It's hard to imagine Pirmin's life without yurts. The 37-year-old professional climber has been living in these round tents since 2014. Previously at changing locations, since about a year at a fixed location.

In the summer of 2021, he and his family bought a house near Franconian Switzerland. One of the deciding factors for the purchase was the garden: yurts in a wide variety of designs have found their place on the 2,000-square-meter site. Four residential yurts are already standing, two more are currently being built, and one yurt is being used as a greenhouse. A total of 15 people currently live on the site. A colorful community that is trying out a way of life that is close to nature, with the attempt to reduce its own CO2 emissions and to live more closely together.

Pirmin got the idea of living in a yurt from his father-in-law. When his house was being renovated and someone needed to keep an eye on the work on site, Pirmin and his family moved in. A quickly erectable and inexpensive dwelling was needed, and his father-in-law suggested a yurt. The first night in the yurt turned out to be an aha experience for Pirmin. The round room, the light coming in through the dome, the warmth of the wool - all these components created a feel-good atmosphere that Pirmin has not wanted to miss ever since.

Pirmin also shares this enthusiasm for yurt life with his friends Dirk and Jennya. The couple is part of the yurt community and currently occupies the largest yurt on the property. Equipped with a cooking island, it has a diameter of 6 meters and a size of 28 m². It is heated with a stove and cooked with gas. Water connections are distributed in the garden. There is also an outdoor bathroom with a sink and a dry toilet. For bathing Pirmin goes into the nearby Pegnitz, which flows directly at the foot of the yurt garden. For laundry, there is a washing machine in the house on the property. The community basically doesn't have to do without anything, but is more conscious of the resources it has.

The property, which previously resembled an impenetrable hazel bush jungle, was transformed over weeks by the community. The yurts are all self-built and "more contemporary interpretations" of the original yurts from the Central Asian region. Most notably, this means the yurts have wooden floors and acrylic domes. With his roommates and friends, Pirmin has set up a workshop on the property. There, yurts of different sizes are manufactured and sold. For a yurt with a diameter of 5 meters, floor and wreath, the cost is about 10,000 euros.

A film by Cécilia Marchat (director, sound), Feline Gerhardt (camera) and Oleg Kauz (camera, editing). Production: EIKON Media GmbH, on behalf of SWR.

00:00 Living in the yurt garden
01:34 Jennyas yurt
04:52 Washing area & toilet
06:13 Pirmin's yurt
09:48 Outdoor area
10:56 Common areas & outdoor kitchen

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