It's ironic that wind turbines, which provide us with green energy, have parts that are themselves unrecyclable. Once they reach the end of their service life, their gigantic components present a disposal problem for the utilities that own them.

In this regard, Swedish utility Vattenfall is trying to think outside of the box. They contacted design studios with the following brief: "We are looking for innovative ways in which you can reuse materials from used turbines as completely as possible. So making something new from them with as few modifications as possible. That saves raw materials, energy consumption and in this way we ensure that these materials are useful for many years after their first working life."

Architectural design collective Superuse answered the call. The group focused on the nacelle, the enclosure that sits atop the tower of a wind turbine and houses all of the mechanical and electrical components.

They got their hands on a nacelle from a decommissioned turbine from Austria, and transformed it into a code-compliant tiny house.

At 13' wide, 32' long and 10' tall, the nacelle offers 376 usable square feet. Superuse filled it with a bathroom, kitchen and living space. Power and HVAC is provided by solar panels, a solar water heater and a heat pump. The furniture is all either secondhand or sustainably produced, Superuse says; and the table was made out of a repurposed turbine blade.

Vattenfall points out that the turbine this nacelle was harvested from is 20 years old. "Nacelles from later turbines often offer much more space," they point out, indicating future tiny houses made in this manner will be larger.

And there will be plenty of nacelles that will need repurposing. "At least ten thousand of this generation of nacelles are available, spread around the world," says Superuse architect/partner Jos de Krieger. "Most of them have yet to be decommissioned. This offers perspective and a challenge for owners and decommissioners. If such a complex structure as a house is possible, then numerous simpler solutions are also feasible and scalable."

The tiny house is currently on display at Dutch Design Week.