Posted on March 28, 2022.

In the world of home design, a revolution is taking place – and its future is tiny. The buzz around the tiny house trend – an architectural and social movement that advocates for downsizing living spaces – is increasing. Witness the nearly 2.5 million Instagram posts with a "tinyhouse" hashtag.

In the same way that minimalism and decluttering captured the zeitgeist as a counterpoint to conspicuous consumerism, so too has the tiny house movement found its moment. The idea – that having less space and stuff can create room in our lives for more important things – is an appealing one.

The roots of the tiny house movement can be traced to 19th-Century US naturalist and essayist Henry David Thoreau, whose book Walden (1854) is an inspiring meditation on simple living in natural surroundings. Jay Shafer, the "godfather of tiny houses", spearheaded the modern movement when he built a tiny house on wheels and wrote The Small House Book in 1999. Shafer founded the Tumbleweed Tiny House company, before leaving to focus on social justice and housing rights.

Tiny house fans champion the dwellings' green credentials: they require less material to build, and are energy-considerate – using around 20 to 30% of the energy of most average UK homes, according to the Tiny Housing Co, a UK firm. They can be fitted with solar panels or wind power, so the owner can live off-grid. Being designed for mobility, they can more easily be sited close to nature. Economical, portable, eco-friendly, community-minded, mortgage-free – what's not to like?

Original Post: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211215-why-the-tiny-house-movement-is-big

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