The Tiny House Project - Bring On The Competition!

I haven’t been THIS excited about tiny houses since I first saw a photo of Jay Shafer’s tiny house. The Tiny House Project seems to be designed to take tiny house design (in general, not my blog) to the next level.

A group of architectural experts, artists, and sustainable living advocates have joined together and created a project with the mission to build a community of tiny houses that will teach the benefits of living simply. They will also be putting out a call for design entries. Here’s what they say on their website…

“The Tiny House Project will bring together a group of artists to help us explore how we, in America, live. Nine artists will create a neighborhood of tiny homes in order to ask some very interesting questions about the choices we make. Do our choices bring us joy? How do they shape our connections with the people around us? In what ways will our choices change the lives of future generations? The Tiny House Project is a public art experiment, and everyone is invited to participate.”

…and…

“The Tiny House Project will put out a call for submissions asking artists for tiny house project proposals. Specific criteria for these proposals are being developed with input from members of the Project’s Advisory Committee to ensure that the resulting structures meet artistic, environmental, structural and communication objectives. A qualified selection panel will choose nine tiny house projects from the pool of applicants to receive funding (a more detailed description of this two-stage call follows). Each artist/project team will be given a 7’ x 14’ trailer bed and $23,000 to cover the cost of materials and artists’ fees associated with designing and building a tiny house that will then be incorporated into a temporarily occupied micro-community and a follow-on traveling exhibition.”

If you’ve been following my madness and passion for tiny house design this past year you know how my imagination has just accelerated to warp-9. I really want to be one of those nine artists chosen, but the competition is going to be steep.

But I’m more excited to see The Tiny House Project become a huge success no matter who wins. I’m truly not in this for money, fame, glory, or feathers in my cap. I’m in it for the fun and because I honestly believe that tiny houses give us an opportunity to reflect on their own lives and how our choices make an enormous impact on our lives.

When we choose to live simply we choose freedom. We also make less of an impact on the planet, which is also terribly important, but the most immediate benefit is the lifting of burdens like those self-impose by taking on mountains of debt. Tiny houses are the physical manifestation and poetic expression of freedom, sustainability, and self-sufficiency.

If you’re interested in learning more just visit The Tiny House Project and take a look around. Be sure to subscribe to their RSS feed and sign up on their mailing list… and then… if you choose to enter the competition… I’ll meet you on the tiny house design field!

I’ll be the one thinking… blue sky… blue sky…