Forget Tiny Houses, here come Micro Houses

timo2

timo2

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
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Bernalillo, NM
As in a little tiny place to sleep in. The future of overpopulation. Giant storm sewer pipes.

From the article: "
Housing shortages are a reality in many parts of the world, but nowhere more so than Hong Kong, where the average one-bedroom apartment downtown rents for $2,100 and many people are forced into cheap black market apartments called coffin cubicles. But James Law Cybertecture, a Hong Kong-based studio, is looking to change that through the development of affordable micro-housing. The firm recently built a prototype of the OPod Tube House, a concrete water pipe transformed into modular housing. Measuring a little over 8 feet wide, each 100-square-foot space is designed to house one or two people. "

https://mymodernmet.com/opod-housing-tubes-micro-apartments/
 
Our RV is 167 sq ft and with 2 people and 3 dogs after a month I want to kill someone:)) I would move somewhere cheaper before I would live in one of these.
 
While it's an interesting concept - practical concerns aren't really addressed... They show them stacked in several of the renderings... but only in one shot in the video do they bother to show stairs to get to the ones that aren't on ground level. And the weight of them makes it impractical to move them around (as temporary housing)... but that is spun as a "feature" because they're heavy enough they don't need to be anchored down. LOL.
 
Sort of reminds me of the apartments depicted in "The Fifth Element" movie.
 
Teacher Terry said:
Our RV is 167 sq ft and with 2 people and 3 dogs after a month I want to kill someone:)) I would move somewhere cheaper before I would live in one of these.
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Just curious who would be the first to go, DH or one of the dogs?��
 
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I am a little claustrophobic and would be miserable.
 
Years ago I visited a family in Hong Kong with two children. They rented a 3 high double wide bunk bed in a room with four other similar bunk beds with privacy curtains. They shared a kitchen and bathroom. If those micro houses would have been available they would be interested.
 
To look at this from another angle $1,000,000 in the center of Hong Kong gets one very little for housing for that amount. We are talking about 400 Sq. ft. ,maybe two bedrooms with a mediocre bathroom and kitchen. Sure brings everything into better focus. It's very , very expensive in Hong Kong.
 
These Tube Houses are a vast, repeat, vast improvement over what some Hong Kongese live in now: a cage. Yes, a cage.


I learned about this recently, and posted about it. Search the Web and youtube with the following keywords "Hong Kong cage dwellers" to learn more about it.



360_cage_0821.jpg


caged-homes-1.jpg
 
Submarine duty is usually 3 to 6 months and hot bunking. But there is no rent and the food is good.
 
Those guys are skinny and smoking. What more could you want?

Gotta be tough to get a woman in there eh? Maybe they share and split the cost?
 
These seem to be a waste of space.... making them a cube would give more living space with the same area the houses take...

They do make square sewer pipe... but I think they could make it cheaper on site...

BTW, when I was in London I read about someone paying 85K pounds for an 86 sq ft. apt... the location was excellent...


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UnrealizedPotential said:
To look at this from another angle $1,000,000 in the center of Hong Kong gets one very little for housing for that amount. We are talking about 400 Sq. ft. ,maybe two bedrooms with a mediocre bathroom and kitchen. Sure brings everything into better focus. It's very , very expensive in Hong Kong.
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NW-Bound said:
In London, 225,000 pounds (US$319K) will get you a 125-sq.ft. studio that used to be a broom closet.

See: This tiny £225,000 London flat used to be a cleaning cupboard - Business Insider.
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Hmmm...just barely more expensive than San Francisco. :nonono:

Or, not. :facepalm:

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfran...l-co-181-fremont-penthouse-san-francisco.html
 
Sunset said:
Seems like a pretty stupid idea, compared to using shipping containers which are already built to stack and are nearly free, don't weigh as much, and won't roll all over during an earthquake.
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On one of by biking trips, our host put us up in his converted shipping container. He met us about 15+ miles from his home and and while bicycling to his house, he told us about our arrangements for the evening. Needless to say, we were a bit concerned.

It turned out to be a terrific place. Once we walked inside, we could not tell that we were in a container. He had a wonderful bedroom/bath in the back part. And, the rest of the house was an open style design. It was quiet and nicely furnished.

Based on this one experience, I think containers offer a great housing option.
 
These extremes are all due to location.... you can buy a nice house out a ways in Austin for a reasonable price... San Fran and London not as easily....

When I worked in London I had employees who lived in Cambridge who took the train into London... when I worked in NYC there were people who had two hour commutes to get to work...
 
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