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Tiny Hacker House Est. 2010 · Austin, TX
⚡ Built Agents Firstwhy →|AGENTS.mdllms.txtopenapiMCP
A Community Incubator Since 2010

Tiny Hacker House.

Join the Hacker / Maker / TinyHouse movement A futurist live · work · build space in Austin, TX
№ 01

The Mission

A statement of intent
To inspire, train, and connect the next generation of collaborative problem solvers, to design and implement effective solutions for social impact around the world.
— Tiny Hacker House · since 2010

Tiny Hacker House empowers remote tech professionals to thrive in collaborative environments by delivering curated co-living and co-building spaces. Our casual yet tech-driven approach equips digital nomads with the tools they need to innovate and connect.

We are a community incubator, an advocacy campaign, and a working set of grassroots projects taking on homelessness, affordable housing, and gentrification through community-driven entrepreneurship, sustainability, and innovation.

With Tiny Hacker House, professionals can focus on what truly matters: building the future.

№ 02

What We Build

Programs · facilities · capabilities
01

Hackathons

Weekend-to-week-long sprint events. Builders, designers, and engineers ship working prototypes solving community-scale problems.

Prize pool · mentors · alumni
02

Makerfaires

Public-facing showcases. Robotics, IoT, fabrication, hardware, open to families, students, and the curious. Live demos, build stations, prize tables.

Open to the public · all ages
03

Design Challenges

Brief-driven design sprints. Recent: Challenge 6.0 at UT Austin, Challenge 5.0 with 8,000+ attendees, Challenge 4.0 with GirldayUT.

$300,000 cash prize pool
04

Tiny Domes

Geodesic dome structures and TinyDomeHomes. Includes WonderDome, a 13.5-ft truncated icosahedron, and steel-framed studios built in under four hours.

Built < 4 hours · steel-framed
05

10ft 3D Printer

Large-format additive fabrication. Print structures, furniture, prototype parts at architectural scale. Open to resident makers.

Architectural-scale fabrication
06

IoT Integration Lab

Networked-device prototyping bench. Sensors, microcontrollers, mesh networks, and ML on-device, wired up and ready to be hacked on.

Sensors · microcontrollers · ML
№ 03

The Initiatives

Projects already in the field

#HackTheMattress

Mattresses are one of the hardest objects to recycle. We pull them apart and design ways to repurpose every layer, steel, foam, textile, into usable goods. A working case study in circular-economy waste repurposing.

Chess for the Future

A chess education program built to rebuild the way kids learn pattern, patience, and long-range thinking. Distributed through partner schools and community centers.

Volunteer App

A mobile app that matches volunteers with community needs in minutes, and won first place at HackForLA. Now an open template for cities to adapt.

MealMobiles

Gourmet meals delivered to people experiencing homelessness, built from rescued food, prepared by trained cooks, served with the dignity of a real restaurant plate.

912 Alerts

An emergency-response mobile app for the moment after 911 — letting neighbors, schools, and community responders know what's happening on their block in real time.

Affordable Housing Partnership

A real-estate development partnership with the City of Austin to bring affordable housing online, pairing tiny-house construction, community land, and a Community Innovation Center.

Outdoor Classroom · 8,000 girls

A purpose-built outdoor classroom constructed for and with girls in STEM, in partnership with GirldayUT — serving 8,000+ students across multiple program years.

WonderDome at Burning Man

A 13.5-foot truncated icosahedron art installation, built, hauled, and reassembled at Burning Man and Great American Tiny House Show. VR / AR / MR / XR experiences inside.

№ 04

Recent & Upcoming

A working calendar · selected events
Jan 2026 Design Challenge 6.0 — UT Austin Upcoming · UT Austin Campus
Oct 2025 Texas Linux Festival Partner · Austin Convention Center
Apr 2025 SXSW 2025 — Austin, TX Showcase · Demos · Panels
Mar 2025 Austin AI Film Festival Programming Partner
Nov 2024 Electrify Expo EV / Mobility · Partner
Sep 2024 Move America 2024 Mobility · Smart Cities
Mar 2024 Design Challenge 5.0 · 8,000+ attendees Austin · Multi-track
Feb 2024 Design Challenge 4.0 · GirldayUT Girls in STEM · UT Austin
Jan 2023 CES 2023 — Las Vegas Showcase · Press
2023 SXSW Karaoke Ride VIP Hospitality Experiment
2018 Launch · 13 US Mayors Founding Endorsements
$300K
In free cash prizes
across our design challenges
200K
Diverse experts
in the mentor & alumni network
8,000+
Attendees · Design Challenge 5.0
a single weekend in Austin
16YR
Years building since 2010
community · housing · grassroots tech
№ 05

The Founder

Anil Pattni · futurist · designer · host
Anil Pattni Austin, TX · est. 2010

Built by a futurist.

Futurist · Design · Content · Digital Media · Community Experiences

Anil Pattni founded Tiny Hacker House in 2010 as a small experiment in what would happen if you built a workshop where the people who think about housing, technology, and community actually shared the same room.

Sixteen years later, it's a permanent fixture in Austin's design and maker scene, a community incubator that has run hackathons, makerfaires, design challenges, and field-built housing partnerships with the City of Austin.

Anil's practice spans futurism, content, and digital media, and the hospitality of getting strangers to build interesting things together over a long weekend.

№ 06

Get Involved

Six doors in
Workshop Dispatch · No Spam

Join the Movement.

An occasional email from the workshop, new events, new builds, calls for makers, and the next time we throw the doors open in Austin. Hacker. Maker. TinyHouse. Pick your lane.

First name · Last name · Email · Plain dispatch · Since 2010

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