Tiny House Is Too Small

There is an interesting twist over in Sweden when it comes to Tiny House and student housing, it’s too small!  I was surprised to see this coming from Europe of all places, a part of the world where small is the norm and tiny is pretty common.  The issues stems out of the huge lack of student housing, which has recently came to a head.  With 18,000 people wait-listed just because they don’t have anywhere to put them!  For every apartment in university cities, there are 1,000 applications to rent!  So what is to be done?

Enter the Tiny house, a builder has purposed and built a model unit that is94 square feet, but university and city officials are saying that is just too small.  It would be rented for $4,400 USD per year, check it out!

Via

What do you think, is this house too small for students?

 

20 Comments
  1. The problem isn’t actually that the house is too small; it’s the building regulations that says all student rooms should be accessible to people in wheelchairs. And in a room/house this small, there isn’t room to maneuver a wheelchair.
    Furthermore, the house in the photo is just a prototype that the student housing company is using to draw interest to the matter (and they have obviously succeded 🙂 ). In reality, they want to build an apartment building with really small apartments.

    • i dont think the wheel chair accessibility should be used to halt the idea for small student rooms…. it could be used as an optional housing … not for all students… instead of forcing this to be a public funded project … maybe open it up for private developers that would look to making a solution work financially… assuming there is a solution…

  2. Don’t know about Swedish students, but I want one!

    College students just need a place to sleep, study, and eat. This hits all 3 of these points AND it looks great. I’d love to have had someplace like this to call home in college, in fact I may decide to return to school in the future and will need a rolling version of this to live in rent free to make it a reality.

  3. It is about twice the size of my college dorm room at USC

  4. Meghan: you have a dorm room that is just 4.7 square meters (51 square feet)?! That’s really tiny!

  5. My Questions is why are the walls so thick? according to the plan, The walls are .4 meters (1ft 4″) thick! thats a loss of 40% of the plan area! I know that insulation is a key issue with efficient buildings, (especially in northern climates) but this seems a bit like overkill

    • They are pretty thick – but then again, Sweden does get very cold in the winter, bitingly cold.
      Perhaps the thick insulation makes it cheap to heat?

  6. I really like this design for some reason. Does anyone have a link to more pictures?

  7. I’d really love to live in that house even if I’m not a student anymore! 😀
    I think it’s perfect for students: you have enough space to stay on your own and it doesn’t need a lot maintenance/housework

  8. I hope they don’t plan to actually build hundreds of these things. Housing students in dormitories would make much better use of the land, require substantially less building materials and be more energy efficient.

  9. As a freshman in college, I was placed in a 90 square foot double that truly was TOO small. This 94 square foot prototype’s lofted bed with a work area beneath it is functional yet cozy. Also, for those that believe the rooms to be too small, communal kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms could be built on each floor of the dorm.

  10. Curtin uni in Western Australia has had a similar concept for about ?15?years in “Japan House” which is a series of very small ensuite/bedroom combos – each with it’s own courtyard and japanese privacy screens. Beautiful (and very sought after) accommodation, unfortunately the rest of their accommodation is much more traditional with six and eight bedroom houses.

    At least in Australia you don’t have to share a bedroom. One thing that gets me is the idea of 20yr olds with ‘adult lives’ trying to share a shoebox of a bedroom for entire years while living away from home. We’re not six. This is a perfect solution to the need for individual space and privacy without being excessive.

  11. Real issue is that a bunch of these side by side won’t help. Need to build up not out

  12. i agree with up not out. that would have to be considered obviously

  13. flatten the roof and make them stackable, for an upward and outward design that is flexible to the design needs of the specific location/poupulation/density/aesthetic ect.

  14. I’m a student and I’d LOVE to live here! It looks so much niceer than my current bigger, run-down city house. It is cleverly built so the size doesn’t mean you can’t store things. I love it!

  15. Student groups need to take the lead and create a not for profit to provide low cost rooms. Use empty housing and industrial buildings. Even use cargo containers on waste ground.
    Or just squat

  16. As a student and an individual that craves for a space of my own, but can’t afford it and thus is doomed to live with random people a.k.a flatmates, I would live love to live in one like that. It’s tiny, but it’s all yours!

  17. Good idea for student housing but only one student per unit. It would is to small for 2 people. Handicap specific units could be built to accommodate handicap students.

  18. It’s bigger than what we had when I was going to school Good enough for students. Sharing a room at the Y (Hotel Montrose in Cedar Rapids in the 70’s) was small. This is luxurious.

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