“Life Pod” Offers Options for Affordable Housing

Michael Weekes lives at the intersection of engineering and art. At those crossroads, he created the Life Pod, a 115 square foot tiny home of the future. 

In today’s mentality of doing less with more, Weekes has grown a greater sense of the earth. “In the last six months since I brought Life Pod to Columbia, I’ve studied and become an enthusiast in renewable energy and solar power, etc.,” said Weekes.

The project started July 9, 2015 and took 12 weeks to complete. The total cost to build the Life Pod was $7,000.

Weekes has identified four major customer groups for the Life Pod. First, the homeless and displaced, people who need shelter during emergency disasters, baby boomers who want to travel after retirement, and millennials who don’t want to invest in an area with high rent or a mortgage, as they decide their futures.

Originally, the plan was to build and sell Life Pods and kits, but since receiving feedback about the Life Pod, a different road has been paved. Weekes is hoping to build a 450-650 square foot, net zero home in the Midlands as a template for neighborhoods in the area.

“I want to do that to show America that Columbia and the Midlands are as innovative and leading edge as anywhere else,” responds Weekes.