Cascade Tiny Home

The Cascade Tiny Home is one of many homes in Emerald Village Eugene (EVE), a project developed by SquareOne Villages. EVE is a village of permanent, accessible and sustainable housing for homeless individuals and couples to call home based on a  tiny house community concept.

Local architects and builders are providing designs and construction of the 22 tiny homes, and the Urban Collaborative is proud to be a part of that number. Our design is finalized, construction has just begun, and we would like readers to kindly consider donating to the construction funds for the house as we move forward. Your contributions will be put towards the cost of materials, as labor is voluntary. 

The following is a description of the design of our tiny home, the Casacde Tiny Home, from the Principal of the Urban Collaborative:

"After researching the needs of the homeless in seminars and studios at the UO and even since my days as an undergraduate architecture student, where I completed a special thesis on the topic, I've realized that these needs extend far beyond mere shelter. But that is in part what architects can provide. Living in a place with dignity is, for example, within the realm of architecture. In our project, we approached the design with this in mind and three goals shaped our work. First, we know that a place to sleep apart from a place to socialize helps meet needs for both privacy and socialization, so we developed a plan with a small private bedroom and a separate communal space. Second, limited resources for large purchases like furniture or appliances will not preclude those without homes from collecting the "stuff" of daily life and sometimes these possessions are all that's left of their former lives when they may have had a home. From high school year books to boxes of birthday cards, these material items act as reminders of better times, so we have prepared a home with the big items like a couch, a bed, a dining table, a desk, and ample storage built in. Our tiny home is more like an elegant RV than a lifeless apartment. This means our residents can move in immediately and focus not on furnishing a home but on living their lives. Third, we have incorporated many passive design strategies to increase the environmental sustainability of the home and to reduce energy costs, which can be an undue burden on anyone - homeless or not. Thick walls with extra insulation, deep overhangs protecting large south facing windows, and tight construction standards to minimize heat loss are just a few of the techniques we used. In the end, our home, based on research and built on collaboration, will hopefully help its residents - even in some small way - live with dignity and delight."

- Dr. Mark Gillem, PhD, FAIA, AICP

Thank you for your contributions! All donations are tax deductable. 


A peek at the designed floor plan


Formwork for the foundation 


The foundation is poured!

A special thank you to our contributors:
Square One
Six Degrees Construction Co.
Dougs Plumbing
Small Planet Workshop
SIGA
Evergreen Roofing
Premier Plastering
LMJ Electric
Powell's Pro Painting
Springfield Lumber