Snail’s Home
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10 unusual places to live
Finding and buying your first home has never been harder, we are told, so it should come as no surprise that many people are looking for other ways to live. And there are more than you might think. Here are 10 of the most striking - though not necessarily practical - ways to get ahead without getting a house. 1. The humble shipping container is more versatile than you might think. BBC Three's Guerrilla Homes transports a converted container around the country, depositing it in a variety of locations and surprising people with the number of mod cons it can fit. And you don't even have to stop at one - stacked homes have been created with eight or more containers combined. 2. The M-house, a cross between a house and a caravan, is also extremely versatile. It can be transported like a prefabricated house, but is more mobile. Crucially, it's practically custom-made for getting around planning regulations. 3. Fancy yourself as a sculptor? Then why not sculpt your own house? Cob building is an ancient technique whereby mud, sand, and straw are mixed together and shaped into a building. You have to make sure it's on firm foundations first, but on the bright side you can sculpt your furniture too. 4. If you can't stand cities, you're not alone. Neither could the Mongolians, who preferred to live in large temporary tent-like structures called "gers" or "yurts". These have been recreated today, using modern materials but still constructed along Mongolian principles: they can be put up in a few hours, and taken down again when you - or the leaders of your tribe - decide to move on. 5. If you want a slightly more futuristic twist to your temporary building, take a look at the 'Space Frame' house, designed, constructed and lived in by Danish artists N55 . Constructed along simple geometric principles with a triangular lattice structure, its inside resembles a spaceship - and they claim that it could be used in space too. And if you don't like it, its shell folds up so completely that you can store it "under the sofa". Where your sofa goes, though, is a bit more tricky. 6. And N55 haven't stopped there. If you want mobility but are pushed for space, perhaps you could consider what may be the smallest house in the world - their Snail Shell house. Shaped like a great wheel, it's small and light enough that moving house simply means turning it on its side and rolling it elsewhere. It even comes with a paddle in case you feel like living on water. 7. Alternatively, you could take the idea of the mobile home to a whole new level. Some people have chosen to buy buses for the specific purpose of living in. With the seats removed, they can be converted into anything you like. 8. At the Findhorn community in Scotland, a pioneer in alternative housing, a particularly novel type of house has been produced from the giant barrels used in the making of whisky. It might not be a good idea to stay indoors too much, though. 9. For housing with an extra dimension, leave the ground and try a tree house instead. As you'd expect from one of the oldest forms of alternative housing around, all kinds of types are available - even fully furnished spheres, suspended from the branches. 10. Finally, if even the thought of staying on land repels you, you could always follow the example of Roy Bates, who set up home on a disused WWII anti-aircraft fortress in the North Sea. You might not want to go quite as far as calling it a sovereign principality, however, as Roy (or rather, Prince Roy of Sealand) did, along with issuing passports, stamps and currency. On Guerrilla Homes, which was broadcast on 6 September on BBC Three at 1930 BST, architect Charlie Luxton looked at ingenious ways of solving the nationwide crisis in affordable housing.
TV Drama Snail House Popular in China
The 35-episode series follows the trials of two sisters struggling to buy affordable apartments in a big city, where house prices have soared way beyond what most people can afford. In the drama, Hai Ping is a hard working office worker who dreams of owning an apartment, while her husband doesn't make much money. Hai Ping's younger sister Hai Zao becomes the mistress of a government official in order to help pay her older sister's first down payment. Hai Qing plays the role of the heroine, Hai Ping, in the drama, as the older outspoken sister. Her own experience of living in the city of Shanghai has helped her play the role. "I found that the brand new apartments were extremely expensive, but because my parents wanted to come to live in Shanghai, I made a decision to buy a place. It costs me thirty years income! I went to check the house and told myself, 'I'm standing on top of my first 30 years!' The TV drama has been widely popular among urban dwellers for its vivid discription of everyday life. As a young lawyer working for an international firm in Shanghai, Summer Tang belongs to a group of white collar workers who have a good income. However, she faced a lot of difficulties when her family decided to buy an apartment two years ago. Similar to the TV drama's plot, they searched through the city and also encountered traps when buying a place. "Once we already paid the holding deposit, but all of a sudden, several other couples came in and priced us out. It was a trap, but eventually we didn't get the place. It was sold to another buyer." Property development in China began to boom in the late 1990s after sweeping reforms of the housing market by the government. As more and more people move to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, strong demand and scarce land resources have driven up prices. According to Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau, the city's average annual income in 2008 was 44,700 yuan, while urban apartments sold for an average of 15,500 yuan per square meter. An apartment of 90 square meters costs almost 1.40 million yuan, which would require a household of two wage-earners to repay with half their salaries for 30 years – before interest. Summer says the extremely high price of the houses make many people more realistic. "A house is very important to people today. To be frank, there are fewer girls like me nowadays who would marry a guy who doesn't have a house. One of my friends' parents asked her to stop dating the man since he couldn't afford a house in this city. I think I can understand Hai Ping very well. The plot epitomizes a large portion of urban young people who are tormented by the thought of owning a house, just like snails carrying a heavy shell." The popular concept of owning a home as a requirement for marriage is driving many young couples apart as the dream becomes unattainable. Many are encouraging young people to rent first, and the government also plans to build public rental housing to relieve the pressure. But still, owning a home has become a symbol of securing a position in the big cities as well as a symbol of success to many people. No wonder the TV drama "Snail House" has been so popular not just on small screen, but also become a hot topic in the society. For China Drive, I'm Liu Min.
Putting a pressing issue in its place
Car, wife, child, money and house. These are the five things that most people aspire to. There is even an old Chinese saying that has been adapted to the times and sums up the ideal: "wu zi deng ke". While the first four items on the list are pretty much taken care of in contemporary China as a result of economic growth since reform and opening up in 1978, the latter is a more pressing issue. This was graphically portrayed in the popular soap opera Dwelling Narrowness, which was controversially dropped by Beijing Television halfway through its run. As often happens, it became even more popular after it was allegedly banned because it had touched on such a raw nerve, and DVD sellers did a brisk trade in pirated discs. Most of the country will, by now, have seen the series and sympathized with its protagonists. They are an ordinary couple who live in a tiny rented apartment who dream of buying a house but are unable to afford one. The wife's sister sacrifices true love in order to have an affair with a government official, who helps the couple realize their ambition. It is powerful stuff if you are in the same position, which hundreds of millions are. An online survey by www.people.com.cn found 60 percent regard themselves as "Wojuzu", or "snail house dwellers". In the same poll, 85 percent said they want strong measures to provide affordable housing. China's average house price last year was 4,600 yuan ($674) per square meter, an increase of 27.8 percent from 2008, Xinhua News Agency reported. At the same time, Goldman Sachs figures suggest house price increases have outpaced income by 30 percentage points in Shanghai and 80 percentage points in Beijing. What these statistics mean is that even couples who earn a reasonable wage, combine their incomes, save diligently and work for years cannot afford to get on the first rung of the housing ladder. They are at the mercy of landlords and their money disappears into their pockets, making the rich richer and keeping the poor poor. The result is an expanding middle class frozen out of the country's economic development, unable to progress, trapped in a low-rent situation. The position of migrant and low-wage workers is even more desperate. Dissatisfaction with the situation is understandable and the social implications hardly need pointing out. The answer would appear to be: Build more homes, especially low-cost housing, keep the construction industry busy and the economic juggernaut going. This is happening to some extent and the government put 55.1 billion yuan ($8 billion) into low-cost housing projects last year. The result was forced demolitions of hutong and old neighborhoods to make way for new apartments. This inevitably led to criticism in some quarters, from those who felt the past deserved to be preserved, and others who believe developers and officials are taking advantage of the situation to make huge profits. A firm but balanced approach is required.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 TV series like Snail House became overwhelmingly popular because of its close-to-life storyline and true-to-life acting skills of the casts.
2 During the fair, Cai will stay in this snail house except when he has to go to the toilet. It is through these efforts that he advocates low carbon environmental protection ideas.
3 Her role in the 2009 mega-hit TV drama Woju, known in English as Dwelling Narrowness or Snail House, catapulted her back to super stardom status in China.