600 applicants, 36 modules, 10 years: how a tiny house neighbourhood in Heidelberg is rethinking urban living

(A text by Fabian Müller)

The situation in many German cities is clear: pressure on the housing market is increasing, while at the same time, land availability, ecological requirements and urban planning conditions are forcing more sustainable and flexible solutions. This is exactly where our project in Heidelberg comes in – a tiny house neighbourhood based on a lease model that consistently focuses on dismantlability, reusability and modular construction – the advantages of tiny houses.

But who are we? We are Achim Pätzold, an experienced project developer and construction team leader, and Fabian Müller, a municipal consultant, tiny house expert and building land developer. We have joined forces to develop an absolute beacon of housing creation. The term ‘beacon’ is now already used when a multi-family house is built from wood. But we are really breaking new ground – ten-year urban leasehold, development, letting, demolition. We are taking 100 per cent of the risk because we believe in it. No sale, no further safeguards. We believe in the tiny house and its strengths.

The city of Heidelberg is providing us with the space for a period of ten years. This setting creates unusually clear guidelines: every structural intervention must be reversible, ecologically sound and economically viable. So we are not talking about temporary architecture in the classic sense, but about a fully-fledged, high-quality residential quarter that has been deliberately planned so that it can be dismantled or reused elsewhere at the end of its useful life without causing any lasting damage to the urban fabric.

The basis for this is the purchase of 36 high-quality modules from SchwörerHaus KG, a regional, family-run company that consistently shares the philosophy: ‘When we do a project, we do it right.’ This shared attitude shapes the entire development logic. The modules are optimised in terms of their building physics, energy efficient and prepared for later relocation – a decisive quality feature in the context of temporary neighbourhood strategies.

Participation as a location factor

One special feature of the project is already clear today: within a month, over 600 active prospective residents have registered – people who are not only looking for a flat, but also want to help shape the neighbourhood. Tiny living does not work as an isolated product, but as a social structure: community-driven, user-centred, lively.

This response not only confirms the concept, but also shows that reversible forms of living have long been meeting a real market demand that traditional housing projects often fail to satisfy.

(Florian Klag interviewed Fabian Müller about the Heidelberg project. The video can be viewed HERE.)

Conclusion: An urban prototype for new living realities

Tiny living in an urban context is no longer a niche phenomenon, but a serious building block for future urban development. The combination of reversible modules, clear time frames, high construction quality and active user participation makes the Heidelberg project a transferable model that local authorities in Germany can use as a reference.

We are opening in 2026 – and we see this neighbourhood not as an end product, but as a catalyst for a new generation of flexible urban spaces in which living, ecology and economic rationality are in balance.