MINI Living - Breathe
In April 2017, an installation called Breathe was unveiled in the MINI Living space at Milan’s Design Week. Built by the New York firm SO-IL, the prototype house is described as ‘resource-conscious’, offering a sustainable solution to shared, compact city living.
Positioned in a narrow courtyard site, the designers had to build the house as stacked up living spaces, creating a slim, three-storey modular structure, with a white mesh PVC exterior that is designed to filter and neutralise polluted city air. The roof contains a garden filled with plants to further improve air quality and the urban microclimate.
The structure can accommodate three people and includes up to six room possibilities. The four levels of the house are connected via a spiral staircase, while light-permeable textile walls separate the different spaces.
The house is capable of being dismantled and re-assembled in other locations, and the exterior skin can be replaced with one that performs appropriately to different climates.
SO-IL co-director Ilias Papageorgiou said: "MINI Living – Breathe brings its residents into direct contact with their environment. By making living an active experience, the installation encourages visitors to confront our tendency to take resources for granted.”
Oke Hauser, creative lead of MINI LIVING, said: "We view the installation as an active ecosystem, which makes a positive contribution to the lives and experiences of the people who live there and to the urban microclimate, depicted here by the intelligent use of resources essential to life – i.e. air, water and light.”
Content and images courtesy of SO-IL.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
What is nuisance, and how can construction sites avoid causing it?
Brokenshire launches an implementation plan for the recommendations made by Dame Judith Hackitt.
BSRIA publication provides guidance about the capture and analysis of big data.
Gove launches a waste and resources strategy for England.
Only 9% of construction workers are 24 or younger.
Blighting local areas, preventing investment and and encouraging anti-social behaviour.
Sharing knowledge about the conservation of the built and historic environment.
CIOB launches a call to improve quality in the built environment.
Vastint gets permission for a 6.6 hectare site to support the expansion of Leeds’ city core.
One of the Isle of Man’s best 1960s buildings.
Using renewable energy in developing countries - QSAND and Loughborough University Research collaboration.