Design Prompt: Sustainable Micro-Housing Spaces for 2050
- 500 square feet or less (interior - single room)
- 17 feet or less in (floor/single room height)
- 1 or 2 occupants
- Spaces to Provide
- Sleeping
- Bathing
- Cooking / Eating
- Working
- Relaxing / Entertaining
- Exterior space (donāt count toward 500 SF)
- City
- Suburban/Semi-Urban
- A new place between City & Suburbia?
- Rural
- Tall Building (attached)
- Low Buildings (attached)
- Community (detached)
- Standalone
- Utilties
- On-Grid
- Off-Grid
- Transportation
- Form Options
Pointers
- What is the problem youāve defined?
- Who, What, Why, Where, and When? ā POV, MVP statements
- What is the focus of your design thinking?
- Synthesize a SINGLE, UNIFIED vision
- Where will it be located?
- What will the form be?
- What are the key features youāll be exploring?
Ideation
What will 2050 look like?
- Adaptable to extreme temperatures and weather @Ilyaan
- buildings rotates or transforms to adapt to weather. @Theo Aronson
- āMatrix pods that we plug in toā @Theo Aronson
- Townhouses
- Cabin-type @Jessica
- Buildings as carbon sinks @Theo Aronson
- Less permanent living - medium term (3-9months) @Alex
- Public transportation embedded into the building itself - negating the need for bikes and cars even @Isabelle Amaia Mak
- Subway and bus stations run directly to the building. @Ilyaan
- Car share, bike share. @Shambhavi
- Vertical farms @Alex
- Food is complete provided through the building; and via drones otherwise @Harry Hong Cheng Huang @Jessica
- Communal Growing and Farmers Markets @Theo Aronson @Ilyaan
- Dystopian: Food for necessity not experience @Ilyaan @Shambhavi
- Major shift to vegan food, plant-based diets that can be grown within the compound @Jessica
- Virtual & Augmented Reality embedded @Shambhavi
- Multi-use social spaces all included within the compound. @Jessica
- Entertainment: Dolby Atmos / IMAX 6.0 venues - one room or āvenueā capable of hosting musical, theatrical, and film production āperformancesā
Whatās the focus of your design thinking?
Izzy
- 2050 will be even more populated then now ā> vertical sprawl is more feasible than horizontal sprawl
- floating houses in sausalito
Harry
- Floating medium-density compound
- Single-file modular micro apartments
Ilyaan
Theo
- technology & smart automation
- infrastructure & energy use
- 2050 might involve more people have two residences, if you live in suburbs youāll want to have a 500sqft urban apt for your job/city life, but then commute back to your less urban main home where you can spend more time outdoors
- Creation of āmid-termā leases (vs. short term / long term). People will want to be in places for 3-6 mo and not be trapped in 1-2 year leases or alternatively be limited to hotels and AirBnB.
- In the future of micro-living creative individuals and artists wonāt have room for their own independent studios so will need to be able to join shared spaces and carry less ācreative overheadā (gear, equipment, libraries, etcā¦). How do we create a creative space for both professionals / businesses / and artists that is also pleasant to live in?
Jessica
Shambhavi
30 years from now, I see a more liberal (as compared to now. Note that most slum areas have seen crawling adoption to changing world dynamics) approach towards rebuilding current structures within backward locales with more accessible and resourceful features. These structures may not be the most modern looking, but the key focus would be on fulfilling the basic needs of habitation: protection against environmental changes, shared community, and accessibility to water and food.
Reimagining slum areas within urban locales, in a way that is resource efficient and hospitable assuming the harsh climatic conditions and their impact on the less privileged. The image below represents a vertically stacked version of the largest slum in Asia. The focus here is on communal living and a shared economy.
Alexander
ā3 buildings in 1: above ground, under the sea, in the clouds.ā
POV & MVP Statements
Point Of View Statements
Who: working professionals, students, singles, couples,
What: financially accessible design; focused on indoors
Why: rising temperatures make using the outdoors unpleasant; anticipating land scarcity; different stages of life; work/lifestyle changes; envisioning a nomadic lifestyle;
Where: major metropolitan urban environments
When: 2050
Also, due to extreme weather conditions, they need a place that is integrated with all the basic needs so that they donāt need to leave the building often.
Main POV Statement:
Minimum Viable Product Statements
- Innovative/space saving furniture
- shared cooking spaces
- access to fresh/local groceries
- shared recreational/entertainment spaces
- above ground subways (like skyrails?)
An indoor, vertically integrated co-living space connected internally to railway lines and right by bus stations. Within each space there is a bed, desk, storage, VR, AR and AI integration, couch and toilet. As an expansion to this, spaces with high ceilings for additional storage can be integrated.
A parallel set of vertical buildings with area wise access to common facilities such as bathrooms, water supply and vocational learning centers. Implementing passive climate control strategies like natural ventilation through spaces out pathways between the buildings. Each building can have multiple small home units of about 200-260 SF.
High-rise carbon-negative structure with shapeshifting (SciFi!) communal spaces that are able to cater to individuals, couples, and young professionals (<25yo) while providing a sense of work/life and indoor/outdoor balance.
- Communal movie theatre/entertainment spaces
- Multi-use furniture
- Fold-out beds from couches
- Tables for both work and dining
- Personal herb gardens and home-grown produce
- Below ground, underwater, rooftop public transportation, integrated into the building.
- Urban Vertical Farms located within the building.
Main MVP Statement: