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| Afew of the 70 pupils at Berkeley High who learned all about making their own first home. |
A POPULAR way to pass the time on social media sites these days is
to ask what advice you’d give your younger self, knowing what you know
now.
Looking back at the money I wasted on renting dingy rooms in my
mendicant youth, my sage advice to self would be to buy the largest double axle
trailer I can get a loan for, then get busy with the saws and planks to make a
room I can sell later.
This is more or less what 70 high school pupils did for a school
project at Berkeley High School in the United States last term.
Before they started sawing, the pupils attended a carpentry boot
camp with Studio H and were then introduced to the role of architecture in
creating communities.
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| The Berkeley final product. Two parked side by side create a classic gable roofed house. |
They were asked how housing is influenced by social and economic
context.
All knew of cousins who could not afford to move out from the
parental home after their studies — even those who had jobs.
Other questions posed was how affordable access to housing
empowered families? And can the design of a home uplift and inspire positive
change in a person’s life?
With these questions in mind, the pupils glued together 63 concept
homes using carton boxes, and then they all judged each others’ efforts with the
brutal honesty of teenagers.
They then worked as a project team to incorporate the best design
ideas and elements with the most likes into a tiny, solar-powered homes on a
trailer. Parked next to each other, two shed-roofed trailers create the boxy
house most children draw. All that is missing is the smoking chimney. Instead of
a chimney, there are four 250 W solar panels on the roof that charge an
inverter, which can in turn power LED lights, tablets or smartphones.
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| Just add posters. |
The Berkeley mini home measures just 9,2 m² but includes a bed over
a storage area and a bare “foyer”, which is for the occupant to fill — either
with a desk or a kitchenette or if it was my young self, a mate dossing on the
floor for a couple of nights that stretch into weeks.
While cheap, the finishings are hard wearing.
The interior walls are white, which creates a feeling of space, the
oriented strand board is stained black so as not to show wear, and the
temperature is kept even with Thermafibre insulation between the palette wood
sidings.
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| One glaring ommission is no ablutions, yet. But this corner has the space for a tiny toilet-shower. |
One glaring omission is provision for plumbing. Presumably, a spade
and bog roll are optional extras for those not parked in Mum’s back yard.
One of the tiny homes was donated to a transitional housing
organisation that provides a home and job training to the unhoused or homeless.
The other home is currently being auctioned on eBay, with the closing day on
June 15 and proceeds going towards funding Studio H’s next programme.
