Tour this Estonian tiny home with big ambitions

Tiny homes and cabins in the wild, like Golden House, come close up to the elements, but in rural Estonia at least, they are often dark with windows too small for a proper nature watch. To this end, brothers and ÖÖD founders Jaak and Andreas Tiik started making minimal, mirrored versions with floor-to-ceiling windows and placing them next to striking beauty spots all over their homeland.

Explore the ÖÖD's Golden House

Nearly a decade on, ÖÖD has supplied hotels, distilleries and private estates in 25 countries with mirrored houses, saunas and offices. From the 9.36 sq m glamping cabin right up to the 26.3 sq m limited edition Golden House (with gold mirrored glass), each can be customised but comes with air-con and heating, a micro kitchen, a shower, a double bed and an outdoor terrace. The Golden House was designed in collaboration with British designers Buster + Punch and features leather, marble and brass fixtures and fittings. Like all other houses, it offers self-check-in, is free from single-use plastics, TVs and WiFi and can be off-grid depending on local, site-specific solutions.

Winters in Estonia regularly reach -10oC, and the Tiik brothers know about building in harsh climates. At the ÖÖD headquarters in Tartu, (this year’s European Capital of Culture) new designs are being developed, destined for Iceland. They will form the ÖÖD Hekla Horizon, a cluster of nine houses opening near the Hekla volcano in early 2025. Designed as a ‘Northern Lights hotel’, guests can view the auroras from their beds, hot tubs, and an all-glass Northern Lights Lounge.

Along with extreme weather, the cabins have to embrace wildlife, among them creatures of the forest who don’t know they are there. This year, guests at a mirrored cabin in Quebec enjoyed the company of a pack of wolves and in Estonia, reindeer and crows (the latter are drawn to their reflections) pop by. Birds might fly into mirrored surfaces, and such is the business's concern over their welfare that each ÖÖD house comes with UV film stickers that birds, but not humans, can see.

Our fascination with reflective houses never wanes; American artists Doug Aitken and Philip K. Smith III both built mirrored houses in the Californian desert that went viral on social media and The Invisible House, a mirrored mansion built by movie mogul Chris Hanley in Joshua Tree is on the market for $18m. ÖÖD houses cost a snip of the price. Even so, each environment has its demands. ‘The biggest lesson we have learned?’ says Andreas Tiik. ‘Never underestimate the power of nature and the specific challenges it presents.’

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