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Kirsten Dirksen

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Vehicles as Housing: 27-Square-Foot Mobile Home Bicycle and a Rowboat Shelter

Posted: 02/12/2012 8:10 pm


"I don't know if I could have a car without a bed in it." San Francisco artist Jay Nelson has put beds into nearly every vehicle he's ever owned, including a semi-totalled Honda Civic (bought for $200) and a tiny rowboat (found on Craigslist).

He's even made a moped into a camper, but his most impressive podmobile is the electric camper bike he built from scratch using parts "you can find at a hardware store."

He bought the PVC pipe chassis online, along with an electric motor (he discarded his initial pedal-powered design because of the San Francisco hills) and began to build the vehicle in his driveway.

To create the pod covering, he used plywood that he fiberglassed (a technique perfected while building surfboards) to create a bulbous, geometric shape. The result is a vehicle that looks like nothing else on the road (this is only amplified by the crystal-inspired multi-faceted windows).

He calls his tiny mobile home the Golden Gate and with an electric motor with a range of 10 miles, it can go basically anywhere within San Francisco's 7 square miles. Though the top speed is 20mph.

To create a mini home in the 8 foot by 3.3 foot space (4.5 feet high), he added a kitchen (with a hand-pumped sink, a boat/rv stove, a cooler) a bed (the steering wheel pops off to create space) and even an extremely basic toilet (a lined bucket that can be closed and stored under the plywood floor to be disposed of in the morning).

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"I don't know if I could have a car without a bed in it." San Francisco artist Jay Nelson has put beds into nearly every vehicle he's ever owned, including a semi-totalled Honda Civic (bought for $...
"I don't know if I could have a car without a bed in it." San Francisco artist Jay Nelson has put beds into nearly every vehicle he's ever owned, including a semi-totalled Honda Civic (bought for $...
 
 
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11:30 AM on 02/16/2012
These ideas might be useful in the nation's homeless housing problem. Using lighter insulated materials like a strong plastic might be a solution. They should have a design contest and see what our brilliant architects and designers can design. Something sleek, practical, mobile and compact might just be the ticket.
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jdollinter
10:51 AM on 02/14/2012
Wow, it gives me the urge to live in a cardboard box !
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niumarmion
a temporary being
02:34 PM on 02/13/2012
Vehicles are now more important to own than houses, because you need them to go to work. Housing prices will be in a steady decline, because the costs of home ownership keep going up, including real estate taxes. Home ownership is now an anchor which is hard to sell if you have to relocate to find work. The new American dream will be these type of truly mobile homes. There are fewer jobs that stay in one place anymore.
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gneep
if it wasn't always the same, it'd be different
01:04 PM on 02/13/2012
Neato! but but......it's illegal sleeping in a car.......
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Ray Russelburg
02:42 PM on 02/13/2012
Technically, I think if it has a bed installed, it becomes a "motor Home" and not longer a "car".... I think.......
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gneep
if it wasn't always the same, it'd be different
03:33 PM on 02/13/2012
maybe so, in any case, great article Love the creativity of it.