Andrea Zittel.
It’s time to continue our little category “precious dwellings”, this time more related to the art department: The first time i came across Andrea Zittel was at the Documenta X in Kassel (again..) 10 years ago. I think her work fits perfectly into the precious dwellings category of this blog. Andrea Zittel mainly deals with the subjects customisation, flexible everyday living and mass production. Her objects are somehow hard to define: they are not stylish enough and too rough to regard them as design objects and they are also too much functional, pragmatic and useful to meet somehow the classical idea of art. She says: “I thought about becoming a designer but designers are responsible for making products that best serve the greatest number of people, and i don’t think that’s so liberating.” That’s true, of course! Being a designer myself i know that this can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. When it comes to selling a product “the elitist and idealistic designer” sometimes is forced to give in on his higher aims in order to meet the common mainstream standard, no matter what.. the daily inner conflict in a sensible designer’s life that is turning us into alcohol and drug addicts sooner or later! :-)
Anyway, Miss Zittel’s most interesting works for our category are the so-called A-Z Escape Vehicles (1997) and the A-Z Wagon Stations (2003), that she creates and sells based on the personal taste and getaway phantasies of the buyer and that are functioning as little mobile retreats/refuges. Whenever you want to escape enter the object and close the hatch. It is just the opposite of what people normally do to get away from it all: travel to exotic far away places. Retreat to your innermost!
precious dwelling: Jean Prouvé’s Tropical House
I just learnd that one of my favourite architects and designers Jean Prouvé (1901 - 1984) was one of the first who experimented with prefab houses and actually constructed one called The Tropical House in 1949. Perfect for me to write another post about precious dwellings – in the truest sense of the word: one house of only three ever built was just sold for 5 million dollars to hotelier André Balazs who plans to install the little mansion at a new resort hotel he’s developing somewhere in the caribian.. damn.. i think this building belongs in a museum. At least it will return to the tropics! But anyway, this is what the UCLA Hammer Museum (see also for more pictures), who was exhibiting another one of the three houses, writes about the prefab house:
Prouvé designed the Tropical House in 1949 as a prototype for inexpensive, readily assembled housing that could be easily transported to France’s African colonies. Fabricated in Prouvé’s French workshops, the components for the house were completed in 1951 and were flown disassembled to Africa in the cargo hold of an airplane. The house was erected in the town of Brazzaville, Congo, where it remained for nearly 50 years. In 1999, the Tropical House was disassembled and shipped back to France for restoration.
Folding house
iPad
I own three iPods (one is broken, one is very old though). Anyway, that is definitely not enough iLifestyle. Since my plans are to move to Dubai soon, I decided to buy an apartment in the iPad. Come join me!
precious dwelling: SU-SI
Costs: $ 1.750 per m2 floor space (~70.000 EUR for 40 m2 house)
Designed by: Oskar Leo Kaufmann (Austria)
The design is a transportable mobile home packaged in appealing architecture. Craftmanship corresponds to current guidelines of building physics and energy allowances and guarantees low operating costs. The units are transported by truck and erected on site via crane truck. The mobile home is installed within five hours and is ready for operation.
SU-SI won already several awards ( IF Design Award 2000 Best of category, Vorarlberger Holzbaupreis 1999 Hauptpreis) and is produced by Kaufmann Zimmerei und Tischlerei.
For topic-introduction and other mobile/modular prefab houses please visit our precious dwelling category.
precious dwelling: City Sickness.
10 years ago i could have never imagined myself returning to the countryside –that’s where i grew up– but the older i get the sicker i become about living in the city. It’s not that i wanna give up living in the city forever, but i am actually considering the idea of owning a little retreat on the countryside where i can turn to whenever i feel like. There are so many beautiful paradise places near berlin with lots of lakes and forests and the chances are supposed to be good to find a place like this for your own. That’s why i lately did some research for small affordable but stylish prefab houses that could be used as retreats and that are preferably modular and maybe even mobile. (Think of moving your house every once in a while to another lakeshore or forest whenever you get bored with the landscape or annoyed with your neighbors!) I always thought that the market of prefab houses fail to meet the desires of people like me who appreciate a modernist design aesthetic and if then it’s beyond financial reach. Surprisingly my research proofed that there are actually quite a few architects experimenting in this field though most of the projects are still ‚in development’ and not available for purchase yet, but some of them even are.
UPDATE: I am planning to post more of these dwelling concepts (new category: precious dwelling) every once in a while since i believe that innovative mobile and modular living-concepts are becoming more and more popular in our society of flexibility-demanding, independent and hard-working individuals.
1. The micro compact home [m-ch]
Costs: 25.000 –34.000 EUR (excludes delivery, includes all interiors),
Designed by: A group of researchers and designers based in London and Munich.
The [m-ch] is supposed to be an answer to an increasing demand for short stay living for students, business people and for weekeneders, inspired by japanese living-conditions and by ‚less is more’.
More information..
2. Pinc House, SPORT
Costs: 55.000 - 390.000 EUR (depends on size)
Designed by: Swedish design agency Pinc (Maria Rutensköld, Johan Lionell and Jan Rutensköld).
Pinc have 5 different prefab houses (SPORT, BLACK BARN, PACIFIC, DELIGHT66, XTR). I like the SPORT house a lot with its warm wooden skin and interiors and the more classic weekend cottage approach.
More Information..
3. The weeHouse
Costs: starts at 45.000 $ (depends on size)
Designed by: Alchemy Architects
The robust weeHouse is a modular house concept. The modules can be combined and customized to your own needs (add and change modules as you like).
More information..
4. miniHOME SOLO
Costs: base price 107.000 $
Designed by: Andy R. Thomson and Daniel Hall
The glamour version of trailer park trash! The miniHome ‘SOLO” is classified as a ‘Travel Trailer’ in Canada and does not require a police escort for transit roadways. Intended as a completely autarkic ecological trailer with a 50-year life expectancy, the miniHome offers the possibility of year-round, affordable living on almost any site.
More information..
5. NhEW PAD
Costs: ?
Designed by: Tanja Jordan (COPENHAGENOFFICE), Linda Taalman and and Alan Koch (TK-architects)
This one might be the future of camping culture: „NhEW (NorthousEastWest) is a project dealing with architectural space tailored as an item of clothing - the space encountered between the kayak and the Internet, NhEW is a nomadic dwelling prototype combining economy and comfort. A unit adapted to the needs of the individual, made of lightweight materials for easy transportation, assembly and disassembly. Offering a wide range of possible materials, for different looks, climates and functions, the user specifies the individual needs and desires the structure is to satisfy.“
More information..
6. Small House / Option
Costs: 87.000 EUR (for one module, including some kitchen and sanitation fixtures)
Designed by: Bauart Architekten, Architectureforsale
Minimal swiss container-like house with large windows that is adaptable to different needs (from independent house for one person to growing family home). The main objects for this project were versatility, ease of transport and simple assembly.
More information..
7. m-house
Costs: 95.000 £ (2 bedroom fully fitted-out as shown on web-site)
Designed by: Tim Pyne
This lightweight house can be delivered anywhere in the world, packed into two standard shipping containers! It also meets the UK definition of a caravan or trailer. The exterior skin can be varied to suit your taste or the nature of the site (aluminium, cedar strips or shingles, different paintings or printed aluminium).
More information..
So which one is your personal favourite? :-)