Wind turbine turned into compact living
A wind turbine nacelle was turned into a tiny house, showcasing innovative reuse of materials during the Dutch Design Week 2024.
The nacelle houses the machinery of a wind turbine, such as the rotor and generator. It is made of glassfibre reinforced plastic, which is both watertight and lightweight.
The tiny house was conceived and designed by Superuse and constructed by Blade-Made and Woodwave. The 35 m2 habitable space retains the recognisable exterior of a wind turbine nacelle, while the interior has been redesigned to include living spaces. It is equipped with sustainable features, such as a heat pump and solar panels, and furnished with secondhand furniture and materials.
This project showcases the potential for repurposing wind turbine components and reducing the need for energy-intensive recycling processes. The tiny house was displayed at Dutch Design Week (DDW) in October 2024.
Building on insights from DDW 2024, Vattenfall’s DDW 2025 exhibition showcased retired wind turbine components and gathered ideas for how they could be reused or repurposed. Visitors could also test a digital platform that let them easily redesign components for new applications within and beyond the wind sector. The exhibition highlighted the strong circular potential of these components, presenting them as a “gold mine” for designers, developers, and engineers.
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