Students Dream Up Tiny Accessible Homes To Help House Homeless Veterans

Civil engineering students from the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio have come up with the idea of tiny houses that could potentially take homeless veterans off the streets. 

Started by Trinity Schaefer and Elizabeth De Leon, the UTSA Big Heroes Tiny Homes initiative has now turned into a real-world project, with architecture seniors Lauren Cepeda, Lorena Gonzalez, Marianne Friedel, and Simian Maredia joining in to come up with the home’s design.

They provided proposals for the project’s aesthetics, with some suggesting a cozy, intimate space while others focused on more eco-friendly and sustainable materials. Plus, all teams included the capacity for disability accommodations in their designs.

These suggestions were then reviewed by faculty and industry professionals, finally picking one—dubbed the Bento House—that will be constructed into the project’s first tiny home. 

The 384-square-foot space will comprise ADA-accessible countertops, storage, and sliding doors—an interesting touch that took into consideration the home’s limited space for door openings. 

Construction is slated to begin in the near future, and will take one semester to complete.

“The coolest thing about this project is it’s drawing together expertise from all these different majors,” said Schaefer.

“When you get out into the industry within your discipline, a big problem is that we don’t talk to each other or listen to each other. So, for me, as a civil engineer, hearing about the architectural design and the challenges when it comes to construction was cool to encounter so early in my career,” she said.

[via NEWS4SA and University of Texas at San Antonio, images via University of Texas at San Antonio]