The town of Gorredijk is to host nine tiny houses, which will stand for at least 5 years
Translated by Thomas Ansell
Tiny houses have been steadily growing in popularity across the Netherlands, with the well-designed ‘huisjes’ providing an eco friendly, quick to build, and low-energy solution to local housing problems. Now, the Gemeente Opsterland in Friesland has given the go-ahead for nine new tiny houses in Gorredijk, to see whether the mini homes could become a permanent feature. As reported by the Omrop Fryslân.
The houses will be built next to the communal gardens ‘De Wrotterspôle’, and after five years a review will be held to see if the sustainable houses should be permanently hosted. Often, tiny houses are used as temporary residences, but in Gorredijk people will be living in them longer-term.
Through clever design, the houses can pack all the usable space of an apartment into a smaller package: with large windows and mezzanine floors meaning that people can have a separate kitchen, living area, bedroom; and large bathroom. Having the rolling fields of the Frisian countryside just out of the front door might also be useful for those that want some extra space.
The small, mini home development is the idea of two local people, who teamed up after searching for a new tiny house each of their own. Renske Holwerda says that they approached the gemeente Opsterland: “a motion was put forward to the council to look at tiny house research in the area.”
Holwerda says that she hopes the houses will attract a mix of people. It looks like the houses will be extremely popular, with 85 people having already expressed their interest. Indeed, the Facebook group ‘Tiny House Nederland’ has over 13,000 members- this could lead to other tiny developments popping up in other places in the North.
Photo by Aysegul Yahsi on Unsplash
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