Revolutionary Architecture Arisen from the Ashes
In 2010 and 2011, Christchurch New Zealand experienced devastating earthquakes, killing hundreds of people and leveling large swaths of the city. Following the government’s withdrawal of housing allowances for post-graduate students, Geology grad student Stefan Cook decided to combine the abundant scrap material left over from the quakes and his housing pinch to make an affordable, trailer-mounted tiny house. The whole project has cost him a total of NZ$15K (US$11,500).
In the above video, Cook shows us around the house, which is still a bit of a work in progress. He plans to add solar panels to provide power and some of the interior details are still being worked out. But the interior is quite spacious and airy, helped greatly by the large and high quality salvaged windows Cook incorporated into the design.
The house’s frame is made of burly welded steel, which we imagine would hold up to future quakes. But beyond seismic resiliency, the house is a strategy for economic resiliency–providing a nice place to live that’s a fraction of the cost of most housing on the market. Follow Stefan on his Facebook page.
Via Collectively and Living Big in Tiny House