Posted on 05/02/2014 10:39:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Weave your way to the top covered-floor of a parking garage in Midtown Atlanta, shielded from heavy rain and direct sunlight, and you won't find cars filling the spaces between the yellow lines. Instead, you'll find three micro homes and a handful of outdoor patios, all part of a micro-housing experiment the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) calls SCADPads.
As city populations boom — the World Health Organization says 6 out of 10 people will live in a city by 2030 — urban planners are pressured to seek out wise housing methods.
"If you look at where parking garages are located in cities, they're usually centrally located; There are usually many, many floors, so they provide an amazing view," explains Scott Boylston, SCAD's program coordinator for design for sustainability. "It really transforms the way we see neighborhoods. The idea that the garage becomes a village — a community."
Three tiny, 135-square-foot homes are the focal point of the experimental parking garage community. They were a collaborative effort between 135 students, five classes, 12 staffers and three dozen SCAD alumni. Each home is designed for a continent where SCAD has campuses: North America, Europe and Asia.
Boylston says the project is about "re-imagining urban living," so there's also a grey water garden, two common areas with seats and outdoor heaters, and even a 3D printer.
A dozen students are putting the SCADPads to a test this month in Atlanta, including Jerome Elder, a SCAD design for sustainability grad student. Elder says his friends thought he was a little crazy wanting to live in a such a small space, but Elder loves being part of the social experiment.
"I want to live in a parking garage because there are so many out there that can be reused and re-purposed," Elder explains. "I think it's really interesting to look at these structures that we often overlook and think of them in a different way."
"I wanted to know what it's like to live smart, live small and live easy," she tells weather.com. "Long back, I did want a big apartment all to myself and a comfortable lifestyle. But after living her for 10 days, this is pretty much what I want when I start work."
Boylston says that was exactly the point of the experiment: to change people's minds.
"It's aspirational and intended to bust a lot of people's perceptions about what can be in a place like this," he says.
You can follow the students' experiences living in the small homes via Twitter and Instagram by using the #SCADPad hashtag.
(SLIDESHOW-AT-LINK)
I just want to sniff carbon monoxide and bang on the drum all day!
As a P.S. to my own reply..why are these pads not in Savannah where the College is?
Why are they in Atlanta?
Can the CDC Directors live in these pods?
In San Jose they are going to use snazzy sheds to house the homeless. I think the sheds and the parking garage hovels would be ideal for our politicians.
I’ve seen bigger jail cells.
So when will they get towed away?
135 square feet is smaller than my master bathroom.
police won’t even have to kick in doors, they’ll just spray the walls and whoever’s inside will be dead. how efficient for big brother.
will the mayors and elites live in these “cool” prison cells too?
Let all these communists live in glorified outhouses. Just one thing, though... what happens when the shitter’s full ?
Don’t you want to live in a Korben Dallas efficiency, citizen ?
Well, if they pay the monthly rent for a space...would they be towed?
My question is...where would they get electricity and water? Many years ago I worked at a place that we had to park in a parking garage. Those amenities weren’t available in each parking spot.
However, it was a great place to be in a hail storm or tornado.
My guess that supplies are delivered... at probably a greater energy expenditure than they are letting on.
“A village - a community.”
A hotbed of crime.
They are bigger than my barracks room when I was in the USAF.
So much for Movin On Up to the East Side.
Dude - you need a cubicle bathroom with a shower built for one and one room with microwave, a stool a desk and a bunk bed.
Now much more space do you really need for efficiency living? A great bachelor pad but couples might find it too confining.
If I remember right, I had 90 square feet as a single Tsgt.
I take it these abodes abide by all the relevant Agenda-21 Building codes.
Oh no, the SCAD idiot lemmings are at it again.
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