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The Minimal Mobile Home has been designed for homeless people – it provides the essentials for a life in dignity: privacy, standing headroom, stowage for personal belongings, a raised bed, a folding table and a toilet.

It can be built from cheap and readily available materials – one sheet of plywood and 14 standard boards (1x4x96″), two wheels and a 50 $ tent. The materials for the prototype cost less than 200 $.

The building itself doesn’t require special tools or skills – the only power tool used was a cordless drill. All the tools used to build it fit easily into the cart and when unfolded, it can be used as mobile workbench.

Photos

Construction starts with cutting the boards – lengthwise cuts with a handsaw are not exactly fun, but feasible.

Construction of the bottom – getting the spacing and right angle right was the trickiest part – a cardboard template with markings helped, but this part of the process definitely has to be simplified.

Assembling a platform and fitting the toilet bucket in. Lesson learned: Don’t make plans before having the exact measurements of the bucket.

During my first test drive I saw a slightly larger mobile home and couldn’t resist taking a comparison picture.

I very spontaneously decided to submit the Minimal Mobile Home as exhibit for the Bay Area Maker Faire one week before the event. I was pleasantly surprised that it was accepted although the deadline had long passed!

The editor of Makezine even featured it in the Live Blog – thank you, Sophia!

The platform without mounted tent – in the stowage compartment there is a large carboard box, the tent, an air mattress and a sleeping bag.

Unpacking near the test site – all the tools that were used to build it fit easily inside the cart.

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Prototype Plans

These are the initial plans drawn for the prototype – several changes that have been made and other changes that are already planned are not reflected in these plans. Building plans will be published as soon as I am confident the design is ready for rollout.

The overview drawing showing the view from top (with tent) and from the entrance side (front):

The center part (the crate):

And the platform (here only the more complicated side, with the toilet, is shown):