Boston

As I brought up a few weeks ago, there is a real need for more small, inexpensive vacation homes, ideally ones that are easily accessed by city-dwellers. City life can be a real grind. Without some sort of retreat, it can be unsustainable. Well the gods have heard my plea. Actually–as is more often the case–a group of Harvard grads heard my plea (but aren’t they the same thing anyway?). Headed by MBA student Jon Staff and Law School student Peter Davis, Getaway House provides an attractive, affordable, off grid tiny house for “folks looking to escape the digital grind and test-drive tiny house living.”

There is currently one completed Getaway House that is available to book by the night. It is dubbed “Ovida” and is located within two hour driving distance from Boston. The place was designed by a group of Harvard Design School grads. This elite-institution provenance shows through in its design. Both its modern interior and exterior are clad with attractive rough cut pine. The interior features built in furniture such as a table that doubles as a window cover and two built-in beds, giving the place capacity to sleep four. All electricity is solar, the toilet is composting and water is handled via a 110 gallon water tank that is refilled via the host house the tiny house shares its land with. Bookings also include fresh linens and available “provisions”–a sort of backwoods mini bar with things like coffee, trail mix, pasta, etc (these cost extra). Ovida is available for a reasonable $99/night for double occupancy.

Another Getaway House, dubbed “Lorraine” will be available mid-August and they are already taking reservations. A third house is due out in early September. Staff and Davis raised a bunch of money to build the houses with the goal of making them into a replicable model, providing both affordable, sustainable urban retreats and income generator for property host.

Getaway House is actually the first initiative of a project called Millennial Housing Lab, which, somewhat along the lines of what I wrote about yesterday, is trying to develop and realize “fresh housing ideas for a new generation,” focusing “on all sides of the housing experience: architecture, neighborhood design, financing, regulation and community-building.” As I’ve mentioned time and again, for all the hype surrounding tiny houses, micro-apartments, micro-suites and other creative forms of housing, market and regulatory forces often stand at odds with bringing these things into being. While Getaway House is ultimately a tiny vacation cabin, it is also another small step in making tiny, low impact housing a viable housing option for more people.

New York City isn’t the only American city turning to micro-apartments to accommodate its expanding population. Boston is well on its way to developing large buildings featuring micro-apartments, primarily in its Seaport–aka Innovation–District.

Like NYC Mayor Bloomberg who is encouraging micro-apartments as part of the city’s PlaNYC program, which is preparing the city for 2030, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is encouraging micro-apartments as part of his “ONEin3’’ initiative, so named for the 30% of city residents who are between the ages of 20 and 34–a population who, according to one survey, was more interested in proximity to work, transportation, and good restaurants than square footage. In fact, that same survey found that only 30% of this demographic found a 300 sq ft apartment too small.

And like NYC who recently opened the “Making Room” exhibition to showcase small space living solutions, Boston’s Society of Architects is opening the “What’s In?” exhibition today showcasing, um, small space living solutions. And, like “Making Room,” who features a mockup micro-apartment, “What’s In?” features, you guessed it, a 300 sq ft micro-apartment by the ADD Inc design and architecture firm.

Truth be known, Boston has been thinking about this stuff for a while, and the ADD mockup was on display last fall–before “Making Room”. And Boston has at least two building underway with micro-units–more than NYC can claim. Maybe NYC is copying Boston. And heck, we’re all copying London and Tokyo and Hong Kong…

Anyway you shake it, it’s good news for smart and small living.

What’s interesting about the ADD mockup is that it lacks a Murphy bed, a staple in the micro-apartment diet. The apartment also forgoes a dining table for a long kitchen counter, which on a daily-use basis makes a lot of sense. Most of us are far more likely to eat a bite sitting at the kitchen counter than having a proper sit-down meal (this might not be a good thing, but there it is).

While some of these design features were probably motivated by reduced costs, they may also work well with the younger demographic the apartment is meant to appeal to, many of whom rarely eat at home and perhaps because of an increased likelihood of passing out at night, might find the Murphy bed a safety risk ;-).

What do you think of ADD’s design? Could you, would you, live there?

Tag: Boston

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