ASIA
I am proud to say that I never stop finding myself surprised by the peculiarities of Asian culture. The main reason I am kind of obsessed with their architecture right now is that my colleague and I just finished a project for Japan and, therefore, did a lot of research on japanese architecture. Though i have to admit that my admiration for Kazuyo’s Sejima minimalism has oriented our research towards her designs. I got to say we had a lot of fun at the beginning, justifying smaller spaces because asian people are used to optimize space to its extreme. Well, it looks we were not wrong at all. I just read an article about these two tiny little “houses” designed both in China and Japan. Both equally interesting but whose approaches could not be more different.
The first one, THE TRICYCLE HOUSE, is a portable house towed with a bicycle. It is made of translucent polypropylene which can be folded for open spaces in the nice summer, o stretched to achieve a niche porch in the side opposite to the bike for example. However, the most interesting feature about this design is that the single house is conceived as a one of many, and these could be attached one to another and grow to create a community. The seventies are back!
This project wasn’t designed just for fun, which sure they enjoyed while constructing, but it’s a respons to the 2012 Get It Louder! exhibition. It shows how difficult is to have a land of you own, as, therefore, includes the TRICYCLE GARDEN.
The other project is not that crazy and is something we would all, at same point consider buying. FOLDAWAY ROOMS that, when closed, look like a rolling cabinets. Perfect for students living in expensive sities who can only afford to rent a tiny room. You want to study, well, your bed will not bother you since it has been folded and stored. Or what about this apartments where you have to choose between a kitchen or a study table. No longer a problem, just fold the kitchen away for a while.
And I get to read this article while living in USA, where everything is huge and the space is not a big issue. Paradoxic, right? The contrast could not be bigger.
Btw, what would happen if many people would start living in those tricycle houses, would the have to pay a symbolical amount for a parking lot?
—
inés
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