Facilities
The target site consists of a large central building with a gym and music room adjacent on 18 acres of land. Four large classrooms extend down both sides of the main building – the central core divided into a library, an auditorium/cafeteria, and a commercial kitchen space. Bathrooms and offices are interspersed around the building. To the rear of the building are the gymnasium and music room. There are two large playing fields situated above and behind the main building – as the land slopes from a densely forested perimeter to the main campus.
Library
To fulfill our vision for becoming EPCOTH22 – we envision utilizing the library space to become the repository of all innovations within the industry – amalgamating the data regarding changes to all of the codes in place regulating the building of Tiny Homes. Up until this point codes have varied widely by building type and location – be it on a foundation in a back yard, on wheels pulled behind a vehicle, or as a self-propelled recreational vehicle. As individual municipalities struggle to adapt and adopt codes enacted prior to the Tiny Home movement – the demands for smaller square footage and the introduction of new building materials and construction processes, those cases are being used to lobby international building code authorities to append long held guidelines. Once appended – the challenges of how to insert this new housing product within communities which were designed to exclude them, will not only present an opportunity to become the resource archive for the codes as enacted across the country and internationally – but the location to come and view the actual application of those code changes as exhibited in the units that will be available on the site.
Auditorium/Cafeteria space
As a research and educational demonstration center for best practices in the Tiny Home movement – an essential department will be Marketing and Social Media Management. Hours of YouTube videos have been produced covering every aspect imaginable – from the actual structures to the environment in which they find a spot to park – from the search for building community to the desire for isolated introspection. We will have a story to tell – and we will tell it on social media and in our auditorium. It will cover everything from personal success stories of escaping homelessness to how to build storage into a staircase, from using compost to heat an entire villages hot water demands to discovering new building materials to bring down the cost of housing. And it will be the story of the paradigm change in how we as a society value our relationship to the planet and to one another – where our success is not defined by our stuff but by our humanity.
Former Classrooms
Eight former classrooms will be available for commercial operations contributing to the overall mission of the campus. Manufacturers could set up showrooms for their models and expand their markets.
Custom remodeling and repair facilities are rare across the nation for recreational users and this service could find a place here.
Showrooms for equipment – from pumps to grills and awnings – could find a market here.
A recycling center for DIY builders featuring materials from reclamations in Birmingham.
A classroom could be equipped to support a DIY builder club to come in and work together building units for members.