Getaway draws the mansion-averse taking break from city

Getaway draws the mansion-averse taking break from city
Credit: Sarah Reuhlow

Living the dream. For post-adolescents that means taking off for the big, bad city and ready to thrive to the max on all that is new and noisy. Living the dream. For professionals the meaning changes to sorting out a digital life where careers can be on and off city limits, and where they just want to get the hell out and into a quiet life of balance.

There is a startup designed to take balance-seeking people into their life's phase two and it is called, aptly, Getaway, which raised funding before launching. It's in the business of serving as one kind of response to people warming up to the Tiny House Movement.

Getaway offers stays at mobile cabins, not selling the cabins outright, but building them and then renting the 160-square-foot cabins for people looking for a break from the city grind.

Getaway cabins are 160 square foot dwellings on wheels, about a two-hour drive out of Boston.

Their first tiny house, the Ovida, was followed by the second house, named Lorraine. They are building third tiny house now. Composting toilets come with biodegradable toilet paper.

Getaway provisions include snacks and ingredients for meals. There are, for example, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, granola, cereal, rice, soup mix, pasta, pasta sauce, trail mix, matches, charcoal, playing cards, bocce ball and a key to unlock bikes,

The Getaway team describe themselves as campers and designers. They have been in coordination with the Millennial Housing Lab. The latter is an "action" lab founded by Harvard Business, Law, and Design students. The lab focuses on numerous sides of the housing experience: architecture, neighborhood design, financing, regulation, and community-building. Getaway is the Millennial Housing Lab's first project.

Getaway draws the mansion-averse taking break from city

BetaBoston said that, in addition to Getaway, "the Millennial Housing Lab plans to build tiny houses for the homeless and create kits for anyone to be able to build a house in 30 days."

The Getaway team said the cabins are secure with window locks, hitch lock, and electronic door lock. Prices were given by several news sites. On Thursday, Adam Williams in Gizmag said Lorraine was at a rent price of $99 per night. Lucy Wang in Inhabitat also wrote about the cost as $99 a night for a timber dwelling that sleeps two.

Getaway draws the mansion-averse taking break from city

Williams went on to describe the structure. "Constructed primarily from timber, the Lorraine is dominated by an open space comprising living, dining and work areas, with a long work surface spanning from kitchen to bedroom. The small kitchenette features a two-burner propane stove, vintage-style Coleman cooler, and a sink."

The bedroom, he said, has a queen-size bed, along with a composting toilet and shower on board. Electricity comes from a solar array.

Can this be a sign of the times, signifying for a new generation?

"Is staying in one of Getaway's cabins seductive enough to make people heave all their worldly possessions and build a tiny from scratch? Probably not. But for those who are already on the fence with the means to actually do it, it could be a potent catalyst," commented Diana Budds in Fast Company.

More information: getaway.house/lorraine/

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