A few years ago, I wrote about the tiny houses of Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark. I was in Copenhagen again visiting family for the holidays and stopped by one of my all-time favorite communities again to photograph some of the tiny houses that dot this autonomous neighborhood. Christiania is a small community located within the city of Copenhagen where the 850 residents don’t pay property taxes, allowing them to build their own homes and create their own colorful architecture.
This place is a building inspector’s ultimate nightmare and a tiny house lover’s dream come true. Many of the tiny houses of Christiania were built utilizing already existing structures that were left over from when this area used to be a military base. The structures were added to with salvaged materials or items tossed out by non-Christiania residents. Other homes are created out of German bauwagens, boats, random windows, sheds or greenhouses. Since Christiania is also located in a park-like area with a large lake, residents take advantage of this and build some homes on floating platforms. I spoke to a Christiania resident about how to obtain a home or land in this free form community. He said it’s extremely difficult and you either have to know someone or you have to have grown up in the area to get hold of some land to build a house. Many residents stay for their entire lives and only give up their home to a friend or family member.
Photos by Christina Nellemann
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