Young Architect Builds Solar-Powered Portable House on Rickshaw’s Top

Nov 23, 2021 by Kashish Bhardwaj in Autos

Chennai-based young architect developed a solar-powered portable house made from scrap on top of an auto rickshaw

We often tend to forget that with the growing population the land is not going to increase. The land disputes and cases of encroachments that still exist are going to increase in the coming times. In order to resolve the problem associated with land, Chennai-based architect, Arun Prabhu, developed a solar-powered portable house called ‘Solo 0.1’ on top of an auto-rickshaw.

The young architect built this low-cost housing as a potential solution for illegal encroachment in Indian metro cities. This year, mounting illegal settlements across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were termed as “situation gone out of hand” by the Bombay High Court. The dispute of government land encroachment has increased considerably in metropolitan cities including Mumbai and Chennai.

The house is equipped with a lot of features including a toilet, foyer, terrace, living room space and a kitchen. The portable enterprise is specifically designed for solo travelers, vendors, artists, homeless and construction workers. This design can also be used for withdrawal purposes during natural disasters.

One of the best parts about the house is that it is completely made from scrap. It is powered by solar energy and can store over 200 liters of water. It took around five months to build the detachable and portable 6×6 feet tiny unit, which can be attached to any vehicle. The construction cost of the house is Rs 1, 00,000, whereas a house in the slums of Mumbai costs approximately Rs 5, 00,000.

The tiny house Solo 0.1 has a lot to offer at a reasonable cost and the invention is undeniably sustainable and unique. It certainly addresses the affordable housing crisis in big cities.