The humble caravan is often thought of as the perfect compact home: seats that transform into beds; tiny toilets; and storage space where none should rightly exist. But for architect Richard Horden, who specialises in small spaces - or "micro architecture" - inspiration is somewhat loftier: business air travel.
"Airlines do compact spaces very well - everything is carefully designed and scaled," says Horden. "It's about calmness, indirect lighting and neutral colours." More importantly, he says, aircraft interiors have raised the bar in terms of the aesthetics of small living environments. In other words, his inspiration is more a Swiss airline's simplicity than brown patterned seats and Formica.
Horden has designed a village of seven tiny, prefabricated homes, called "m-ch" (micro-compact home), for students at the University of Munich. It sits on the edge of the leafy campus by the city's Englischer Garten. Look past the garish O2 branding (the company stumped up 85% of the production costs) and the village, with its raised walkways and bucolic setting, is attractive. At night, each unit, lit from beneath, appears to float.
The homes are now heading to the UK - the Irwell Valley Housing Association is building six in Manchester to provide temporary accommodation for key workers, and a private client in London has made a planning application to build one on their land. And one is about to go on show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as part of an exhibition on contemporary living.
Each m-ch is just 2.6m sq - the size of an average living room - but has two pull-down beds, toilet (with pull-across screen), shower, table with seating for four, bookshelves and a kitchen area with sink, two-ring cooking hob, microwave, fridge, freezer and cupboards. Even more impressively, thanks to light flooding in by day and elegant spotlighting at night, it doesn't feel claustrophobic.
"You actually feel less lonely [living in an m-ch] than you would in a large apartment alone," says Horden, who lives in his own compact home among the students two nights a week while he lectures at the Technical University. "There's no pressure to fill the space; you can personalise it with just a postcard."
Inside, design is everything: clean, contemporary and barely a soft furnishing in sight. There is no overhead lighting - recessed LED spotlights illuminate surfaces and cupboard interiors, and small, portable "Zed" folding task lights provide indirect light where needed. The idea is to wash surfaces with light to make them appear wider, and to illuminate different "zones" - bed, kitchen, loo - to make them feel like individual rooms.
Surfaces are easy to clean, warm to the touch and mid-grey in colour. "Bright colours detract from the nature outside and are too easily seen by onlookers," Horden says. Each home has long horizontal lines - shelving, cupboards, levered windows - designed to trick the eye into thinking there is more room than there actually is. A large wall-length mirror adds to this effect. The kitchen fittings are high-spec Swiss from Arwa, and there is an iPod dock, wall-mounted TV, wireless internet and air conditioning. The main bed flips up on to the wall by day; another appears by folding down the table. You shower by hosing yourself down next to the toilet.
The homes are energy efficient, too. "Our aim is to be carbon neutral, using solar panels," says Horden, a partner at UK practice Horden Cherry Lee architects. "With all the fixed lights on, you are using the same energy as a single 80w bulb."
But what are they like to live in? Matthias Franz, an architecture student, lived in student halls until he moved into his m-ch in April. "It's better quality living," he says. "I have my own kitchen, I can hear the birds singing, and I can sit out. It's sociable - I have barbecues with my neighbours." And rent is €150 a month - half what he paid before.
Is there anything he misses? "Some proper hanging space, and a shoe rack - my trainers sit under the toilet. But I had 22 people round for a party once." Franz cooks "noodles, salads, nothing complicated" in the evening. Such compact living isn't for everyone, he says. "You have to be neat, tidy, pretty organised - and open to new experiences." But the homes have proved popular: erected in November 2005, they were expected to be inhabited for one or two semesters at a time. But one student has lived in hers for two and a half years.
If funding allows, Horden wants to see his homes put to widespread use. They could, he says, house media at sporting events; provide short-stay business accommodation in city centres; and house relatives of hospital patients. They would make ideal ski chalets, or short-term starter homes, he says. Each unit costs around £26,000.
He has designed variations on the standard m-ch, too - a family compact home and a vertical "tree" of units for building upwards when land is in short supply. All he needs are some forward-thinking clients.
Story link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/12/homes7
Image link:
http://www.microcompacthome.com/
