A few miles from the South Carolina border, a tiny house stands in the forest outside the 380-person town of Martin, Georgia. The 200-square-foot structure, made out of recycled wood as old as the Civil War, has a living room, kitchenette, bathroom, and a lofted bedroom.
“The program is simple and leaves no space without purpose,” says William Carpenter, president-elect of the American Institute of Architects’ local chapter and a Kennesaw State University architecture professor. It’s also inexpensive, costing only $5,000 to build the house that’s now used for artist retreats.
The emerging popularity of tiny homes, a standalone structure that’s less than 400 square feet, has helped cities across the nation address shortages of affordable housing (Washington, D.C.) and homelessness (Portland, Oregon). Yet the trend hasn’t caught on throughout much of the South, including Atlanta, where the construction of tiny homes is currently illegal.
Aside from academic experiments, like the 135-square-foot “SCADpads” built last year in a Midtown parking deck, developers aren’t allowed to build tiny homes inside the Atlanta city limits. Continue reading “When will Atlanta join the tiny house movement?”