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Students Turn Parking Garage into Tiny House Village: SCADPad


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When it comes to tiny housing we face several challenges.

Do we park them in backyards and live in them there?

Do we develop our own tiny house communities and villages?

Do we rent currently available RV or trailer lots to live in?

Do we buy our own land where tiny living is allowed?

I believe the answers lie in doing a little bit of each.

The question is: how would you want to do it? 

Share with us in the comments below.

Students Launch Tiny House Community in Parking Garage

© SCAD

© SCAD

Community Micro Farm

© SCAD

© SCAD

Some folks want to live tiny and live in the city (but not in an apartment).

So how do we create more housing in an already crowded city?

Students at SCAD have decided to create an eco parking garage village called SCADPad.

Inside you can find micro homes, urban farming, a community 3D printer, and more…

RELATED: Business Man Builds Tiny House Community for Homeless

A Tiny House That Fits in a Parking Spot

130 Sq. Ft. Micro House at the Eco Village

© Drew Brown

© Drew Brown via Tiny House Design

“SCADpad embraces and advances the university’s deeply rooted commitment to adaptive reuse by utilizing a parking structure at SCAD Atlanta to create an inspirational and sustainable community that proposes an answer to the growing urban housing challenges cities are facing around the world.” (source)

RELATED: A Micro Housing Community that You Can Build?

Video Tour: SCADPad Micro House Community

Video Tour: The Idea (Episode 1)

Video Tour: The Research (Episode 2)

Video Tour: The Design (Episode 3)

RELATED: Couple Live in Top Level of Parking Garage in their Tiny House

How to Tour this Parking Garage Tiny Housing Community in Person

If you’re reading this in time you might have a chance to go and personally visit this exciting tiny house community concept.

The event is free and open to the public and the community (parking garage) is located at:

1600 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA, 30309

Upcoming event dates and times:

  • Saturday, April 12 from 12-3 p.m.
  • Sunday, April 13 from 1-3 p.m.
  • Saturday, April 26 from 12-3 p.m.
  • Sunday, April 27 from 1-3 p.m.
  • Sunday, May 4 from 1-3 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 24 from 12-3 p.m.
  • Sunday, May 25 from 1-3 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 31 from 12-3 p.m.
  • Sunday, June 1 from 1-3 p.m.

Learn more at: http://www.scadpad.com/tour-pads

RELATED: Why Tiny Home Communities Don’t Exist And What We Can Do About It

If you enjoyed this micro housing eco village you’ll love our free daily tiny house newsletter with more!

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 12 comments… add one }
  • jerryd
    April 14, 2014, 6:19 pm

    First to answer your question is all those and many more!! To add live on the water, in national forests, parks which many already do and buy low cost yr tickets, traveling park to park.

    Maybe start co-ops like some campgrounds do. Yes there are condo campgrounds one can buy or rent in.

    I’ve lived in the middle of downtown in many cities, mostly for free on my sailboats or houseboats, either docked or anchored out, my personal favorite. I’m doing my 34′ trimaran sailboat with solar powered A/C to move on soon.

    Soon

    Interesting this showed up as I’ve been thinking of giving the city hell for not renting the poor the minimum space they need. And a parking space is about it and already standard on most places.

    Why are there not structures designed for this in cities? It’s not like even at low rents it will still be profitable and the less well paid in the city can live there, cutting travel, etc costs.

    • wendy
      June 19, 2014, 11:09 pm

      …..Don’t forget the previously mentioned fact that only about 50% of this structures, parking lots, already exist. So building more structures would defiet a large part of the point. Not to mention that,unntil the word gets out, this land will be considered not property in demand so just think of the savings;)

  • Linda
    April 14, 2014, 7:55 pm

    You can keep your urban environment. I’m not at all interested in urban areas. I love the countryside where I can get some peace and quiet, play my classical music and study. People should be promoting the countryside instead of piling people up on each other in the cities.

    • Kat
      April 15, 2014, 12:58 am

      People should be able to live the style they feel comfortable with. You like the country, but some like the city for it’s conveniences and still want an independent space like this one in Atlanta. I think there’s room for Tiny House Communities in both!

  • Jaime
    April 14, 2014, 8:00 pm

    These students are playing house or building a blanket fort, when they graduate they will go on to build the next generation of macmansions. Lets hope less is more rubs off on some of them!

  • Jerry
    April 15, 2014, 12:20 am

    Nice idea, but you’re basically creating mobile apartments. If I’m to stay within the city limits, I still want a small bit of land to have my tiny house on. The only reason I’m building on a trailer is to circumvent size minimums in the codes.

    • Kat
      April 15, 2014, 1:01 am

      But, isn’t the idea that we can all make a smaller footprint on this earth in our own way. Many of use would like a tiny home to spend country time, city time, National Park time and whatever other time suddenly sounds compelling. I wouldn’t want to live in a city parking lot year round, but I see nothing wrong with the concept for those who do, and for those of us who might like to be there for just a while.

  • alice h
    April 15, 2014, 2:07 pm

    Might be handy to have an urban “trailer park”, mixed with some vertical farming and wind, solar and rainwater harvesting. There could be some temporary spaces as well as permanent. People could bring their own tiny house or use one that’s set up for rental. If you need to be in a city for a while for medical, educational, cultural or whatever reasons it would be a nice option. The only downside is that in a competition with cars for space the cars usually win. Plus the ridiculous land values in some areas mean that condos are much more likely to be built. All the single story buildings along our main street are being converted to 4 and 6 story condos. Car parking belongs underground, as much as private vehicles continue to be used. Valuable upper spaces should be for people and better public transit provided.

    • Alex
      April 15, 2014, 3:01 pm

      Thanks Alice, great points

  • Michael J B
    April 15, 2014, 4:09 pm

    The artsy ceiling, floor, and walls are really stupid ideas. They aren’t at all practical. Once the paint on those rulers wears off in a couple of months then what will be done with them? Try keeping those leather swatches on the walls clean and the same goes for the ceiling with fur.

    They didn’t show any actual sleeping areas.

    How will such tall structures move in and out of a parking garage? Most of the ones I’ve seen have very low ceilings. Vans with high tops aren’t allowed above the first floor because anything so tall can’ use the ramps. I haven’t seen many parking garages with exterior ramps. In one video they showed a forklift adding the upper section to one of these. What is the point of doing that? If the structure must be made on site and is incapable of being moved then why not just build small apartments? That would be more economical in many ways.

    I suppose the students can transfer their skills learned on this project to other projects. After all this is a school exercise.

    Design in the business world is supposed to be combined with cost effectiveness. Reusing materials is a good idea only if they are plentiful and nearby. Trucking used sinks or wood across the country just to reuse them is wasteful and not sustainable for any business that might build such structures. I would like to know the actual cost of one of these houses including the labor. The final price is also a vital consideration regarding sustainability and practicality.

  • Mandy Odum
    September 1, 2014, 9:27 am

    Many of you are missing the point,. This is the Savannah College of ART and Design. They’re artists lol! And very creative, I might add! At least there is some forward thinking by our young people.

    • Alex
      September 2, 2014, 11:53 am

      Thanks Mandy, great point. Can never please them all, right? Lol

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