Urban Planning25 Aug 2005 05:59 pm
While Americans are building larger and larger homes (we’re talking 4,800 sf mansions), a group of German students figured out a way to live perfectly fine on 81 square feet, or should I say in 729 cubic feet. A few cubes are actually being built as student housing in Munich. The article is in German, but if you click on the three images, it will open up a slide show of 15 pictures, enough to get a pretty good idea. Very cool, although certainly not for the claustrophic.
Better to live in 160 sq.ft (or 1360 cubic feet). Those are the dimensions of a TEU (a shipping container: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEU). That way homes can be built offsite in factores, with all appliances and utilities prefabricated, and onsite you just slot ‘em together into a retaining frame. The frame (and stuff like stairs and connective hardware) comes in TEUs too. Add the occasional utility TEU (water, power, telco, laundry) and all the local site has to supply is a concrete foundation and the utility hookups. Bingo, instant housing.
Factoid: rooms in Japanese houses are dimensioned in multiples of 35.5 inches, the size of the narrower dimension of a Tatami mat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami)
No kidding on the container housing, here is a great site with examples of shipping containers used as living and work space:
http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/