Some tiny houses are iconic in the purest sense of the word – trailblazers that opened the gates for hundreds of mobile habitats, and pioneers that turned countless people into tiny living believers. This seemingly modest, compact, all-wood tiny house from France was a first for the country and one of the first of its kind in Europe. It won an award and led to a successful tiny house building business in Spain, as well as flourishing sustainable tourism in France.
“Abers” is French for estuaries, and it typically depicts the romantic deep valleys of Brittany, where the sea embraces the land. “Les Abers” is the name of a humble but radically innovative tiny house that was inspired, in the words of its builder, “by the world of the high seas”. This year marks exactly a decade since the birth of this unique mobile habitat that launched a different kind of sustainable tourism in France.
In 2016, Antoine, Maxence, and Sofian completed this DIY project as part of the Vagabonde.House initiative, with the purpose of experimenting fully self-sufficient, sustainable living in a tiny house. Tiny homes were still very new in Europe at the time, and the ones that were also autonomous were basically unheard of.
Those were effervescent, pioneering times, and what started as an enthusiastic initiative by a handful of young men turned into an iconic foundation for the widespread tiny living phenomenon. Maxence lived in that DYI home for several times, while he was training to become a merchant navy officer, and during that short time he continued to improve both its livability and self-sufficiency.
Photo: Serena.House
Les Abers quickly made waves as the first autonomous tiny house in France, and one of the first of its kind in Europe. In 2017, it won the trophy for sustainable tourism (the environmental preservation category) in Loire-Atlantique, France. Just a year later, it would be followed by the first off-grid tiny house in Spain (by the same team, of course).
Maxence would become the founder of Serena.House, a sustainable tiny house builder operating in an artisanal workshop not too far from Barcelona. How many tiny house construction businesses can say they’ve built the first self-sufficient mobile habitats not in one, but two countries? And it wasn’t just about these two prototypes. In just a few years, by 2020, more than 500 people had spent at least a night in one of these pioneering escapes.
It was the birth of a new form of sustainable eco-tourism based on tiny homes, a form that continues to flourish to this day all over the world. Serena.House continued to deliver tiny homes for individual owners from its Spain-based workshop, while the first, iconic models living in France continued to welcome guests and give them a taste of all-natural, autonomous living.
As for the iconic Les Abers, after its adventurous beginning as a DIY student accommodation unit in Nantes, it went on to spend several years in the heart of the Domaine des Génaudières, where it functioned as a sustainable tiny hotel, like the other pioneering Serena.House projects. Finally, it moved to central France to its new (and, most likely, last) private owners.
Photo: Serena.House
Its overall shape and layout eventually became the Penates platform used for future tiny homes built at the Serena.House workshop. This is a compact but space-efficient layout that can surprisingly accommodate at least three people and as many as five. This is primarily possible thanks to an ingenious convertible lounge with two fixed beds, plus one loft bedroom.
The lounge is designed similar to classic diner booths, with benches on each side and a pop-up table in the middle. During the day, this functions as an inviting, spacious lounge/dining area for up to five people, while at night, the benches convert to beds. There’s also a basic loft bedroom for a fifth guest – it’s shaped more like a classic attic, it doesn’t have a safety rail, and its entire furniture consists of a bed mattress sitting straight on the floor.
Les Abers’ original interior showcases the effervescence and carefree spirit of a real student house. It’s certainly not pristine or flawlessly styled, but full of life and personality. The real guitar hanging on the wall as a piece of décor would become a symbol present in all the other iconic models.
The compact, winding staircase leading to the loft bedroom embraces an ultra-tiny kitchen and doubles as a practical storage solution, with its largest compartment serving as a wardrobe, and the smaller ones doubling as open cabinets. The double-sided kitchen also offers surprisingly generous storage, given the overall size limitations. A full-size sink, an induction stove, and an oven are part of the built-in appliances, while large windows on each side keep the air fresh.
Photo: Serena.House
Even the bathroom door is cleverly designed to fulfill a decorative part as well. It’s bright red, with a large mirrored insertion in the middle, known for its ability to create the visual illusion of a bigger space. On the inside, the bathroom reveals a simple shower stall (no doors), an ultra-compact, floating vanity with a built-in sink (excellent for very tight spaces), and a waterless, eco-friendly toilet that is, to this day, widely preferred for tiny homes in Europe.
Above all, Les Abers was built for full autonomy, and what might seem relatively common today was radically innovative a decade ago, in Europe. Les Abers featured an entirely wooden frame, custom double-glazed windows with wood framing, breathable walls, natural insulation, and ecological paint throughout (zero percent COV).
In addition to the dry toilet (a must-have component of off-grid systems), it was equipped with a complete solar power system, a complete water filtration system, and phyto purification for the water that was exclusively harvested from rain. It wasn’t equipped with conventional air conditioning (all Serena.House builds would later follow the same model of passive energy preservation) and it only featured a simple wood stove for heating.
Although it was the first of its kind in France, Les Abers was certainly not singular. Based on this successful, award-winning prototype, the team at Serena.House went on to build similar mobile habitats with a primary focus on sustainability. Not all were meant to function off-grid, but they all incorporated passive energy principles, including the 100% wooden frames, breathable walls, and insulation based entirely on natural materials.
Photo: Serena.House
In these eco-friendly tiny homes, conventional AC systems and heating systems were replaced with mechanical ceiling fans and wood-burning stoves. Kitchen and bathroom appliances were kept to a minimum without sacrificing comfort, and most of the furniture was custom-crafted from local timber.
Last but not least, these wooden tiny homes were built to last as long as possible, which is one of the purest forms of sustainability in its own right – homes that are not disposable, but that can be passed down to the next generation.