TINYHOME AFRICA: CONDENSE ALL YOU NEED INTO A DESIGNER TRANSPORTABLE HOME
Discover how downsizing and working remotely come together in the tiny home boom.
Subcultures can go mainstream pretty quickly once they make economic sense to the broader public which we’ve seen with the growing interest in tiny-homes. Self contained or modular they allow you to live, work, play and move – anywhere a road can take you.
We spent the day with Yulande Roxburgh, the founder of Tinyhome Africa, to discover more about the off grid, modular, homes they build on wheels.
With remote work the new normal, these mobile tiny homes start from R199 000 for a 10 sqm studio home and make it a breeze to live in the moment.
Q&A WITH YULANDE, TINYHOME AFRICA FOUNDER
How does ‘living better’ influence your design process / how does your work inspire living better?
Living tiny allows one to live better by spending less on your residence in terms of initial outlay but also when it comes to maintenance, cleaning and decorating. The lifestyle that comes with living tiny encourages not only minimalism and a drive towards less clutter in the external environment and therefore the internal mind, but also encourages more time spent in the outdoors or on your own private covered patios with outdoor furniture, and within communal social spaces such as food gardens, co-working spaces and group activities such as yoga, meditation or art.
What legacy would you like to leave behind?
It is my intention to establish a network of tiny home estates within South Africa and the rest of the world, where people can become global sovereign members that can travel and live freely where their heart takes them. By spending less on fixed assets and working remotely, people can become free to live anywhere.
How can our viewer’s live better and improve their home design simply?
By down-scaling and spending less time and money on your fixed assets, one has more resources to work shorter hours, travel more and explore your own talents.
How does your work incorporate or lead the conversation around sustainability?
Nature provides many resources which we can use sustainably. By harnessing solar power, fresh water supplies and growing one’s own fruit and veggies one not only becomes self-sufficient and less dependent on government services and resources but also one becomes closer to the land.
Tiny homes are built in the factory with no run-off or site work that destroys the land or indigenous flora, they stand on top of the ground allowing humans to partake in their natural surroundings via large glass solar-film protected windows and opening doors. With less materials used, and prefabrication the choices we make in our materials allow us to choose more sustainably. By using materials that don’t require maintenance with long guarantees and are made of sustainable materials our homes become eco-friendly.
What do you feel are important considerations to keep in-mind when looking into pursuing a design project in South Africa?
I believe it is important to observe and feel the cultural, work and emotional milieu of South Africa in order to ascertain what its needs are. It has become clear that CV19 has changed the way we work and live. With more companies realising that remote work is entirely possible in this digital age and with people spending more time with their families and friends (or not being allowed to, realising that this is what is actually the most important), it has become necessary to look at how we live, consume and travel. On average 67% of the SA household income is spent on the primary residence costs, rates and taxes, electricity and water, travel and food. if people are living in smaller, but smart, high quality homes that cost less, if they work from home and grow their own food whilst running solar power and water from a mountain stream or river, they can bring these costs right down AND have a much better quality of life and spend more time with their loved ones.
Are there any last comments / thoughts you’d like to add?
The time has come to move out of compact city life filled with stress and high cost living, failing resources and rising crime. The time has come to value our time and the way we want to spend it. Tinyhome living offers this freedom. Join the movement today and invest in your very own tiny home or sign up to join our first tiny home estates on our website at www.tinyhome.africa
