Tiny House in My Backyard (THIMBY)
Sponsor: THIMBY
TGIF Grant: $25,932
Project Theme: Transportation and Urban Development
Project Description: The THIMBY project consists of an interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students seeking to use the design and construction of a net-zero-energy tiny house as an interactive educational opportunity for UC Berkeley students and faculty and the surrounding community. Their goal is to design a living-lab that demonstrates the union between affordable and sustainable housing, and serves as academic living and working space for visiting students and faculty. Throughout the planning, design, and construction phases they will share their experiences with the community through workshops, course field trips, and new DeCal classes. Although they will build one unit to start with, the tiny house will be a model for future THIMBY teams and other interested parties to continue to develop sustainable and affordable design projects. Their long-term goal is for THIMBY teams in future years to generate a community of innovative, carbon-neutral housing to serve as a living lab for the student body.
Project Goals: THIMBY’s objective is to design an innovative affordable and sustainable tiny house that can serve as a seed for a neighborhood of similarly minded design and build projects from UC Berkeley and the surrounding community. In doing so, they will address the following goals:
Interdisciplinary collaboration: Creating an opportunity for students in diverse graduate and undergraduate programs to collaborate on a sustainable campus housing project.
Behavior change: Improving the knowledge and commitment of students to sustainable living, so that UC Berkeley’s culture of sustainability goes beyond the campus boundaries to the surrounding student residential community.
Hands-on education: Constructing a tiny house to serve as a living lab for students and professors across campus to engage in green building design and construction.
Innovation: Creating a model for affordable and sustainable student living, and record best practices
Energy self-sufficiency: Designing an energy system that reduces emissions associated with residential electricity consumption through rooftop solar energy generation, efficient appliances, and innovative construction and energy management techniques.