April 11, 2004
The Loftcube Project.
Drop City meets Gotham? Studio Aisslinger conceptualizes a system for impromptu urban rooftop communities and builds a prototype.
(via the beloved del.icio.us. I swear, one of these days I'll get an interesting link from somewhere else.)
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Argh, posted on MeFi already. I should have checked there. Not really a double post, though... one-and-a-half post, maybe?
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Having a compact yet transportable living unit, stackable as well as standable (basically plunkable?), so one could participate in an urban or a rural scene at one's whim -- oh, yes -- just wot I've been waiting for!
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Department of afterthoughts: Floatable, another must.
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Plumbing and privacy issues aside, those things are really cool.
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Argh, posted on MeFi already That doesn't matter. I hadn't seen this before, anyway.
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While it's a nice idea, I would imagine that the costs of renting roofspace and moving the Loftcube about would be prohibitive. Only the most rich could afford them (I doubt such a thing could be used as a primary home) and as there'd be so few about, few landlords would want to provide the necessary facilities.
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Once I got to the flash bit which scrolled past an animation of 3 of these on a single roof, and then again during the discussion of wind resistance, it occured to me: The dominant vision of social organization here is a trailer park, but for hipsters...
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Recently I've become fascinated with modernist design, largely because of Mocoloco.com - very surprising to me in the least, as I had always thought of myself as either the last of the die-hard Victorians (in furniture and room lay-out, not doily and knick-knack abuse) or post-modern pastiche (decorating only - keep that theory away). Yet the dramatic lines of modernism is getting more appealing, largely for their freshness. But I have to look at something like that and think: "Hmm....an entire apartment of about 400 square feet, with not much division between the rooms, and no aparent storage, let alone lots of the useful cupboards, shelves and closets that are essential to making a small spaces work well" .... yup, if I lived there, it would quickly cease to look beautiful and fresh, and start looking lived in, aka a tip. Modernist design can be beautiful, but living space design has to think about the needs of people - and we have tons of books and clothes and junk that need to be either displayed well or hidden. Not to mention cleaning supplies, the six million cans of baked beans that were on sale, computer equiptment (where's the desk?) and trailing cords from odd devices. I have all these things (well, only 2 cans of beans) and I'm not even a settled person - I live in a student residence. I think one person could live comfortably in 400 square feet, but you need to think about what they need to store and do in that space, and think towards making it functional as well as beautiful. There are no kitchen counters - Everyone needs counters! If only to put your Kraft dinner box on when waiting for the water to boil. Also did not see a toilet - perhaps another smaller cube for the loft? Only with opaque walls hopefully.
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They need a hipster outhouse in their hipster trailer park. That is one deeply annoying site, from the pointless tape loops to the whack-a-mole interface and use of high-saturation green for emphasis. They must have interned at Space Hijackers Ltd.