Architect Bo Le-Mentzal has designed the world’s smallest house, CNN reports.
The One-Square-Meter House is just large enough to sit in. When tilted on its side, it’s a place to sleep. There is a roof, a lockable door, a foldout desk and a window.
But what’s the purpose of a home with no bathroom, TV, kitchen or space? Le-Mentzal says he wants us to stop and think about how we live.
“How much space do you really need to be happy?” he asked CNN. “I think one square meter is not enough for most people, but it makes you think about what you really need and what you don't need."
Le-Mentzal was a refugee from Laos who was adopted in Germany, where he grew up. He spent much of his life thinking about the meaning of the word "home."
He told CNN that he doesn’t want to sell anything, and he is giving away the plans. Using common materials, the house can be built for about $300. He says he's been contacted by governments and private citizens from Uzbekistan to California about the plans.
With the support of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, he plans to tour largely populated cities such as Mumbai and New York hosting workshops and instructing people on how to build their own One Square-Meter House. The only payment he requests is to hear people’s stories: why they built the house, and how it serves them.
"It's a tiny space if you stay in that house the whole day," Le-Mentzal told CNN. “But "if you define your house as kind of a central base, and declare the park as your garden or the city as your living room, this house is possibly the biggest house you can imagine."
Le-Mentzal views the world’s tiniest house as a place of refuge. And in the future, he wants to create a mobile app that lets people find, unlock and temporarily claim the tiny houses that would be set up in public places from city to city.
"It would be great," he said, "if someday you'd have an app on your iPhone, or your smartphone, where can say Where is the next one square meter of freedom in this place? I need to calm down or I need to concentrate. I need to pray or cry or whatever -- I would just like to be by myself now for just a couple of minutes or for the whole night.'"