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DESIGN

Micro huts to house Swedish students

Compact and bijou wooden huts measuring just ten metres squared are set to grace the university town of Lund in southern Sweden in a move to help to ease a perennial housing shortage and cut housing costs.

Micro huts to house Swedish students

“We had a test project two years ago, a small test house of 8.8 square metres, but from this design we have levelled up,” Linda Camara at the Swedish architect firm Tengbom told The Local.

“But this is the smallest you can do it if you want to live there for a longer time,” she added with a laugh.

The homes are designed to be kind on the light student wallet and are produced with the environment in mind.

The project has been realized in cooperation with local housing firm AF Bostäder and forestry products firm Martinsson’s and some 22 units will be ready for Lund students to move into in 2014.

IN PICTURES: Take a closer look at the tiny units

The micro “Smart Student Units” measure a mere 10 square metres in floor space, half the 25 square metre building standard from which the project applied and received special dispensation.

But Camara at Tengbom doesn’t think it will be students buying the flats.

“No, when it comes to buying them it’s mostly individuals, who want them as guest houses or vacation houses,” she told The Local.

“This was a prototype and we didn’t really consider the costs, so we have to look into the industrial process to see where we have to cut costs and how we can deliver them for individuals.”

Despite the spatial limitations the mildly hobbit-like wooden dwellings incorporate everything a hard-working student could need: bed loft, kitchen, bathroom and somewhere to grow a few vegetables on the exterior.

The entire building is made from locally-produced wood which means that the huts are relatively light, renewable and carbon-neutral. Furthermore the material enables a fast build and is easily treated to keep out the damp.

The project is currently on display as part of the “Architecture of Necessity” exhibition at Virserum Art Museum in southern Sweden which will run until December 2013.

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