Jurriaan van Stigt column
Tiny houses, I never believed in them. So-called small living. On average, there are three of them on one hectare. So imagine that we make a million homes as tiny houses, then we need 330,000 hectares of land. Double the current built-up area in the Netherlands!
But still. Within the cities we build smaller and smaller. Towers with 30 m2 flats are no longer an exception. Not my dream either. But if we do it, how do we do it as well as possible? Apparently, people living in tiny houses are quite capable and willing to live in a small space. Can we learn something from them?
I am standing in the New Institute with a book in my hand. What strikes me is the layout of the houses: they are often just a bit higher than what we make them as standard, 4 instead of 2.6 metres. There is suddenly room for a clever mezzanine. Stairs up, a cupboard underneath. Clever, I think! You immediately get more light inside. Feasible in terms of design. But the rules will have to be changed somewhat, especially if we want to make dwellings 4 metres high.
Then there are three important reasons for people to live in a tiny house: having less stuff, being part of a community and having a smaller footprint. Things like a washing machine and dryer are easy to share. Not thirty people with sixty machines, but a shared space for washing. Next, pleasant communal areas, with lots of greenery, but still private, inside and outside, are things we can easily realise in courtyard gardens and roof terraces. With such interventions, we can save on installations and create a greater sense of community.
Stacked tiny houses! That I can imagine.