Tiny Houses, Two

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

design	product	build/built/built
tiny	cram (2)	dream (3)
set (3)	full-time	minimum
fit (2)	stuff (2)	leave/left/left (2)
multi-	store (3)	store away
micro	tough (2)	manufacture
price	customer	square meter
like (2)	part-time	big/bigger/biggest
used to	pandemic	come/came/come
way (2)	convince	come to appreciate
reduce	movie set	minimalism
lean	concrete	know/knew/known
ready	space (2)	think/thought/thought (2)
CO2	creativity	CO2 footprint
aspect	footprint	choose/chose/chosen
heat	prototype	rather than
fan	fascinate	grow/grew/grown (2)
bound	downsize	either way
size	stay (2)	appreciate
pint	flexible	say/said/said
unit	supply (2)	spend/spent/spent (2)
mobile	soar (2)	market (2)
trend	relatively	pick up (3)
still (2)	pipe (2)	functional
afford	quarter	make/made/made
decide	segment	see/saw/seen
site (2)	based in	come up (2)
pre-	cast (2)	see/saw/seen
iconic	instant	lay/laid/lain
bit (3)	shelter	feel/felt/felt (2)
cost	quarters	maximum
ease	eradicate	homelessness
wheel	shortage	population
chase	ground	square (3)
urban	area (2)	symbol (2)
suffer	otherwise	take care of

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video: Tiny Houses

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Anika Falke is a product designer and have built herself the house of her dreams.

Anika Falke, Designer, Tiny House Diekmann: “I live in a tiny house. I used to build movie sets, which is quite different.

I left the firm industry and traveled for a while. Everything I needed was in my backpack.

A tiny house is a lot like that: everything you need fits into one room. There are lots of stuff to store stuff away. Everything is multi-functional.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
She works for Stefan Diekmann. He started building tiny houses five years ago. And now he’s one of the biggest manufacturers in Germany. He builds forty a year, none of them larger than twenty-five square meters.

Stefan Diekmann, Tiny House Diekmann Founder: “I first saw them in Canada. I spent some time there, and saw how they were building micro-houses, though they weren’t mobile homes on wheels.

The idea really fascinated me.

Then the trend reached Europe from North America. We picked up on it relatively quickly, and decided to build a prototype and see how it goes.

The starting price is forty-five thousand euros (€45,000) for a house like this. Some customers want to live in theirs full-time; others for holidays.

Either way, you can’t cram much stuff in here.

Stefan Diekmann, Tiny House Diekmann Founder: “Many people have come to appreciate minimalism, downsizing, lean living. We know that because we see lots of people here who think that way.

Living in a small space is one aspect of minimalism. More generally, it’s about reducing your CO2 footprint. So choosing to live in and heat twenty square meters rather than sixty could be part of that.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
In Hong Kong for example, twenty square meters is quite standard. And still very expensive. Lots of people live in very close quarters. They can’t afford more space.

James Law is an architect based in Hong Kong. He’s designed micro-homes in concrete segments of water pipes. He calls them “O-Pods”.

James Law, Co-Founder, Homed: “I came up with the idea when one day I was on a construction site. And I saw these very large, pre-cast, concrete water pipes being laid in the ground.

And I walked into one of them; they were big enough for me to walk inside. And suddenly, I felt this was instant architecture. This was instant shelter. With a bit of design and a bit of creativity could be quickly made into a small house.”

He said these low-cost houses could eradicate homelessness, and ease the shortage of affordable housing.

One-hundred and twenty (120) units are said to be built in Hong Kong this year. More are to go up in Canada.

Law says the world needs to rethink housing; as the population soars, homes will have to get smaller.

James Law, Co-Founder, Homed: “Cities are so expensive to live in. Space is so tough to get. And so many people are chasing after that space.

So in a way, the architecture that we build is not longer so affordable for people. So maybe this idea will become more necessary in some form in every urbanized area in the world, because we realize that we cannot just build iconic and expensive projects as symbols of our cities. We need to take care of people, otherwise the people will really suffer.

Hong Kong is only one of many cities where housing is expensive and in short supply.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Stefan Diekmann says the market for tiny houses is going to be huge.

Stefan Diekmann, Tiny House Diekmann Founder: “I think people have become more flexible nowadays. They are not so bound to staying in one place. That’s another reason for choosing a tiny house.

Diekman plans to open a tiny house hotel once the pandemic is over, that is. The pint-sized units are ready to go. Each one is different.

Anika Falke doesn’t need to be convinced: she’s already a fan, and says her tiny house gives her everything she needs.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

Door. Anika is an office clerk at an insurance company. True of false? Has she had other jobs? Is she insular, parochial, provincial or cosmopolitan? Is she part of the jet-set?

Room. Does Anika live in a three-bedroom apartment with housemates?

Living Room. Stefan Diekmann is the CEO of a huge construction company. Is this right or wrong? Does he build mansions for rich clients? Are his customers materialistic, vain and flamboyant?

Kitchen. Did the concept of tiny homes come from Sweden?

Bedroom. There is a growing demand for Diekmann’s tiny houses. Is this correct or incorrect? Do all of his customers plan to settle in one place forever?

Bathroom. According to James Law of Hong Kong, are micro-homes just a fad? What is his solution?

Window, Curtains. Do the tiny homes provide all the basic necessities (and comforts) of a normal family home?
 
 
 
Floor, Ceiling. Is housing in your town, city, region or country cheap, medium-priced or expensive?

Walls. Do many (young) people struggle with their work and living expenses?

Carpet, Rug. Some people live in mini-homes or tiny homes. Yes or no?

Lights, Lamp. Where would your and your friends like to live? What kind of accommodation would you like to live in?

Hallway. What might happen in the future?

Stairs, Stairwell. What could or should people, companies and governments do?