Twenty-four-year-old Hunan University student Dai Haifei lived in an "egg" for two months in Beijing. He is among millions of youth who have come from all parts of China to the mega city to pursue their dreams, but find difficulty coping with the high living cost. So, he decided to build a home by himself, an egg-shaped home that costs little to live in.
"I wanted to have a home of my own, no need to be too big, as long as it shelters me from the sun and the rain, he said on his blog explaining the egg house. "I did not want to live in a remote corner of the city."
Born in rural Shaoyang, Hunan Province, Dai tried to convince his parents, a construction worker and a cleaner, to go back to the countryside to enjoy farm life instead of struggling in the city to make money for their son to buy a house and marry. "But they don't know it will take 200-300 years to buy a house in Beijing with their salary," said Dai.
Constructed with steel, wood and bamboo, the wheeled "house" features a few green technologies. There's a solar panel installed on top of the "egg" to store power for lighting. Under the bed there's a water pump system, which can hold water for basic washing for about three days. On the outside of the "egg," grass seeds were planted and some have already sprouted.
After two months of living in the egg, the movable home was ordered to be removed by city managers saying it didn't conform to housing standards. The act stirred great dispute about the existence of the unusual house. Many agree that the "egg" might not be legal, but the novel idea and creation need to be supported.
"The 'egg' house is something of a creative design and you can't impose the standards of ordinary residential buildings on it," said professor Zhou Yanmin from the architecture school of Tsinghua University, who also sang praise of its green concept.
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