With its black facade, stylish roof slant and fold-down deck, the new ‘Draper’ RV by Land Ark is ready to cruise all over the country and look hot doing it. The lines between recreational vehicles and tiny houses continue to blur, and while the Draper is closer to the latter than the former, it runs on standard RV-style hookups, and it’s easy to imagine it sliding into an RV park to instantly make the rest of the residents look terribly uncool.

But looks aren’t all the Draper has to offer. The 300-square-foot midcentury modern RV features a mud room entry with a 7-foot-wide wardrobe, a washer and dryer, recessed lighting, clerestory windows for lots of natural light while maintaining privacy, a full-size walk-in shower, a spacious galley kitchen, a lofted bed and a convertible U-sofa that transforms into a queen bed for guests.

The interiors are sleek and streamlined, nearly every surface covered in pale whitewashed pine, and in stark contrast to the usual RV fittings, the Draper’s propane-powered stainless steel appliances rival those you’d find in an upscale home (albeit much smaller.) Sliding glass doors lead out to a fold-down deck that’s lowered and raised with a hand-operated winch. There’s more storage than it seems at first glance, including an area for shoes.

The Draper was designed to be most comfortable for individuals or couples, but if you like the look and need a tad more space, Land Ark’s ‘Drake’ model might be a better fit. Measuring 357 square feet, the Drake sleeps up to six and has a similar look, though the sharp roof angle is sacrificed for more loft space. The Drake is listed at $139,000, while the Draper starts at $144,900.

Inspired by the shape of a butterfly when it closes its wings, Valerie Schweitzer Architects’ ‘Butterfly Studio’ is a sculptural detached office full of cleverly placed windows that target views toward the yard rather than the main house for a sense of privacy and seclusion. Set in the backyard of a home in Westport, Connecticut, the design recently won an American Architecture Prize in the small architecture category.

Tiny houses of all kinds are practically ubiquitous at this point, so it’s kind of hard to stand out among them in terms of aesthetic choices. But ‘Butterfly House’ ditches convention altogether with its jagged floor plan and a sense of solidity balanced by lots and lots of glass.

The structure’s angled panels are alternately clad in recycled teak and stucco; narrow windows frame picturesque views of the landscaping and aid in cross-ventilation, bringing in breezes from the nearby Long Island Sound.

The coolest part is the faceted glass roof made of steel and thermally insulated glass, which floods the interior with enough daylight for the artist homeowner to work from sunrise to sunset without turning a light on. The 350-square-foot studio also boasts concrete floors with radiant heating to accommodate a wheeled chair, and has its own half-bath.

A cramped, stale and long-neglected 400-square-foot studio apartment in Hong Kong feels downright luxurious with the addition of a rooftop terrace and some pretty cool space-saving features. Design firm Liquid Interiors maximized the space, which is essentially one big room with a combination bedroom/living room, by hiding many features behind sliding doors to keep clutter to a minimum. But their smartest innovation is upstairs, where a pair of wooden deck chairs fold flat into the floor when not in use.

The terrace serves ash an outdoor exercise and meditation space, complete with a full-sized canony bed on a wooden platform, a minimalist stone table and a projector screen for watching movies outdoors when the weather is cooperative. The deck chairs pop up when the residents want to lounge in the sun, and blend into the wooden decking when more floor space is desired. A green wall adds a splash of color and helps capture some of the heat. Two iron safes used as bedside tables match the iron door that leads back into the apartment.

The architects wanted to “create a sanctuary right in the middle of Central” for the owner, who’s a pilot and and often sleeps at odd hours. With the need to block out daylight in mind, they integrated double-glazed, sound-insulating windows, 100% blackout blinds and a smart circadian lighting system for minimal disruption to the biological sleep cycle.

In the kitchen, the skin, refrigerator and all tableware and implements are hidden behind stainless steel cabinet doors, while the table in the center packs in multiple functions including cooktop, dining table and workstation. A television and beanbag seats can be pulled out from similar cabinets in the bedroom when the residents just want to hang out.

Advertising is so ubiquitous that billboards aren’t even restricted to fixed positions anymore; they’re often found moving from one spot to another on trailers, always in search of those all-important eyeballs. Inside these trailers are little spaces that, one would imagine, are too small to be of any real use. But Belgian artist and hacktivist Karl Philips has taken some practical function from these ugly urban fixtures by turning them into tiny ‘parasite apartments.’

The series, entitled ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’ consists of three billboard trailers which have been hacked into living spaces just the right size for a single-person mattress and a small collection of possessions.

Billboards take up a considerable amount of space, and it can be argued that most of them don’t have a positive impact on society. By turning them into houses, the revenue from the ads goes to the people who live within.

According to Philips’ biography, he is particularly interested in the margins of society, focusing on “themes such as gaps in legal, economic and social systems, the omnipresence of advertisement, unrestrained capitalism and consumerism, etc.” His previous work includes a parasite apartment built onto the back of a conventional billboard, invisible from the street.

Artists are taking over billboards all over the world, subverting their messages or dedicating them to fun and meaningful art installations instead of advertisements. But the Scribe Billboard takes the concept of billboard art even further: hidden behind its face is a tiny living space for the artists to stay in as they work. Located in Mexico City, this ongoing urban art project is a collaboration between paper company Scribe and architect Julio Gomez Trevilla.

An elevated house made of steel and chipboard measuring about 170 square feet provides a sheltered space and meets the basic needs of the artist. It includes a kitchen, bathroom, closet, shower, dressing room and work desk. A barrel mounted into a rooftop tower provides gravity-fed water for plumbing. The only way to get in and out is through a door in the face of the billboard. The house even has a rooftop deck.

The first resident was Mexican artist Cecilia Beaven, who spent ten days living inside it while working on the hand-painted campaign for Scribe. The interactive project called for ideas from the brand’s fans on Twitter, which Beaven incorporated into the work.

Another billboard house concept by design firm Apostrophy’s is more spacious, with an open, multi-level design. See more photos of the Scribe Billboard at Scribe’s Facebook page.