Almost everything inside a tiny house can be changed after handover. The structure, the build-up and the position of the services cannot. Those are the decisions worth spending time on before production starts.
Steel frame, and why it matters for a building that travels
MODUNERA units are built on a load-bearing steel superstructure with a steel chassis, rather than a timber stud frame. The reason is not strength in the abstract — it is that this building gets loaded onto a low-loader and driven across a continent. Racking loads during transport are different from the loads a static house sees, and galvanising protects the frame where nobody will ever reach it again. The axle and brake components are specified around a 3,500 kg concept.
The build-up follows the destination, not the catalogue
Insulation thickness, glazed area, ventilation and heating are one decision, not four. A build-up specified for a summer unit on Lake Constance is too thin for permanent living in Jutland, and glazing that is a joy in Zurich in February is a problem in Ticino in July. We specify by heating season, snow load zone and wind zone at the actual address — which is why the site has to be known before production, not after.
Ventilation is the point most projects underestimate
In a compact volume, moisture that would go unnoticed in a large house shows up within one heating season. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is the most effective control; without it, the moisture content of the structure depends on how disciplined the occupants are about opening windows in February. For a permanently occupied unit in Denmark or an alpine site, we treat it as the rule rather than an option.
Services: short runs, one wall
Where the kitchen and bathroom sit relative to each other decides the length of every pipe and cable in the house. Putting them on a single service wall — the approach MD 5 is built around — shortens the runs, reduces the number of penetrations through the insulated envelope, and saves floor area at the same time. It is an unglamorous decision that pays for itself three times over.