This bulletproof, hygge-inspired, US$75,000 ‘tiny home’ can be put anywhere – and might just be the answer to our financial and Covid-19 woes
Covid-19 has made us all rethink our living spaces and our priorities: meet Hüga, an affordable but super-stylish tiny home, designed by Argentina’s 77-year-old Grandio, offering the flexibility millennials desire
Grandio created the Hüga, a US$75,000 prefabricated tiny home made from concrete that is both weather and bulletproof.
Tiny homes have boomed in popularity over the past 12 months amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Hüga is no exception. However, Grandio’s decision to create a tiny home didn’t come from a desire to follow living trends.
Instead, the Argentina-based company decided to create the Hüga after its employees, several of which are college professors, noticed students wanted to travel and live unrestricted by “debt and social structures”, according to the company.
This inspiration sent the architecture and engineering firm on a mission to create a home that could accommodate these specific needs. And finally, after two years of work, the 77-year-old company unveiled the Hüga tiny home earlier this year.
“We are only in the early stages of our sales and marketing activities, but the interest we are getting from prospective buyers and partners is outstanding with requests flowing in every day,” José Martin, an architect at Grandio, said in an email interview.
Most Hüga inquiries have been from potential North American clients, but Grandio has also received requests from clients in countries like the UK, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, and Singapore. North American-based customers can now pre-order the tiny home.
“When we compare the demand curve to other similar concepts, we are way out in front,” Martin wrote.
A survey of 2,006 Americans published in December by Fidelity National Financial subsidiary IPX1031 found that 56 per cent of survey respondents would consider living in a tiny home. And of the survey respondents who weren’t yet homeowners, 86 per cent said they would purchase a tiny unit as their first home.