideas have been put off indefinitely or discarded altogether due to the fear of failure? It’s not only the mental and emotional tolls of failure that hold designers back – it’s the physical tolls that come from wasting materials and being unable to salvage parts to use them again. What if the physical framework for these ideas was simple, reusable and highly compatible? The Grid Beam system, directly brought about by Buckminster Fuller’s Challenge, enables designers to build, disassemble and rebuild to their hearts’ content without worrying about waste or compatibility.

The Grid Beam system uses a series of wood and steel beams with evenly spaced hole patterns on all sides. No special connectors or equipment are necessary to start building all sorts of structures, vehicles and other objects. And because no welding or other irreversible modifications are required, the materials can be reused ad infinitum – sort of like real-life Legos for engineers, architects and designers.

Items made with the Grid Beam system are easily duplicated by even the most novice builders. There are no complex joinery techniques or advanced skills required; builders need only to count the hole pattern and assemble their frame with regular nuts and bolts from any hardware store. The Grid Beam pieces themselves are just pieces of wood or metal with holes drilled at specific intervals, meaning that almost anyone can create the raw materials for building amazing things right at home.

Because everything made with Grid Beam can be disassembled without damage to the components, it is simple to “reprogram” the parts into new shapes. A bunk bed can become a chair, a trailer can become part of a car – the squared frames can take on just about any form. With the addition of some simple motors, gearboxes and axles, more complex structures come to life easily. As times change and gadgets grow obsolete, they can simply be taken apart and rebuilt into whatever is needed in the future.

Grid Beam enthusiasts, many of whom have been using the system since its creation in the 1970s, see the system as a low-tech revolution. Taking manufacturing out of the hands of big companies and putting it in the hands of the individual (and making it easy for the individual to create whatever they need) makes Grid Beam the perfect system for enacting a quiet movement toward DIY technology.

But even more importantly than putting the power in the hands of the individual, the Grid Beam system allows users to learn creative problem solving. Rather than building all of the structures that one will ever possibly need, Grid Beam lets users build the needed objects one at a time with a limited number of materials. One can build a tractor to use in the spring, disassemble it and then reuse the same parts to build a harvester in the autumn.

The reusable nature of the Grid Beam system makes it the ideal solution for many problems: saving money, saving space, satisfying a creative need to build, reducing waste and eliminating the need for large manufacturing operations. The enthusiasts who sing the praises of the Grid Beam system wholeheartedly believe that the future of design rests with the individual and with this unique system. With it, they say, we can build a new world.