Just to flag up a potential resource for all those interested in the Tiny House Movement as it develops in the UK; this page is an excellent grapevine for possible communal efforts to create a tiny house community etc.
I would love to see a small group of NestHouses together!
You can join the Facebook Group here.
The UN predicts that by 2060 66% of the world’s population will live in urban environments. One of the biggest challenges ahead of us is meeting housing requirements for this tribe of city dwellers. Space is limited and expensive so some home developers are thinking small. How does this help as we also consider the needs of those currently without a home?
Last night saw an audience of over 80 people at an Edinburgh International Science Festival discussion hosted by architecture author Jane Field-Lewis, to discuss the hot topic of Tiny Home Living.
Tiny House Scotland’s NestHouse prototype was featured in a presentation by Susan Carleton, a proponent of affordable small housing solutions, as the only moveable modular small eco-house currently being developed in Scotland!
Dr Mike Page from the University of Hertfordshire discussed the Cube Project - now on its second outing to the Science Festival, while Dr Caroline Brown of Heriot Watt University discussed the planning and social implications of small space living. The benefits of a small form factor for disaster relief housing was outlined by Julia Glenn of Extremis Technology. It was great to see the potential of serious small housing getting some attention in the UK!
First UK presentation by Lloyd Kahn, Editor in Chief of Shelter Publications, California.
Championing the self-build approach since 1970, Kahn has inspired and empowered first-time housebuilders around the world.
Presented by Fife Contemporary Art & Craft with The Bothy Project & with participation of Reforesting Scotland’s A Thousand Huts Campaign.
The event will take place on Tuesday 10 May 2016 at 7.15pm in the Beveridge Suite, Adam Smith Theatre (Bennochy Road, Kirkcaldy, KY1 1ET). The venue is fully accessible with ramped access to the building and a lift to the Beveridge Suite itself. Tickets cost £10 (full price) and a limited number will be offered free for students & school pupils.
Further details here.
What’s the state of play at Tiny House Scotland as we enter 2016? Well I’ve had a restful break over the Xmas period after building non-stop for the previous five months.
The NestHouse prototype is now fully finished externally - I finally got on to the lathe over Christmas and turned the roof finials (no, really, turning IS restful and meditative!!) so they are now in place on the roof - the last tick on that list!
So now I have to get my act together and crack on with the inside. The shell is complete and the interior spruce ply lining has already been cut and fitted, first fix electrics are all in place, the stairs to the sleeping loft are complete and the bathroom door is built. Now I just need to make the final decisions for the decoration of the panels - some will be natural and some will be painted.
After that it should be plain sailing to do the final fit-out. Well maybe not plain sailing; this is a prototype after all - so there are still a lot of decisions to be made, decisions which are fundamental to the ethos of the project. The electrics are 240 volt from an external 16amp pluggable supply but I will be adding a hybrid solar feed to this to allow off-grid use as well.
There is a wood stove to fit and a Jonathan Avery kitchen - the first in a while! In fact I think I will be building all the furniture for this NestHouse even though there will be very little actually built-in as I prefer a much freer and less caravan-like environment with freestanding, comfortable furniture - I have even designed a sofa so it looks as though I will be upholstering as well!
For those of you who have been following the project from the start, I hope to be able to unveil the finished NestHouse over the next few months, sorry but there will not be any photographs of the inside until it is sufficiently complete. There are orders for two more NestHouses in the pipeline… so it’s going to be a busy year!! Happy New Year to all!
