Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2018. Its figures are from 2018, including a price of around $35,000 for the prototype, up to 20 liters of water a day, more than 800 million people without drinking water, and container homes from about $50,000.
Imagine living in a house of just 22 square meters that’s suitable for a family of four. A house that’s also energy self-sufficient, produces drinking water and grows food in a vertical garden built into its outer walls. And, on top of all that, at an affordable price. We’re talking about the homes of the future.
This housing prototype is already a reality, and it could be the answer to the global housing shortage. These homes cost around $35,000 and could produce enough food for four people for 260 days a year.
What the homes of the future could look like
In climates like Africa’s, it could even produce a food surplus, according to Anna Dyson, a professor of architecture and of forestry and environmental studies at Yale University, whose team is behind the project.
In humid climates, the home could produce up to 20 liters of drinking water a day. In parts of the world where more than 800 million people are estimated to lack access to drinking water, homes like this could be the solution. It also produces some food thanks to the gardens installed on its walls.
The homes are built almost entirely of wood: first, because it’s an environmentally renewable material, and second, because people feel better, psychologically, when they live in wooden houses.
Houses made from shipping containers
Who would have thought that shipping containers could give us homes like these? With a dose of creativity, design and good taste, there’s no limit to what you can do by fitting a few containers together.
Some of these homes are genuine luxury mansions, and containers aren’t only used for homes. Houses made from shipping containers can be found at prices that usually start from around $50,000.
Containers have also been used for hotels whose rooms are all made from containers, with impeccable results; for buildings with a shop on the ground floor and what looks like an office above; and for whole buildings made entirely of containers.
Demand for this kind of home will keep growing, because no building work is needed to put one up, and some companies already sell them fully furnished, ready to buy and install. In fact, the customers most interested in these shipping-container units are companies that need to set up an office somewhere. There are already companies that specialize in selling portable offices.
13 more original tiny homes we’ll see in the future
More than homes of the future, these can already be found today, as this Business Insider video shows: from a house that folds out of a truck to other small spaces that turn into homes. Highly innovative homes, without a doubt, to suit every budget.
Watch: Business Insider video on 13 tiny homes
See also: 33 businesses and jobs with a future
Featured image: Cmglee, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
