The student, Chi Coppinger, has been living in the home she built herself for nearly nine months.
In the small workspace below her bunk bed, Chi Coppinger sat on the floor of her 16-by-8 foot home, her knees pulled toward her chest.
Coppinger, a student in Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College, has been living in the tiny home since the end of the summer, after dedicating about four months to its construction.
She built the house as part of her senior thesis on life art, which she described as “art that manifests through action and daily living."
The small wooden building seemed to mysteriously appear at the top of Baker Center on Tuesday, where it stayed all day. Students peered in curiously through the open door on their way to class. Coppinger, meanwhile, sat on the floor and welcomed them into her home.
Coppinger, a senior studying studio art with a minor in physics, said she initially got the idea for the project due to her concern for the environment.
“I realized throughout the day (that) I did all these things that were harmful to the natural world,” Coppinger said, adding that she wanted her thesis to counter that.
Most of the resources used for the house, made primarily of wood, are reused, and the house cost her a little more than $4,000 to make, Coppinger said. She received a portion of the funding through the Provost's Undergraduate Research Fund and used personal money for the remaining costs.
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“It’s kind of fulfilling to live somewhere that you built yourself,” she said, adding that while the initial financial investment may have been large, it would end up saving her money in the long run.
The home has a bunk nested on the far end, and an area under the bed has a small workspace with a rug, cushions and a computer, where Coppinger often sits.
Coppinger said the first five or so months inside the home presented the biggest challenge because it did not have electricity at the time. Now, the computer, along with a light and her phone charger, draws energy from solar panels installed on the structure.
Books and trinkets lie on shelves along the back wall and a couple plants sit on the top shelf under a window. The home also includes a sink and a wood stove, which Coppinger said she uses occasionally, though she admits it is difficult to cook with.
“I didn’t know how to weld when I started, and it was quite the endeavor (to make the stove),” she said.
Cary Frith, associate dean of the Honors Tutorial College, said she was amazed by the variety of skills Coppinger had to acquire for the project.
“The level of commitment and the level of ingenuity is truly impressive,” Frith said.
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Coppinger, who wants to continue her education and go to medical school, said she has always had a wide range of interests. In addition to her love of the outdoors, art and science, Coppinger said she also enjoys aerial silks, which entails hanging from fabrics and performing acrobatics while suspended in the air.
“My approach to art and life is very interdisciplinary,” Coppinger said.
Her father, John Coppinger, who stayed at the top of Baker with Chi on Tuesday, said he is "incredibly proud" of his daughter.
“First, you have to understand that she’s always been both brilliant and unique and always walks her own path,” he said.
The home contains little more than the essentials.
“I had a lot of things before I moved into this place, but I took what mattered to me,” Coppinger said. “I guess I’ve never been super situated on things. I feel that people are much more valuable.”
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