SHANGHAI – MAX TRANSFORMER

 

 

Project name: ELAB 未来人居原型空间产品研发设计任务书
ELAB Future Living Prototype Space

Status: Delivered patent, design development

Program: Flexible housing units for urban dwellers in China

Total area: Type A – 97 sqm + 50 terrace; Type B – 77 sqm + 14 sqm terrace

Budget: confidential

Client: Shanghai Ding Zhuo Network Technology Co., Ltd – 上海定卓网络科技有限公司

Location: Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing. China

Design: 2017/2018

Team: NAUTA architecture & research: Valentina Cella, Anastasia Celli, Maurizio Scarciglia, Francesca Vanelli, Tianyi Xue, Nur Zayat

The Max Transformer

Cities are becoming very big. Thy are so enormous that living in a metropolis means today living in a constellation of cities, where we might live in one and work in another, basing our lifestyle on traditional commuting patterns.

Cities are a good invention, many say. They bring together smart minds, they boost the economic power of a region, they generate opportunities. Cities cluster immense numbers of people in one single spot, emptying the countryside from its human power and micro economy. Nevertheless, everybody is attracted to the city and all trends predict massive growth in urban population, with an exponent need for sustainable housing, for new complex and extended family patterns.

Nowadays spend the biggest chuck of our existence in between production and consumption activities. We wake up in the morning and move to our office where we spend almost the whole day, till the time we grab some grocery and go back home to spend the few  left hours of the day with our beloved ones. This lifestyle has generated a vast opinion on the need to reduce our housing to minimum space, where we can satisfy the essential needs of privacy and rest, while externalizing all social activities outside, in a square, a bar, a restaurant, a club. Cities like Tokyo or Hong Kong are the perfect example of this lifestyle. Because of the insane costs for housing, here people can live into units as small as 15sqm, spending most of their time outside and reducing their belongings to the very essential.

These housing models offer very little space to kitchen and living, making sure that the inhabitants have the truly essential base for living: a shelter to rest and sleep. When looking at the latest trends though, we discover a multitude of lifestyles blossoming in our society. The evolution of the employment market, the switch from traditional long term employment to a more dynamic work environment, according to which youngsters are very encouraged to embrace entrepreneurial activities or multiple employment, consultancy and freelancing, are all factors that will deeply transform how we live.

It is not new the possibility to combine living and working in the same place, extending the brief of the architect when designing a house. Remote working and easy web communication make even more sustainable working at home, since people can drastically cut commuting time and maximize their time working and living in one place. This model brings as well the benefit of reinforcing so far threatened familiar relationships; it improves the quality of life of people otherwise forced to spend hours in public transport every day, while cutting the number of cars moving in our cities, thus reducing pollution.

So what will the future of urban dwelling look like? Will it shrink to minimum size living, or will it host all necessary spaces that a human being needs during the day? Will it externalize social activities or embed work and entertainment in one single place? Perhaps the answer to this doubt will translate in a system capable to absorb different wishes and therefore the housing market will gradually offer the flexibility to customize every dwelling according to the specific needs of its inhabitants.

From hyper fragmented dwellings we move to loft models, where the wishes of the buyer can potentially customize the same units into very different solutions. How to accommodate this flexibility, how to make it technologically smart, economically sustainable, are design tasks for the coming future. One more issue to consider is the multi-functionality of the residential clusters, in order to offer all necessary amenities to the local inhabitants. These functions space from office spaces to retail and entertainment facilities, such as shops, restaurants, gym, spa, as well as cultural venues, transforming the new real estate developments into complex leasable machines. The multi-functional developments can benefit from the flexible program, in order to absorb possible shifts of market and therefore become buffers for the developers’ investments. The mix of functions cuts as well on distances, favouring the sustainable mobility in the city. In this perspective, mixed use developments, combined with housing, are to be incentivized.

We could summarize the key arguments driving the future urban dwelling as being:

– exponential growth of urban population, which will increase the need of housing stock

– the transformation of familiar patterns, with a growing number of families composed by one or two persons.

– Climate change and the impact of fossil fuel will affect tremendously new lifestyles, drove by the urgency for new sustainable forms of transportation and mobility.

– The virtual world will blur the strict separation between working and living spaces, improving remote working.

– Dynamic lifestyles will transform the concept of property, favouring the concepts of ‘sharing’ and ‘temporary’. Emblematic is the case of Airbnb, Uber, Couch Surfing, apps that support the modern nomadic lifestyle.

– Housing prices in the city centres are growing exponentially worldwide. This will either bring to the exclusivity of city centres, accessible only to high social classes, or to the shrink of housing size.

In light of this, the new housing will bring to compact developments of micro apartments, developed within multifunctional clusters, micro cities within the metropolitan magma.

Suspended floor

This project is an exploration on flexibility, based of the internal height of the apartment. The requested prototype should have an internal height of  3.0 m. This makes us think that, beside working on traditional sliding walls, we could take advantage of extra space located under an added floating floor.

We provide the dwelling with a suspended, partially movable floor, that in its normal position is lifted 60 cm from the actual structural floor, reducing the standard internal height to 2.40m . When the portions of movable floor are lowered, the dwelling presents internal pits, reaching 3.0 m height. The hollow space below the suspended floor accommodates beds, couches, chairs, provided with wheels for their easy manual sliding.

This system offers the the maximal flexibility when the floor is lifted and all furniture are stored underground. We propose three pits that can be used as 3 bedrooms or 2 bedrooms and one living room. In order to divide the spaces into private rooms, we engineered a system of sliding/rotating closets that can parcel the spaces, while lodging closets, TV, as well as the necessary sound proof partitions between rooms.

To materialize the prototype the market offers sophisticated hydraulic movable systems, as well as simple pulling-ropes systems, adapting to the different budgets from the investors purchasing the patent. Combined with a completely foldable glass façade, the plan allows the maximal flexibility of the apartment, offering an internal open space of approximately 80 sqm. This can additionally be summed to the terrace, reaching a total open space of approximately 130 sqm. Our goal is to offer the possibility to have simultaneously the maximal open space, as well as a normal 3 rooms apartment with kitchen and two bathrooms. Kitchen and bathrooms are packed on one side of the apartment, providing space for all movable furniture in a unique efficient block. The open corner of the flat offers a perfect location for a panoramic Jacuzzi bathtub that in the summer can offer an open air spa experience.

 

居住在大城市

由于当今城市变得越来越大,人们居住在建筑群组中,但工作却在不同的区域中,因此我们的生活方式基于传统的出行模式。

有些人认为城市是一个好的发明。它是可以集合不同的思想,增长当地区域的经济力量和创造多种多样的机会

大量的人口聚集在城市一个建筑群组中生活工作发展经济,使农村变得更空旷。

然而,大部分人还是被大城市所吸引,导致城市大量人口的增加也对新型住在,综合体还有家庭结构的增长有不同的需要。

如果我们去观察在大城市中人们的生活方式,当今我们在生产和消费中所花费的是最多的。每天早晨去公司上班,花几乎整天的时间在办公室,下班后去超市买点市场所需,花费很少的时间与我们的家人在一起。这样的生活方式产生了一个广泛的选择是在满足基本室内空间需求和休息隐秘的情况下,将我们的居住面积竟可能的减小。提高室外的社交活动如:广场 酒吧 餐厅,夜店等

这种室外社交导致了我们居住的空间变得小而优,提供小的厨房空间和生活空间确保住户拥有基本的住宅空间所需:睡眠与休息。

当查看最新的住宅趋势,我们发现多重的生活方式在我们社会中展开。就业市场的发展,从传统的长期就业的工作环境,变为非常鼓励拥有或多个就业创业机会,咨询公司和自由职业者,所有的这些因素都在潜移默化的改变着我们的生活方式。

将工作与居住在同一个空间已经不是一个不可能的现象。远程遥控工作和简单的远程信息处理沟通使在家工作更具有可持续性,因为人们可以大大降低在大城市中上下班交通时间,居住和工作在一个空间还可以最大化地提高工作时间。

我们未来居住会是什么样的呢?它会变成最小化的居住空间,或将人们日常所有必要的空间结合在一起?会是将工作与娱乐结合在一个空间吗?

也许这个疑问的答案是将会转化为一个系统能实现不同的愿望,因此房地产市场将逐步提供必要的灵活性,根据不同居民的具体需求定制每一个住宅单元。

从高层传统居住模式变为loft居住模式,购买者可以在同样的空间来自己制定截然不同的需求方案。如何迎合这种灵活性,使它在技术上智能,经济可持续发展,是未来设计任务的未来

居住在都市

由于当今城市变得越来越大,人们居住在建筑群组中,但工作却在不同的区域中,因此我们的生活方式基于传统的出行模式。有些人认为城市是一个好的发明。它是可以集合不同的思想,增长当地区域的经济力量和创造多种多样的机会。大量的人口聚集在城市一个建筑群组中生活工作发展经济,使农村变得更空旷。然而,大部分人还是被大城市所吸引,导致城市大量人口的增加也对新型住宅,综合体还有家庭结构的增长有不同的需要。

如果我们去观察在大城市中人们的生活方式,当今我们在生产和消费中所花费的是最多的。每天早晨去公司上班,花几乎整天的时间在办公室,下班后去超市买日常所需,花费很少的时间与我们的家人在一起。这样的生活方式产生了一个新的的选择是:在满足基本室内空间需求和休息隐秘的情况下,将我们的居住面积竟可能的减小。提高室外的社交活动如:广场 酒吧 餐厅,夜店等。

这种室外社交导致了我们居住的空间变得小而优,提供小的厨房空间和生活空间确保住户拥有基本的住宅空间所需:睡眠与休息。

当查看最新的住宅趋势,我们发现多重的生活方式在我们社会中展开。就业市场的发展,从传统的长期就业的工作环境,变为非常鼓励拥有或多个就业创业机会,咨询公司和自由职业者。所有的这些因素都在潜移默化的改变着我们的生活方式。

将工作与居住在同一个空间已经不是一个不可能的现象。远程遥控工作和简单的远程信息处理沟通使在家工作更具有可持续性,人们可以大大降低在大城市中上下班交通时间。居住和工作在一个空间还可以最大化地提高工作时间。

我们未来居住会是什么样的呢?它会变成最小化的居住空间,或将人们日常所有必要的空间结合在一起?还是会将工作与娱乐结合在一个空间?

也许这个疑问的答案是将会转化为一个系统能实现不同的愿望,因此房地产市场将逐步提供必要的灵活性,根据不同居民的具体需求定制每一个住宅单元。

从高层传统居住模式变为loft居住模式,购买者可以在同样的空间来自己制定截然不同的需求方案。如何迎合这种灵活性,使它在技术上智能,经济可持续发展,是未来设计任务。

另一个需要考虑的问题是住宅集群的多功能性,为了居民生活提供所有必要的设施。这些功能空间混合在办公空间零售和娱乐设施,如商店、餐厅、健身房、水疗中心,以及文化场所。促使新的房地产开发,复杂的管理和租赁,需要多方投资者参与。它实际上是表明,发展多功能性可以从灵活的组织中受益,为了适应市场的变化,因此开发商不会面临单一投资的风险。混合功能不但减小交通距离,而且利于人的可持续循环,从而减少交通污染和不可持续发展性。

对于未来住宅发展方向的要点:

  • 城市人口的增长将增加住房所需
  • 家庭模式的变化,一人或丁克的家庭数量增长
  • 气候变化和燃料大量使用影响新生活方式,需要走向新的可持续发展的交通方式和流动性。
  • 网络 世界也会影响生活方式,工作和生活空间没有明显界限和提高了家中工作方式
  • 动态的生活方式将改变购买住房的概念,支持共享和临时的概念。具有代表性的应用程序都支持现代流动的新生活方式
  • 城市中心的房价的增长使城市中心具有排他性,非常高的社会阶层的人,或选择住房小尺寸来满足城市中心居住的可能。

在这些方面的影响下,新住房趋势会是发展的微型公寓,在复杂的多功能建筑集群中开发,能够满足日益增长的服务,体育和文化设施。

另一个需要考虑的问题是住宅集群的多功能性,为了居民生活提供所有必要的设施。这些功能空间混合在办公空间零售和娱乐设施,如商店、餐厅、健身房、水疗中心,以及文化场所。促使这种新的房地产开发,复杂的管理和租赁,需要多方投资者参与。它实际上是表明,发展多功能性可以从灵活的组织中受益,为了适应市场的变化,因此开发商不会面临单一投资的风险。混合功能不但减小交通距离,而且利于人的可持续循环,从而减少交通污染和不可持续发展性。

对于未来住宅发展方向的要点:

  • 城市人口的增长将增加住房所需
  • 家庭模式的变化,一人或丁克的家庭数量增长
  • 气候变化和燃料大量使用影响新生活方式,需要走向新的可持续发展的交通方式和流动性。
  • 网络世界也会影响生活方式,工作和生活空间没有明显界限,家中工作方式将提高。
  • 动态的生活方式将改变购买住房的概念,支持共享和临时性。具有代表性的Airbnb, Couch surfing,应用程序都支持现代流动的新生活方式
  • 城市中心的房价的增长使城市中心具有排他性,高的社会阶层的人,或选择住房小尺寸来满足城市中心居住的可能。

在这些方面的影响下,新住房趋势会是发展的微型公寓,在复杂的多功能建筑集群中开发,能够满足日益增长的服务,体育和文化设施。