AMHERST — As a child, Hampshire College senior Nara Williams hated being told to pick up after herself. This semester, she’s learning to keep things tidy — very tidy.
For her senior project, she is living in a 130-square-foot house to explore the realities and benefits of living small.
Comments
Cool!
I've lived in many apartments that are much smaller than this tiny house, so not sure what the big deal is. It looks pretty luxurious to many people, I imagine. It even has a separate kitchen.
You may think you lived in apartments smaller than this, but I assure you, as an architect, you did not. There are no Boston or New York studio apartments this small with a bathroom and kitchen, and the very smallest are nearly twice this size.
Geo: Some of us had roommates. Therefore, even if the total square footage was somewhat larger than the Tumbleweed house, we were sharing it, as well as the costs. Overall, that amounts to the same square footage of personal space per occupant. Additionally, she has a high-ceiling, which "makes the main room feel surprisingly roomy" and you can see it serves as storage space (in the pic).
I also don't think living in this size space for a single, college student is a big deal: it is spotless and brand new, energy efficient, offers more than a dorm room, and she isn't paying a dime for it, other than a delivery fee. It's excellent, free marketing / visibility for the company to showcase their product. The student conducts her experiment and study. Everybody wins. I realize what she is doing is more than just testing the space ... but I don't think she is going to come up with any conclusions that aren't obvious.
If I just spent $200,000 on my kid's education, and it culaminated in their living in a small house as the pinnacle of said education, I may need to be talked off the Tobin. What, exactly, will this woman be able to add to society in terms of productivity? Where will she work? Will she build small homes? Sell them? To be clear, her idea is that small spaces consume fewer resources? Well, done, Hampshire.
In order to pay for their educations, and given the current cost of housing, many 'kids' will be living in spaces like this, and probably loving it. Perhaps Ms. Williams will be selling them. (BTW - U.S. corporations sitting on $5 Trillion in cash does have consequences.)
I have already seen these small houses, so it isn't a novelty. They are great, as long as you live on your own. Living in that space with another person, much less kids, would be impossible. Now, if she blogged about that situation for a year, I might be interested, but I doubt they would all make it out alive.
There are dozens of blogs and even coffee table books dedicated to these types of dwellings. I suspect the only novelty is that the writer met the occupant of one. See Phyllis Richardson's "Nano House: Innovations for Small Dwellings" for a collection of under 650sf dwellings, many far more innovative than this example.
This is nothing more than a wood mobile home that is similar in size to an original Airstream trailer. It's an interesting academic project for a student but not at all groundbreaking. The media has been fascinated with the small house movement for a few decades. An interesting idea to explore but illegal by housing standards of the Massachusetts State Builsing Code, which is why it's on wheels. This is a housing fashion statement. Look at the innovations in New Orleans after Katrina to see where housing invention is more serious. It would be interesting to know where she will be living in ten years.
With Ma & Pa ?
Did she receive a refund on her housing bill at this hippie college for living at the small house? Plenty of people live on small boats with no standing room.
I can't imagine a student having much more room in a dorm.
No news worth printing today?
Tis is not a novelty anymore than if Wed's food sectcall lauded the new trend of ice cream floats and TV dinners in aluminum trays. I call your attention to this: http://www.rvbusiness.com/2012/11/retro-trailer-design-enters-restoration-market/
Hmm. A groundbreaking experiment? Perhaps. But I keep feeling this was done before as part of a very intentional experiment. And wasn't it in Massachusetts? Now let me see. Ah, yes. Thoreau...Walden Pond...1845-47...two years, two months, and two days. And didn't he write a book about his years of living simply in the 15x20 cabin he built? I believe so!
haha - my thoughts exactly! I guess she went into the quad to live deliberately...
Geo. I lived in Little Italy 35 years ago in a place smaller than this "tiny house," believe me. It also has not bathing facilities. The filthy toilet was out in the hall. The kitchen sink and stove (that was the extend of the kitchen) were in the single room and we bathed in the kitchen sink. Yes, two uf us lived there. I also lived in a tiny cabin (er, shack) in the woods of Vermont with no running water. As a veteran of the "60's" I just found this article about a "groundbreaking" living experience to be somewhat ironic.
I don't think architects got near such places urban or rural- honestly.
Glad someone mentioned an Airstream.
I have told my kids that I will soon be moving into their driveways (alternating months) in the smallest Airstream, but given the larger dimensions and higher ceilings of the Tiny House, maybe I should reconsider.
The Boston micro apartments are an interesting concept that were originally intended to lower rents, but that actually is not, apparently, going to happen. Can the Seaport Innovation District include a trailer park where we can park our Tiny Houses?
Oh I'm well aware that there are smaller substandard spaces rented in cities around the world (I've lived in a couple) but the very minimum for a legal studio with kitchen and full bath is about 200sf, and most are closer to 300sf.
Why the snark? Of course, the small hand-crafted house is not a new idea.
That said, the idea of living in a small space with just what you need and no more has a strong appeal. An Airstream would do, but it is made of metal, so for me, does not have the same "curb appeal."
I agree green-lady. This is an older trend that needs to be rediscovered by a new generation. No real need for the oversized megamansions for most of us.