Piz Nair: This tiny house gondola becomes a hotel room

Valeria Mella (34) and Adi Rüedi (36) have long dreamed of a mini house, a so-called tiny house. Then Rüedi saw a discarded Brunni gondola for 4500 francs on the used platform Tutti. “We got the idea spontaneously,” says Mella. “We are building a tiny house out of a gondola!”

–

That was a year ago. Since then, the couple shared the travel blog Littlecity.ch operates intensively with the conversion and expansion of the gondola. It took them more time and effort than they originally thought. “It only took a while until everything was hollowed out,” says Mella. For example, the bottom of the gondola was welded, riveted and glued. “Adi had to mill and saw it inch by inch with a wide variety of machines,” says Mella.

–

The gondola had to slim down

Another big challenge was to make everything as light as possible and still stable. “Because we wanted our tiny house gondola to remain mobile,” says the blogger. But to pull the tiny house gondola by car, it couldn’t be heavier than 1.7 tons.

–

“We did a lot of things for the first time,” says Mella. Neither of them previously had a craft job. Therefore, it was very difficult to estimate how long it would take them to complete the renovation. The two Zurichers have invested a lot – in money and hours worked. “At some point we stopped counting,” said Mella. However, they estimate the value of the gondola today to be well over CHF 100,000.

–

Old and new details

And the interior is impressive: the gondola is two by five meters in size. According to the couple, it offers more space than you think. “In the tailor-made kitchen by the Swiss kitchen builder Emme you will find everything you need, including a pull-out kitchen island,” says Mella. It hides a gas stove for cooking. The seating area can also be converted into a 1.40 meter bed in just a few simple steps. The bed linen is stowed under the benches.

–

The bottom of the gondola offers additional storage space. Some of the wooden floorboards can be opened with a magnet and used as wardrobes. The gondola offers numerous other special features, such as controlling the light via Smart Home. Such modern gadgets have been combined with old details of the gondola. So the original labels, which have always hung in the Brunni gondola, were put back on. The floor, kitchen and benches are made of Swiss wood, the walls are lined with recycled pet and the pair also replaced the plexiglass panes.

–

Spend the night in the Gondeli Hotel

Only the wet room is currently missing. “A bathroom is planned and the prototype is ready,” says Mella. The couple does not want to live in it for the time being. “We want to use the gondola as a kind of caravan and go on trips with it,” says the blogger.

–

Leave a Comment Cancel reply