Small living - Augsburger Allgemeine - Third page

Living Smaller

Real Estate - In many areas of the region, living space is becoming scarce and more expensive. Are "micro-apartments" the answer? Or tiny houses with twelve square meters of space? What kind of unusual projects already exist ... by Sonja Krell

Kaufering / Utting Peter Kerler went deep into the story of his project and explained how he came to what he calls his "brilliant idea": A living concept of the future. At least here, in Kaufering, at least at this location. Peter Kerler points to the station behind, on the few meters that separates the new housing estate from the railway tracks. "By train you are in 35 minutes at Munich Central Station, in 37 minutes in Augsburg," he explains and continues counting: four minutes by car to the A96-driveway to Munich or Lindau, just as fast to get to the B17 that leads to Augsburg or Füssen. To Hilti, the largest local employer, you can make it in a few minutes by foot. If you want to live in such a central location - commuters, managers, career starters, students or singles - you don't mind little living spaces, the developer is convinced.

But then only a measly 21 square meters? Who wants to live like this?

Kerler, jeans, black T-shirt, flip-flops, stands at the construction fence. At the bottom of the excavation, the crane ranks one concrete formwork to the next. Wheel loaders move between concrete columns back and forth. It still takes a bit of imagination to imagine what is going on there: two buildings, each arranged in L-shape, with a total of 60 micro-apartments. Pretty apartments, most of which are just 3.50 meters wide and 6.50 meters long, on the upper floor that makes almost 21 square meters, on the ground floor thanks to the terrace three and a half more. So a better dorm? Kerler shakes his head decisively. "This has absolutely nothing to do with that." In the micro-apartments, there should be a high-quality fitted kitchen, a stylish bathroom, a cozy living and sleeping area. "Our goal is an ambient home decor on a few square meters."

Now Kerler is a businessman. One who knows how to promote his projects. He raves about it, that all apartments are oriented to the south and west, are high quality furnished and with underground parking space. "Such apartments," he says, "do not exist yet in the entire region."

No wonder, the micro-living concept comes from the metropolises of the world - where you can not afford more than a few square meters. But do we also need such mini-apartments here, at least where living space is getting scarcer and more expensive? Do we have to learn to be content with less?

So far, at least, it does not look like it. Because on average, people are taking up more and more space. If the average bartender still lived on 37.4 square meters in 1990, it had already reached 47.8. The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) in Bonn assumes that by 2030 it will already be more than 50 square meters.

But how does that fit together - statistics on the one hand, and the debate about missing housing and land use on the other? The BBSR speaks of two different developments. There are the older ones, who often have a lot of space, living alone in the big house that was once built for the whole family. And there are the younger ones who are drawn to the expensive cities, where they are getting less and less square meters. In addition: There are more and more single households. Now Kaufering is a market town and Landsberg is not a big city. And yet you can feel the consequences of the Munich real estate boom long ago here. Every year Landsberg grows by 300 citizens. People who need a place to stay in the current city of 29 300 inhabitants. Especially small apartments are wanted. But there are far too few.

Mayor Mathias Neuner knows the problem only too well. Recently, the city has conducted a survey among the Landsbergern, says the CSU politician. The only criticism was the housing supply, with 80 to 90 percent of people are dissatisfied. The fact that the problem is being tackled can be seen in many places in the city: in the west and in the east, new residential districts are to be created, at the Papierbach a chic city quarter, which should provide space for 1,500 people. On Schongauer Straße, small apartments are built for low-income citizens - 25 or 30 square meters in size, but cheaper. Because for a 100-square-meter apartment in Landsberg already 1500 euros are being paid, says Neuner. "If prices continue to rise, you have to save on the square meters."

This applies to the construction project of Peter Kerler in the nearby Kaufering - and so does the Klinikum Landsberg. 60 micro-apartments are to be built there in the next three years - 20 to 40 square meters in size, intended for nursing students and employees up to a certain income threshold. For the hospital, it is a necessary step if you want to remain attractive as an employer, says CEO Marco Woedl. The sharp increase in rents meanwhile ensured that "we can inspire fewer and fewer applicants for the location". Other companies have also come to the conclusion that those who want to attract skilled workers must offer more than just a good job. Affordable housing for example.

In Landsberg's old town, Peter Kerler sits in his tidy office - a room facing the street, a large oak table, four chairs, a screen on the wall. Not more. "If you only have a small room," he says, putting down his glasses, "the first impression is crucial." Like his micro-apartments. When you open the front door and see everything from plates in the kitchenette to the bed that has not been made - as it was then in the student apartment - "that's just not possible".

But how do you solve the problem? For such cases there are architecture psychologists like Klaus Kopp. His job is to create a feel-good atmosphere even in a 21-square-meter room. "One should not feel like in a laying battery. You should feel like you live in a 35 square meter apartment, "explains the man from Ebersberg near Munich.

The secret lies in creating space zones even on a short surface - that when entering the apartment you only see the small wardrobe, then turn into the kitchen and look into the living room from there. The bathroom juts out into the room at an angle, hidden behind a round wall divided by a sliding glass door. There is a large window front, floor to ceiling wardrobes and a bed that converts to a sofa.
The furnished apartment is to be sold for just under 135,000 euros, and the rent is about 450 euros. That sounds like a lot of money for 21 square meters.

Peter Kerler waves down. The apartments are finally high-quality equipped and furnished. And the demand is there. However, the sales start only.
Kerler needs to clarify other, more pressing issues these days. It shows floor plans, sketches of folding beds, state-of-the-art bathrooms, handleless modern kitchens - designs made by micro-housing manufacturers. "All too expensive," he says and waves away. For half a year, he has worked on the question of how to set up the apartments ideally. "That's the hardest topic."

It is a question that Luise Loué answered 20 kilometers further, in Utting am Ammersee, for herself. On this sunny afternoon, young women cycle to the recreational area, past neat family homes. Down by the lake, sun seekers tan. At the campsite ranks caravan to caravan. In between, Luise Loué lives on twelve square meters.

Since March, the artist lives with her young son in a Tiny House - a tiny wooden house, mounted on a trailer, 2.40 meters wide, 4.15 meters long, front and rear windows. Inside: a kitchenette with hob and small sink, placed on wheels, so you can push away if necessary. A narrow dining area with two barstools, a small sofa, three stools, in which the 41-year-old clothes stowed, and above a bed in which one climbs on a ladder. Wood-paneled walls in soft green and dark gray, designed by an interior designer. The house, she says, was built by students in Berlin, the windows were sponsored by a Kaufbeuren company, only the trailer had to pay them. And what did all this cost? Loué just shrugs.

She is used to it - the questions of how to live this way, in so little space, without a bathroom, running water or a fridge. The tiny houses are on the rise. Even Tchibo sells it recently - the cheapest model ten square meters small, including mini porch and trailer for 40 000 €.

Loué, the artist who runs a museum and invites her to readings and concerts in her Tiny House, sits on the wooden chair in front of her house, strokes her four-year-old son's head and says: "This is totally relieving here." Because everything is there be: the bathroom at the washhouse opposite, a bucket with water, in which it cools the drinks, electricity. The mini house is cleaned in half an hour. In her apartment she needed hours for it. "I was always dissatisfied. Now, in this house, I'm totally down. "

And otherwise, Loué turns her life around: she wants to dump ballast, live easier - less waste, less to buy, less need. She has exchanged her clothes for new ones on exchanges, gets her groceries on the market or gets them from those who would throw them away. To live in a minimalistic way, that makes you happier, is a creed of the movement.

Whether the Tiny House for Luise Loué remains an adventure for a summer? An episode on twelve square meters? "I can not say that's too early," says Loué. In any case, she did not quit her apartment of 80 square meters. Maybe she is also making a bigger trip. The Tiny House could take her.

(Source: https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de)