German brother and sister team turn dead wood into tiny homes

Siblings Lisa (left) and Timo in front of a sample of their 'Organic Tiny House'. Photos: Henning Kaiser/dpa

Bare, bleak areas wherever you look. Where everything was green just a few years ago, drought and bark beetles have destroyed large areas of forest.In Germany's Sauerland region east of Dusseldorf, "70% of our trees were spruce and we lost them completely within two years", explains Timo Gelzhauser.

Together with the University of Dortmund and funded by the state of North Rhine Westphalia, they recently developed a prototype. With good timing: just as in many other countries, the tiny houses are currently attracting growing interest in Germany.