Tiny Houses: Learning with a real-life project.

At Academique’s we believe learning is best when you do real things. That’s why all our (CPC30211) Certificate III Carpentry students will be building an exciting real-life project with a genuine purpose: ‘Tiny Houses’.

The project has been in the development stage for a few months now but the careful preparations are starting to turn into exciting reality. One of our Directors was previously involved with transportable buildings, and had the idea that students would learn better from building a ‘real’ house than from building practice structures. Through our many excellent business partners we found a potential student with a passion for the environment and some knowledge of Tiny Houses. He consulted with industry, designed the prototype, and presented the plan to our school executives and after finding ways the project can align with the Education Department ‘training package’

Every carpentry class will build an actual (although ‘tiny’) house. This will give them the experience of what it takes to build a real house, which will be inhabited by real people, with a team guided by a very experienced trainer.

Academique is socially responsible and committed to our planet’s environmental issues so the houses will have a very low impact as this is the ultimate purpose of the project: as the student said, ‘To build something that is going to be used and that is not going into waste’.

All the houses will be similar, and they will evolve in time as our experts find out what works better on them. They will all be at least 30m2, so they are not actually ‘tiny’ at all. Features include a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and a lounge/office. Tiny houses are totally practical and useful, and they are commonly compared to granny flats.

The tiny house movement is a cultural effort to support downsizing and living a simpler lifestyle. The belief is that ‘living with less’ will bring more happiness and freedom than living in big, expensive homes. Tiny houses help you cut living costs, they are functional, and have the character of a permanent house.

Pros of living in a tiny house

  • Environmental friendliness/Sustainability. Having your own water tank and solar panels will make your tiny house self-sufficient and your utility bills will be smaller. Also, by going off grid you will be helping our planet as it generates a smaller carbon footprint due to its small size.
  • Saving money. A tiny house will save you lots of money as their prices are exceptionally low compared to traditional houses.
  • Cleaning/Less clutter. A smaller house means less cleaning due to space and as you won’t have a large space for storage you won’t accumulate much clutter.
  • Visual appeal. Most of tiny houses come with a modern design- plenty of wood and nice colours to the eye is the combination that makes them pleasant to look at.