Living small, dreaming big
Summary
This thesis is an exploration of tiny houses and how a choice for living in a small alternative house can stand for a bigger idea about the current society. It starts with the challenging road to building and designing your own house, which is often quite a challenge. In addition to this, it is also necessary to find a location for this new home. This is equally difficult as a result of the strict housing rules and lack of space in the Netherlands. Once the house is designed, built and placed, life in and around it is very different from the mainstream. The basic facilities influence the life of the residents and they have to adjust their consumer behaviour and habits to the small space of the house. Living in a small alternative house often means living and working together in a community, but that collaboration does not always go as smoothly as one would hope. Members of a community can give each other a hard time. To conclude, it is explored how those three aspects of living in small alternative houses correspond with the ideas of an environmental movement.