Every time a micro home is built an angels gets its wings. Though we have yet to confirm this bit of conjecture, the testaments are all around us: in the Austrian countryside, where they look like UFOs, in fair Portland, where they're made from recycled Trader Joe's bags, even if Paris, where you can rent them on Airbnb for the price of a fancy dinner. All it takes to make one is a bit of faith, the willpower to disengage yourself from humanity's torrid love affair with square footage, and in the case of this 70-square-foot nomadic living pod, about $2,000. All that and a cache of reclaimed materials was all that a class from Green Mountain College in Vermont needed to build the Optimal Traveling Independent Space, or OTIS. With a sleeping loft, a rainwater collector, and a 300-watt solar-powered electrical system, this tiny abode has just about everything you could need in a home, as long as you limit your needs to the barest of essentials. Did we mention it fits comfortably on a 5'x8' trailer?
The frame of OTIS came from locally sourced lumber and slate, and was planned with enough interior space to comfortably house one person. (Or not so comfortably, depending on how OK you are with composting toilets.) To get the project done in just one semester, the class was split into four teams to that focused on its water, energy, heat, and building envelope systems. Whoever designed that colorful sectioned façade, though: give that kid an A-plus!
· Green Mountain College's Tiny Pod-Shaped House is Designed for the 21st Century Nomad [Inhabitat]
· All previous micro home coverage [Curbed National]
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