Tiny: A Story About Living Small
Architecture & Design • 1h 1m
Directed by Merete Mueller & Christopher Smith • Documentary • 2013 • 62 minutes
After a decade of travel, Christopher Smith approaches his 30th birthday and decides it's time to plant some roots. He impulsively buys a 5-acre plot of land in hopes of fulfilling a lifelong dream of building a home in the mountains of Colorado. With the support of his girlfriend, Merete, he sets out to build a Tiny House from scratch despite having no construction experience.
From 1970 to 2010, the average size of a new house in America nearly doubled. Yet in recent years, many are redefining their American Dream to focus on flexibility, financial freedom, and quality of life over quantity of space. These self-proclaimed "Tiny Housers" live in homes smaller than the average parking space, often built on wheels to bypass building codes and zoning laws. Tiny takes us inside six of these homes stripped to their essentials, exploring the owners' stories and the design innovations that make them work.
"A story about learning to live large—about expanding our concept of what our domestic spaces can do for us, in connecting us to our communities, to nature, to our loved ones, and to our dreams."—Austin Chronicle
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