Tiny homes of the future | Lara Nobel | TEDxSouthBank

With an optimism that’s grounded in tangible solutions, Lara has travelled the world studying urban design solutions in Berlin, micro-housing in Tokyo, and alternative housing in Portland. She’s now developing a new type of compact housing in Australia – one that’s driven by our needs rather than market expectations. Leading by example, she has co-founded a company to produce these affordable ‘tiny houses’.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Some of my friends have bought a house,

a reasonably priced,
three or four bedroom.

Not expensive, but enough to tie them
to a 30-year mortgage.

They work a nine-hour day, and travel
two hours to get there and back.

By the time they get home, relax, sleep;

they have to get up and do it all again.

Sometimes they say
they feel a little bit trapped.

Realistically, half of the rooms
in that house are empty all the time.

And they're always looking forward
to their next holiday,

away from it all -

the house included.

Apparently, this is quite normal.

My partner Andrew and I
are at about this point in our lives.

But the idea of striving for this kind
of lifestyle seems out of balance.

Health, nature, and time
feels like it's being traded

for house, money, and stuff.

I guess, most of us follow the same path:
buy as much as we can afford,

in the best area we can afford,
and adjust our lifestyles to suit.

Usually this means
a big house in the suburbs

with a bit of a commute.

The problem I have with this is that
I believe our physical environments

enforce habits, both good and bad.

We build the world's biggest houses,
and fill them with stuff,

worsening our ecological footprint.

Many of our houses are quite insular,

turning their backs on neighbors
and the public street.

We take out crippling mortgages

in our pursuit for the great
Australian dream,

and sacrifice our welfare,
our relationships, and our hobbies.

So this was a bit of a problem for us.

What we really wanted was something
a lot smaller and more flexible

than what the market offered.

We wanted to buy something
within our means,

and have our lifestyle adapt our home,
not the other way around.

Our homes could be so much more,
and take so much less.

They could offer us easy ways
to process our own waste,

or recycle our water.

They could offer us ways to collect
and monitor our energy usage,

or foster connected communities.

And of course, like many problems,
this isn't just a personal problem,

this issue is broader;
it's on the national and global scale.

Our homes demand huge amounts
of energy to build and operate.

Not only this, but they produce
large amounts of waste.

And the land clearing required
for new low-density development

is an ongoing problem.

And yet, we stubbornly march forward,
building bigger and bigger houses yearly.

The average floor plan size
or the average area of our houses

has steadily grown over the past 15 years.

And simultaneously, the number of people
living in these houses has declined.

And to top it all off, many of us
can't even afford to buy a house.

The average price of our houses
in Australian capital cities

is now more than seven times
our average annual income.

That's huge.

So the last year my partner and I,
and a builder-mate of ours,

teamed up with his small crew as well,
to design and build an alternative.

Something based on our desires,
and not the market expectations.

You may have heard of the term,
a "tiny house" before.

In our case, it's essentially
a fully functioning house

condensed down into 18 square meters,

which is two car-parking spaces.

The product is a home
that is transportable,

more affordable than the average house,

and also, more environmentally friendly.

So let me give you a quick tour.

The house is built on a trailer,

so you can tow a fully functioning house
onto site and park it there.

You enter the house via the deck.

The deck is made up of modular panels,
that attach to the side of the house

when you arrive on site,
doubling the width.

The doors and windows are made
of recycled floor joists of old cottages,

and this recycled timber-fill
is continued through on the bench tops,

the shelves, and the decking boards.

Because space is such an issue,

it was important to maintain
good views through the house.

So the front entry windows and doors

line up with the windows
in front of the kitchen.

Once inside, you are presented
with long views through the house.

The rhythm of the portal frames
helps to organise the space,

and reduce the feeling of clutter.

Up one end, is an L-shaped
lounge space,

and behind that
is floor-to-ceiling storage.

By day, this is a lounge space,

and by night, a bed
is lowered down from the ceiling.

In the central space,
on one side is the kitchen bench,

and on the other side is a narrow bench,

which turns into the vanity
and the laundry space.

And at the far end is the bathroom,

which is separated from
the main space by a sliding door.

The bathroom contains a full-size shower,
and a composting toilet,

because this one was designed
to be able to be off-grid.

Above the backroom space is a loft,

which could be used
as additional sleeping space

for a double or a queen bed,
or for more storage space.

It was really important for us

to make the space feel
a lot bigger than it actually is.

And some of the strategies
we used for this

were the high ceilings with the louvers,

white walls,

views were carefully organised
through and down the space,

and strategic placement of some mirrors.

Of course, aesthetics aside,

it was important that it functions
really well as a house.

So in such a small home,
storage was really important.

We had to exploit every
opportunity we could:

under the floor, in the walls,
around the wheel-arches, in the furniture.

Of course, as well,
we had to enact different scenarios

of how the space would be used.

So, what would we do
when we had guests over?

How could the space be rearranged
for different activities of the day?

So far, the capacity has been 30.

(Laughter)

In designing the house,

we had to fit a lot of things
into quite a small space.

But for us, the ultimate
measure of success

was were we able to retain
the essence of a home.

Sure, it's not for everyone,
but it suits us well.

Being built on a trailer meant
that there are many alternatives

for how the space is used.

People who own land
could expand their space

by adding an additional
bit of accommodation.

Those that don't own land,
it can open up many options for them.

And that is the case
with my partner and I.

Arrangements can be made,
and if you bring your home with you,

it's amazing where
you can find places to live.

There's also opportunities for people
who have live-in workers

or dependent family members,

even holiday accommodation.

Of course, there's also
further things to consider

with movable, small modular homes

about disaster relief housing,
and communities that want to be off-grid,

or more remote properties.

And a tiny house
that can function fully off-grid

works well in those scenarios.

Another issue that is worth briefly
mentioning is our aging population,

and various different ways our housing

might not be tailored
well enough for that,

and how small dwellings could be used

either in the property of children
for elderly parents,

or even in the back
of their own properties,

and they could rent
or sell their larger house,

and still stay in their own community.

With a bit of creative thinking
and collaboration with counsels,

developers, neighbors, friends, family,

I believe we could overcome
a lot of issues we have with our housing.

Whether we like it or not,
our housing is a reflection of who we are

and what we value as a society.

So the status quo of Australian
housing should concern us.

We are building bigger and bigger houses,
and we need not; perhaps we should not.

I don't want to try and convince
you all to live in a tiny house.

What I would like to pose is a challenge

to dismiss our preconceptions,

to put aside those preconceptions
about our home and to really think

what do we want our home to provide.

I think that only
when we get to that point

can we reflect on what's really important
in our homes, and our lifestyles.

It's very difficult
to put a price on a lifestyle.

But for me, it's definitely
worth more than the fourth bedroom.

(Applause)