2011年9月30日星期五

Could you live in a 280 sq/ft house?

It's a bit risqué, agreeing to a sleepover on a second date. But after I was introduced to the charming subcompact home known as L41 and invited to return and spend the night, I didn't hesitate to pack a suitcase.

Truth is, they had me at the rendering. It's something you'd expect to find in Dwell, Domus or Wallpaper magazines. The fact that I'd be the first person to catch some winks in a module dwelling that addresses the need for modern, affordable housing sealed the arrangement.

The L41 home – a play on "all for one" – is the brainchild of Vancouver architect Michael Katz and designer/artist Janet Corne, partners in life, as well as design. It's their first prototype dwelling together: a tiny, modern cube dressed in white, stainless, zinc, glass and charcoal grey.

"The parameters evolved around asking the question: How small can we design a house and make it delightful?" says Katz. "There's a big difference between that and how small can you make a house."

We like to think of this as the Smart car of housing, he adds. "Small is beautiful," finishes Corne.

At first glance, it's so compact you can imagine it as a laneway house or stacked in multiples à la Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 project (a real possibility, by the way).

And so, purely on looks alone, I want one. But they're not kidding: this abode is ultra micro — only 220 square feet (which, at first, I think is a typo). Could something that small really be habitable, let alone delightful, as the designers devised it to be? Beyond the allure of a minimalist footprint, there would have to be some serious design intelligence.

Katz, who has an extensive background in architecture, urban planning, compact and subsidized housing with Corne, a fine artist and designer, explain the L41's inventory of innovations. They hope to share these on a global and egalitarian scale, making home ownership available to anyone,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. anywhere.

Key features include an integrated building mechanical system,The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations, "the beating heart" with solar thermal capillary heating and cooling, and sustainable construction techniques, including non-toxic materials, LED lighting, zinc exterior cladding, a green roof, super-efficient windows and cross-ventilation.

As importantly,the worldwide rubber hose market is over $56 billion annually. the L41 is intended to be mass produced, with the price declining as production goes up,I have never solved a Rubik's Piles . making this a viable alternative to traditional-sized and conventionally constructed dwellings.

Building framing also pushes the envelope, constructed of cross-laminated timber (CLT) fabricated with beetle-killed wood. The strength of CLT provides a means for wood to be used in mid-rise buildings (or stacked L41s, as the case may be) which Katz and Corne feel presents a viable and responsible alternative to emissions-producing concrete. At this time, they are exploring the feasibility of a 12-storey L41 modular building.

Inside, the L41 layout is deceptively simple.For the last five years Air purifier , The interiors are actually nuanced, layered and elegant, with kitchen as epicentre. The couple decided to built this singular unit for the 2010 Olympics to prove how small they could make it. But it's designed for expansion to one- or two-bedroom, module by module.

"When we told people we were going to design a 220-square-foot studio unit, they said that's impossible," said Katz. "They said that's the size of a parking space, a jail cell."


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