Oklahoma State University students from the Oklahoma City and Stillwater campuses recently contributed to the construction and architectural design of tiny homes on the Pivot Inc. campus in Oklahoma City.

Pivot, a nonprofit, has opened 26 homes in the last five years for teens and young adults who are homeless or aging out of the foster care system.

Dr. Terry Clinefelter, OSU-OKC department head of construction technologies, worked with Paolo Sanza, associate professor at the OSU School of Architecture, to involve students in this community project.

“My interest in housing motivated me to be involved in this project. When I teach, I like to give students an actual project to complete,” Sanza said. “I thought this was a good starting point and, at the same time, a way to contribute to the community and be involved with outreach.”

Sanza said the project was perfect for third-year architecture students in his design studio. He quickly coined the project name – Matchbox 17 – and created a project brief to share with them.

Sanza’s 14 students met with Pivot in January 2020 and were challenged to design these small spaces – from the placement of each stud to each piece of furniture – rather than just designing an empty shell, Sanza said.

Requirements included that the tiny house must not exceed 280 square feet and be constructed utilizing light-framing construction techniques. The micro-dwelling required space for living, cooking, sleeping and hygiene – shower and toilet – for a single person. Also, areas for outdoor living like a porch were encouraged.

Students were given a construction budget of $140 per square foot or around $40,000 per unit.

Katelyn Mann, a 2021 OSU architecture graduate, and her group partner Tiffany Mollohan, focused their designs on the ability to be personalized for each resident while still creating as much space as possible. Each of their homes had a different color scheme.

“Our structure was a classic homestyle shape, but it was broken up and divided into two levels,” Mann said. “Since a lot of the homes have a very open floor plan, we started to put wood slat dividers to divide the bed from the kitchen and living areas to help privacy.

“Then a lot of our focus was on things that were retractable, so having furniture that could fold into walls, or having dual space from the closet connecting to the bathroom, that way you have more compact zones.”

The pair even included special safety features in the home to make the resident feel comfortable, Mann said.