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OPods are small homes made of concrete drainpipes that can be stacked on top of each other (left). Stacked OPods could fit between buildings, as shown in this rendering (right).
Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (left); James Law Cybertecture/Mediadr/ZUMAPRESS.com (right)
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Home Sweet Home?
Finding an apartment in Hong Kong isn’t easy. The hilly landscape makes it difficult to build housing, and the city is one of the world’s most expensive places to live. But one architect thinks he has a solution: the OPod, a 100-square-foot temporary apartment made out of concrete drainpipes. The tiny home can fit two people and includes a bed, desk, kitchenette, hanging closet, toilet, and shower. And if the design is successful, it could help solve problems other than overcrowding. “OPods could be a solution for extreme conditions in disaster relief areas where people are afraid to live in another building,” says James Law, the architect. A 20-unit OPod project is set to be completed this year in Hong Kong, and a similar idea is being developed in Johannesburg, South Africa. Says Law: “The world needs a different kind of architecture that is affordable, easy to build, and fast to deploy.”