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College Student Builds Floating Teepee


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William Woodbridge is an Australian university design student who decided to protest high rent and absurd fines by building a floating teepee on a lake and living in it!

Protest? Why? Well… The student was living on campus at the school when another organization took over the accommodations and increased rent by 30 to 50%, according to this article. In addition, William accidentally set off an alarm while cooking and was fined an additional $380. With not enough money to pay, this situation left him homeless. After living out of his car for a while, he decided to creatively take matters into his own hands. And this is the result.

College Student Builds Floating Teepee

College Student Builds Floating Teepee

Images © Jason Lu

Video: Teepee Activism

Read the full story (and see more pictures): http://jason-lu.tumblr.com/post/17937766035/teepee-activism

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Our big thanks to Don Campbell for sharing!

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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 }
  • Lynnette
    September 5, 2015, 9:16 pm

    Awesome that’s right FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE!!!!

  • Max
    September 7, 2015, 3:11 pm

    This is ridiculous. The first storm and that “cool” Teepee all ends up in the water as pollution. Maybe some more intelligent species millions of years from now will find that flat panel display monitor in the fossil record.

    • Theo
      September 7, 2015, 3:46 pm

      Agree. Ridiculous in so many other ways as well. Even with just rain, no wind, that walk and row would not be pleasant. He could have built something on the rear of a truck, and been further ahead in any number of ways.

      • Sue
        September 8, 2015, 2:31 am

        Native American Indians have lived in very harsh climates in teepees for quite some time.

        • Theo
          September 8, 2015, 3:01 am

          You aren’t saying anything new, and totally missed the point. None of them were on a small raft, in the middle of a largish lake. The few cultures that did live on rafts/watercraft had them in sheltered areas.

        • Sue
          September 8, 2015, 6:42 am

          The point is, its his life and good on him for making a stand. None of us need to do as he is doing, so its not up to us to say he cant or shouldn’t. If/when he runs into any difficulties I hope he finds a satisfactory way to resolve them.

  • Kayce
    September 7, 2015, 5:42 pm

    Max and Theo, Go Stuff it!!

    Bill, Congrats! It’s people like you….if you can’t find circumstances, you create them….
    A little something from G.B.Shaw
    A little prediction, you’ll be a great success in life. Always trust your gut.

  • Lisa E.
    September 7, 2015, 8:40 pm

    Yes, more “privatization” with some private corporation taking over the living situation at William’s school. We had that at my college, too. They took over the dining hall and the prices rocketed and the food went to mass produced flavored processed cardboard, so we all got in the habit of going down to a Mom&Pop owned corner store and buying stuff to make sandwiches and grabbing some liters of soda, and our coffee. Because of our business, this corner store started staying open until ten o’clock at night in winter and eleven o’clock in summer/spring/fall months for us. This sudden and steep downturn is what we get with an oligarchy and corporate rule; yuk, yuk, yuk. Congratulations, William! The name of the game is survival and you found a way to circumvent the baloney. Good for you! Love your Teepee and I agree with Kayce, you’ve got a bright future with such an awesome head on your shoulders!

  • John Brennan
    September 7, 2015, 8:49 pm

    It says “an Australian university design student ” so I am guessing he is in Australia. I don’t know about there but here in the us a school which is claiming Non-profit status under IRS 501 (c) 3 rules does not pay property tax to the authority having jurisdiction. That also means that they do not pay anything towards fire protection. The same applies for county, state, and federal buildings who are in the response area of a town or city fired department. Since they do not pay any property tax (a portion of which goes to funding the FD) then if the FD responds to that property they can submit a bill to the land owner. Now I am not saying that if a student sets off the smoke alarm burning microwave popcorn her should have to pay over $300 mind you. I am just explaining how the system works, or doesn’t work depending on your perspective.

    As for living in the tee-pee if he wants to risk it go for it. As for the pollution the wood and the skin I wouldn’t worry about. Now if he has any fuels for cooking or electronics that is a different story.

    There are lots of different ways to accomplish the same thing. Not all are right or wrong, just different. There is nothing bad about being different. We all need to do what is right for us and try to be tolerant of others.

  • Mike Sharpe
    September 8, 2015, 6:41 am

    Please don’t let this site start being political .

  • Glema
    September 8, 2015, 8:04 pm

    Bill thank you for taking a stand and hanging in there! Also, to improve on your situation for less funds, you might try building on your raft a tiny house so that when it’s cold you aren’t. You could use a reusable source for the bulk in using pallets. A lot of businesses will give the used ones away, you might try that. Other students have created a tiny house simply for a school project. You might grant the students who build, a chance to use your raft for said project thereby gaining some help in your build. 🙂 Just an idea. Thanks again for sharing your story and your home. God bless you!

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