Yellow caution tape marks the future site of a small home in the middle of the University of Southern Indiana (USI).
The house is not officially finished yet, but the university is using the house as a teaching opportunity for students.
Construction workers finish the foundation. Soon, they’ll lay the floor and wall panels to this tiny building, called a Minka house.
Minka houses are small. This one’s around 640 square feet. And they can be easily assembled, torn down, and reassembled somewhere else.
The one on USI’s campus is only the second to be built. No one will live there, but Dr. Bill Thomas, CEO of Minka, hopes there will be a community of fifteen Minka houses built at USI next year.
But several USI classes have are already used this site as a learning opportunity.
“Here at USI, we really try and emphasize learning by doing.” said Adam Tennant, an assistant professor of engineering. “We collected probably maybe 10 five-gallon buckets of that soil, and we’ve been performing geotechnical engineering tests on that.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for next week.
Correction: A previous version of this story said there are plans to build a Minka community at USI next year. That is incorrect. Dr. Thomas hopes the university will build a fifteen-house community, but USI does not have any plans.