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<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></div></div></div><ul><li>Hong Kong has one of the worst housing crises in the world, and has been ranked the least affordable city for housing for the last eight years.</li><li>Hong Kong architect James Law has designed a low-cost solution to the problem: stackable, retro-fitted water pipe "tube homes" called "O-Pods" that could be rented cheaply to young people.</li><li>Law sees the design as an "open-source" solution for housing crises around the world.</li><li>The first O-Pod development is being built in Shenzhen, China and due to open in July.</li></ul>Hong Kong has one of the worst housing crises in the world, with property prices so high that a single parking spot <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/world/asia/hong-kong-parking-spot-record-real-estate.html">sold for $664,000 last year</a> and all but the wealthiest are stuck renting tiny apartments with an ever-proliferating range of colorful names: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-pictures-of-micro-apartments-around-hong-kong-2018-1">micro-flats, nano apartments, coffin apartments, and cage homes</a>.It's gotten so bad that the city <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-expensive-cities-to-live-in-around-the-world-in-2018-2018-1">has been ranked the least affordable city</a> for housing in the world for eight years running, according to the Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey."We are facing a tangible affordability problem in our cities," architect James Law told Business Insider. "It is almost beyond the reach of most people to afford to live in a proper home in Hong KongLaw thinks he may have a solution: a retro-fitted concrete water pipe. The idea came to him last August when he was overseeing a construction site. He noticed some leftover concrete pipes at the site and found that they were large, strong, safe, and not being used. Law designed and built the prototype for the O-Pod in less than a month.The O-Pod wasn't Law's first "crazy project" - he tries to challenge himself with one each year - but it is the first to garner attention across the world. Within months, the O-Pod had been written up in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/world/asia/hong-kong-housing-crisis-ideas.html">the New Y0rk Times</a>, the <a href="http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2136993/my-night-tube-home-low-cost-housing-concept-hong-kong-cosy-noisy-and">South China Morning Post</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180301-homes-made-of-concrete-tubes-could-solve-the-housing-crisis">BBC News,</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-housing-water-tubes-james-law-cybertecture-2018-1#it-includes-a-sofa-that-folds-out-into-a-bed-as-well-as-shelves-a-mini-fridge-a-microwave-and-a-bathroom-with-a-shower-3">Business Insider</a>. And he has received inquiries about the design from firms in <a href="https://www.jwtintelligence.com/2018/04/james-law-founder-ceo-james-law-cybertecture/">New Zealand, South Africa and Hawaii</a>.In April, Law signed a contract with a developer in Shenzhen, China to build the first O-Pod complex."​The big dream of mine is not necessarily me doing it, but a global community of people who share the same values using this as an open source design to share around the world," Law said. "If we can work with governments, and even private landowners and manufacturers, we could very cheaply build the O-Pods, and we could rent them out very cheaply to young people who are struggling to afford housing."Law recently gave us a tour of the prototype and revealed where he wants to take it from here. Here's what it was like:

A Hong Kong architect thinks 'tube homes' made from concrete pipes can be a solution to the world's housing crisis

Shutterstock<ul><li>NASA has finally revealed details about its plan to send astronauts to Mars.</li><li>The plan calls for building an outpost to orbit the moon and test Mars hardware.</li><li>A crew of four may have to spend up to 3 years inside of a Mars spaceship - yet never land on the planet.</li><li>It remains to be seen if NASA's flat budget can facilitate reaching Mars by 2033.</li></ul>For years, NASA has talked about sending people to Mars with its gigantic new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), and a new spacecraft called Orion.But NASA hasn't said how it plans to use that $40 billion of new hardware, even after publishing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-journey-to-mars-plan-2015-10">a 36-page Mars exploration plan</a> in October 2015.Fortunately, a plan may finally be coming into place.On March 21, President Donald Trump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-law-budget-president-trump-2017-3">signed a new law</a> that mandates NASA send people to Mars by 2033. Then, a week later, the space agency published its most detailed plan yet for reaching the red planet.The scheme is neither for the claustrophobic nor feint of heart: It involves locking astronauts into a tube-shaped spaceship, sending them into deep space for 3 years, and giving them no form of emergency escape beyond the moon.What's more, astronauts would only orbit Mars in 2033; they'd never attempt a landing.That's according to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nss_chart_v23.pdf" target="_blank">a document</a> authored by William H. Gerstenmaier, the head of NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, which he presented during a NASA <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/nac-heoc">advisory council</a> meeting on March 28. We first learned about the presentation via a story by Eric Berger <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/03/for-the-first-time-nasa-has-begun-detailing-its-deep-space-exploration-plans/">at Ars Technica</a>."NASA is leading the next steps into deep space near the moon, where astronauts will build and begin testing the systems needed for challenging missions to deep space destinations including Mars," NASA said about the new plan in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/deep-space-gateway-to-open-opportunities-for-distant-destinations">a press release</a>.<h2>Getting to Mars in five phases</h2><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nss_chart_v23.pdf">NASA</a>An artist's concept of NASA's Deep Space Gateway (left) space station near the moon.Gesternmeier's program lists five phases to reach Mars.Phase 0 involves using the International Space Station "as a test bed to demonstrate key exploration capabilities and operations, and foster an emerging commercial space industry" with partners like SpaceX, Boeing, Orbital ATK, and others. We're currently in this phase.Phase 1 is ambitious, involving six launches that span from 2018 through 2025.First, NASA wants to launch its inaugural SLS rocket (a 321-foot-tall behemoth that's designed to rival the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-vs-apollo-saturn-v-rocket-2016-7">Saturn V rockets</a> that blasted Apollo astronauts <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/american-flags-moon-color-bleached-white-2017-4">to the moon</a>). Assuming that maiden flight and tests of its new Orion spaceship go well, the space agency will launch five more SLS rockets.The first of those five would send NASA's unrelated Europa Clipper probe to Jupiter, where it would study an icy moon with a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">hidden ocean</a> that may be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">habitable to alien life</a>. Four other missions will each launch a piece of a new space station, called the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), into orbit near the moon - a region called cislunar space - where four astronauts will help assemble and provision it."The gateway could move to support robotic or partner missions to the surface of the moon, or to a high lunar orbit to support missions departing from the gateway to other destinations in the solar system," Gerstenmaier said in the release.<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nss_chart_v23.pdf">NASA</a>An artist's concept of NASA's Deep Space Transport (right) spaceship near the moon.Phase 2 builds on the lunar space station by launching a Deep Space Transport (DST) to it in 2027. Then, around 2028 or 2029, four lucky astronauts would spend up to 400 days inside the 41-ton tube as it orbits near the moon. Their mission: Make sure the DST works and nothing critical stops working.Phase 3 begins around 2030, assuming the DST and its crew experience no problems. Another SLS flight would restock the spaceship with supplies and fuel, then yet another launch would load it up with four people - the first crew to visit Mars.Their two- to three-year-long flight "would likely involve a Venus flyby and a short stay around Mars" and "would offer no hope for an emergency return once the crew leaves cislunar space," Berger wrote at Ars Technica.Phase 4 would happen beyond 2033, and is fairly nebulous at this point. All it calls for in Gerstenmaier's document is "development and robotic preparatory missions" to deliver habitats and supplies to the surface of Mars, plus eventual "Mars human landing missions".<h2>Will NASA put the first boots on Mars?</h2>NASAIt remains to be seen whether or not NASA can pull off this grand plan on the relatively flat budget Congress keeps handing it.During the Apollo moon missions, NASA made up more than 4% of the US budget. Today, it's share has shrunk to about half of a percent.Even if NASA does manage to execute this plan, it may have competition from the private partners it hopes to get involved. The private sector may even beat NASA to Mars.Elon Musk, the founder of the rocket company <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-spacex-mars-elon-musk-2016-10">SpaceX</a>, recently said he plans to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-mars-colony-talk-iac-2016-9">send people to Mars by 2022</a>. Boeing has also challenged SpaceX in beating the company to the red planet. Musk said he's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-spacex-mars-elon-musk-2016-10">OK with this</a> because all he wants to do is colonize Mars and protect humanity from self-imposed annihilation or a rogue asteroid."I think it's good for there to be multiple paths to Mars ... to have multiple irons in the fire," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mars-speech-transcript-2016-9">Musk said</a> in August 2016.Get the latest Boeing stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/BA-Quote"> here.</a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-nasa-find-giant-underground-ice-reserve-mars-2016-11">Scientists just discovered a massive reserve of frozen water that could help astronauts survive on Mars</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

The first Mars astronauts may be trapped inside of a tube for 3 years with no chance of escape

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A Hong Kong architect thinks 'tube homes' made from concrete pipes can be a solution to the world's housing crisis

Harrison Jacobs

The first Mars astronauts may be trapped inside of a tube for 3 years with no chance of escape

Dave Mosher

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