Berlin tiny house plan a boon for homeless
berlin — Troubled to see a long queue of asylum seekers shivering for hours on a winter’s day outside Berlin’s notoriously chaotic registration centre, Van Bo Le-Mentzel decided to take action.
“I fetched my drill and collected some wood that I found randomly in the streets and brought it to the line where people were standing there bored to death and we just started building,” the architect said.
The end products were pintsized playhouses that children could crawl into for shelter as well as break up the monotony of the endless wait.
It also marked the birth of the so-called Tiny House University, a project bringing together architects, designers and refugees to experiment with innovative ways to house a population in need. “We are trying to create new kinds of housing forms in society in which it’s possible to live and survive without having land or money,” said Le-Mentzel.
The tiny house trend emerged several years ago, largely in the United States as people chose to downsize their living space out of environmental or financial concerns. In Berlin, it has been given a twist for contemporary needs.
For a start, Le-Mentzel’s team which includes six refugees, is collaborating with the Bauhaus Archiv to build 20 tiny houses occupying 100 square feet each. Together, the houses will form a temporary village on exhibition until March 2018. Some will serve as lodging, while others are destined to be a library, cafe, workshop or community centre.
Each building is fitted on wheels . “In Berlin we have 1.5 million cars registered and they are all standing in the streets overnight, not in use. Each car is about 10 square metres,” noted Le-Mentzel. “So I’m asking what would happen if we just replace these 1.5 million cars with tiny houses or with mobile playgrounds for kids or with open spaces where neighbours can cook together, eat together, find company together, where refugees can create a start-up in the streets — opening a restaurant, (giving) a haircut.” —