FUTURIST.OSv.16.5 user@anil-pattni loc:austin · 30.27°N
uptime:16 yr · 4 mo now:--:--:--
$whoami

Anil Pattni.

Futurist Design Content Digital Media Community Experiences

Sixteen years of building community in Austin — hackathons, tiny houses, design challenges, and a 13-unit live-work development in Del Valle. Tiny Hacker House since 2010. Currently transitioning from startup-ecosystem building into affordable-housing real-estate development, in partnership with the City of Austin.

>cat /practice --list

Five practices, one studio.

The disciplines I work across · since 2010
01

Futurist

Long-horizon thinking applied to housing, mobility, civic tech, and the maker economy. Speaking, mentoring, and showing up where the future is being argued about.

Speculative · Strategic
02

Design

From geodesic dome structures to design-challenge briefs to outdoor classrooms — the kind of design that has to actually get built, in the open, on a deadline.

Industrial · Spatial
03

Content

Words, video, and stop-motion that move the work forward. Twenty years of writing into Austin's tech community and the maker culture beyond it.

Editorial · Video
04

Digital Media

VR, AR, MR, XR. Burning Man art installations. A 13.5-ft truncated icosahedron called WonderDome. Real-time graphics, projection, and the things you can only stand inside of.

XR · Installation
05

Community

Hackathons, makerfaires, design weeks, F1 weekends, SXSW years. Putting strangers in a room, giving them a problem, and watching them leave with friends.

Hosting · Convening
16YR
Continuous operation
since 2010
$300K
In design-challenge
prize money
200K
Experts in the
mentor network
8,000+
Attendees · Design
Challenge 5.0 · 2024
13
US Mayors endorsed
SXSW 2018 launch
>ps -aux | grep active

Now running.

Current projects · live in production
To inspire, train, and connect the next generation of collaborative problem solvers to design and implement effective solutions for social impact around the world.
— Anil Pattni · Founder · Tiny Hacker House · 2010
>tail -30 /var/log/projects.log

Selected history.

Sixteen years of receipts · most-recent first
2026AprTransition from 16 years in startup-ecosystem building into affordable housing real-estate development, partnered with City of Austin.Pivot · Housing
2026JanTiny Hacker House hosts Design Challenge 6.0 at UT Austin.Design · UT
2025OctTexas Linux Festival — partnership.Open Source
2025AprSXSW 2025 · Austin, TX.Showcase
2025MarAustin AI Film Fest — partnership.AI · Film
2024NovElectrify Expo at Circuit of the Americas.EV · Mobility
2024SepMove America 2024 — mobility & smart-cities conference.Mobility
2024JulSchool of Pool — members-only pool-training facility announced; first feature-film production.Venue · Film
2024MarTiny Hacker House Design Challenge 5.0 · 8,000+ attendees.Flagship
2024FebTiny Hacker House Design Challenge 4.0 at GirldayUT — outdoor classroom for girls in STEM.Education
2023MarSXSW 2023 · Karaoke ride experience for VIPs and attendees.Hospitality
2023MayTeaching kids chess as a way to break learning barriers.Education
2023JanCES 2023 · Las Vegas.Showcase
2020SepMaking the leap to VR / AR / MR / XR at Burning Man 2020 — "Enter the Multiverse."XR · BM2020
2020MayCampaign launch streamed during the NASA / SpaceX rocket launch.Launch
2019NovTiny Hacker House lands TinyDomeHome at the Great American Tiny House Show.Build · Show
2019OctCustom-designed 13.5ft truncated icosahedron — WonderDome at Burning Man 2019.Art · BM2019
2019AugAdvancing the circular economy through project #HackTheMattress.Circular
2018AprTinyHackerHouse.com launches at SXSW 2018 with the support of @MayorAdler and 13 US Mayors.Launch · SXSW
2018JulFirst geodesic dome built by the Tiny Hacker House team.Build
2017DecAcquired a 10ft 3D printer for architectural-scale fabrication.Hardware
2017DecPreparing the IoT integration lab for the futurist Tiny Hacker House.Hardware
2017DecSteel-framing approach for building a tiny studio in under 4 hours.Method
2016DecCo-founded QGITS — STEM / STEAM news media events startup.Co-founder
2016NovMealMobiles — feeding people experiencing homelessness with gourmet meals.Civic
2016NovHackForLA — first place for volunteer-app design at the civic hackathon.Award
2016Nov912 Alerts — emergency-response mobile app (Startup Weekend).Civic Tech
2014Independently produced #OpenHack hardware community hackathon.Hackathon
2010Tiny Hacker House launched as a community incubator. The seed of everything that followed.Origin
>open --contact

Build something together.

Available for design challenges, hackathon partnerships, speaking, housing-development collaborations, and community-experience consulting. Austin-based, willing to travel for the right project.

Join the dispatch.

An occasional email — new builds, upcoming events, the next design challenge. No spam, no auto-DMs, just signal.

Dispatch · 16y · No platform middlemen