A Barcelona company announced that it is constructing an apartment complex that will house tiny pods spread over a small space, but city officials have said the builder will not be issued a license for the project — calling the tiny accommodation unfit for humans.
Haibu 4.0, the architecture firm behind the project, wants to build tiny pods where low-income workers would live side-by-side like bees in a hive for about 200 euros ($232) a month. The inspiration for the project stems from hotels in Japan, where tourist sleep in pods that contain only a bed and television (jail cells were probably also a muse for the project).
The company stands behind the project, indicating it is a solution to the affordable housing crisis in the Mediterranean city. Barcelona city hall officials have already declined to issue a license for the project, citing that the project’s surface area is too small and says overcrowding is illegal.
“Fortunately piling up people is prohibited. The law does not allow this type of dwelling,” Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, a former housing and anti-eviction activist, told reporters on Thursday.
Without a license, the company has defied city officials and started building the first eight pods which it expects to complete in late September. Each pod measures about 2.4 square meters (21.5 square feet) and will be furnished with a bed, flat screen television, storage space and power plugs, similar to the capsules geared for tourists in Japan.
The small housing complex will host a communal area with a kitchen, lounge and bathrooms, and the monthly rent will cover all utilities. The company’s website says that housing is restricted to those aged 25-45 who have a minimum salary of 450 euros a month. Already, 500 people have shown interest in renting pods, according to the company.
“We are not thinking about this as the housing of the future, but if we look around, we see people who are struggling financially,” said Edi Wattenwil, one of the partners at Haibu 4.0. “My partners and I thought it would be a good idea to create this kind of apartment so that people can stay here for a while until their own financial situation improves.”
Victoria Cerdan, one of the entrepreneurs behind Haibu 4.0, told AFP that “obviously it is not adequate housing, no one would want it for themselves. But no one wants a monthly salary of 500 euros and unfortunately, they exist. Instead of living on the street, we offer this.”
But not everyone is too happy about the project. Housing counselor Josep Maria Montaner said there is no room for such a project in Barcelona. “The rules say that any housing unit must have a surface area of at least 40 square meters, which means that this company will never obtain the necessary operating licenses,” he warned.
Janet Sanz, one of the deputy mayors, said the city has not received any application for the tiny pods, and that even if it did, it would be rejected. “Overcrowding is illegal; an activity like this has no place in our city, either now or in the future.”
The project was even blasted on social media, with Inigo Errejon, a prominent lawmaker with Spain’s anti-austerity Podemos party tweeting: “There are similar houses in cemeteries, they are called coffins.”
With unfair income distribution, a housing affordability crisis and widespread poverty in Spain, young Spaniards in a post-Global Financial Crisis environment could soon be experiencing an entirely new housing accommodation that is the same size as a jail cell: tiny pods; come to think of it, why not just commit a crime and live in prison for free?
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