Minitopia develops new forms of housing, often with small houses. The first project started in Den Bosch, about 5 years ago, and the concept turned out to be a formula for success. There are several Minitopia locations, for example, Tiny Oevers Roosendaal, Tiny Beljaart Dongen, Minitopia Poeldonk Den Bosch and now also in the north of Eindhoven in Buurtschap te Veld. Noor and Nean have been residents from the very beginning.
The brand new Minitopians have studied at the Hogeschool van de Kunsten in Utrecht. Noor has completed the Product Design course and Nean is in the fourth year of the same course. The Tiny House fire started when Noor did an internship at Tiny House construction company ‘De Kleine Klussers’ in Bleiswijk:
“I really enjoyed watching the self-builders working on their houses. You could see that they had a lot of fun and that they learned many new skills during the construction. Small steps were celebrated and everyone was enthusiastic. The self-builders did a lot themselves, but they always had ‘De Kleine Klussers’ to fall back on if it was too complicated, or something needed to be explained.” Noor sees that the self-builders are doing all this for the first time and don’t have all the knowledge in advance. about building a Tiny House. This gives her the courage to build her own Tiny House with Nean.
The two start an internet search for locations for Tiny Houses and the rules surrounding the placement of Tiny Houses: “For example, you cannot just buy a piece of land and place the house on it.” When Minitopia comes into the picture, they can register in Dongen and in Eindhoven. At first they fill in a questionnaire for Dongen. In a conversation with the members of Minitopia, however, it turns out that Eindhoven is a better match: ‘The location is somewhat better accessible by public transport and is larger. Moreover, Eindhoven is also a real design city, which fits well with our education and interests.’
After they have mastered the program Sketchup, they choose to design their Tiny House themselves. ‘We have made about 50 different designs and carefully looked at the things that we think are most important. You can only store a limited amount of stuff on 20 square meters and then you both have to be satisfied with the final design. Fortunately, we are young and lived at home before that. So we had to buy a sofa and dining table anyway.”
A constructor has been called in to calculate whether the construction is stable enough. Fortunately, after some minor adjustments, this appears to be the case and they can start building: ‘We wanted to learn a lot of new techniques, we wanted to experience every step of the house and we wanted to save money. It is not always easy to do everything yourself, as neither of us have ever installed electricity, connected water or built constructions. Yet you get a kick every time you are a step further. And we are really lucky to have the family and friends around us who are always ready to lend a hand when needed.”
In the summer of 2021, the two pioneers will start building the Tiny House in Nean’s father’s backyard: “This saved us a lot of money, as we didn’t have to rent a hall. We did have to deal with the weather conditions, but for the winter the house was wind and watertight and we hardly had any problems with it. We have learned a lot and notice that the people around us are also very interested in the process. We sometimes stand in the Tiny House and then we think: Wow, we really built this ourselves! Or: A year ago there was only a trailer here and now there is a house!’
The Tiny House measures about 20 square meters and is completely built according to the wishes of the Noor and Nean: ‘We think it’s special that our sleeping loft is not hanging against one of the short sides of the house. This allows us to keep the full height of the house above our desk intact. This ensures that our workspace, where there is enough space to work side by side, also feels open and free, while it is actually only a very small space.’
They are also enthusiastic about the color of the house. ‘In the facade there is an alternation of beautiful, soft green sheet piles and ayoushout. We really like the combination.”
The location in Eindhoven is divided into a number of “rooms”. These are places where about 6 to 15 self-build homes / Tiny Houses fit. “With the other members of our room, we can determine what the common space around our houses will look like. There are already ideas about chicken coops, vegetable gardens, picnic benches, shared washing machines and much more.’
They find that they are building a bond with their neighbors because they are in the same process together. ‘They have many of the same experiences regarding the construction and all arrangements of the house and you notice that we all want to ensure that we will soon have a nice, green spot for our self-build homes. It is a unique situation and that creates a bond.”
In October 2023, Nean and Noor moved into their new palace: ‘We’re really happy with it. Most of the other residents of our group of houses are living there now too. Our terrace was ready for the summer and the communal area looks green and cosy. We’re going to enjoy living here.’
Photo credits: Nean en Noor, Marcel van Mierlo
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