Cubic house project at the Result exhibitionof a cube house project could argue with Mick Jagger. As the singer once noted, you can’t always get what you want. In real estate in particular, you have to make do with what developers offer when it comes to bathrooms and kitchens, as well as those parts of the house where there are plumbing pipes. For convenience and efficiency, they are usually installed in the corners of the neighborhood. But these spaces are very personal, and people prefer when they are more isolated. Since the late 90s, the Toronto-based design company Urban Capital has been looking for ways to divide these zones to give buyers more freedom. An original solution can be considered a layout of the space built around a cubic structure with a transformer function. The pilot development was implemented in collaboration with TreeHugger founder Graham Hill.
Drawing of the project of a cube house NowThe next step has been taken. Urban Capital and designer Luca Nichetto have created Cubitat. It is a 10x10x10 foot cube (approximately 3x3x3 meters), it contains everything you need for life - a bathroom, kitchen and laundry room, storage cabinets and a pull-out double bed that does not take up space when in a drawer. It is everything you need in an apartment, perhaps excluding only a yoga mat. There is a convenient kitchen with a refrigerator, freezer and a dishwasher half the height of the built-in panel. Plus, there is plenty of storage space for all sorts of utensils.
Kitchen area The bathroom contains a shower stall behind a frosted glass wall and a laundry cabinet, which is not too noticeable in the photo.
Great and small bathroom, quitecomfortable Sliding bed, designed in such a way that you can calmly watch TV in bed. The idea of a pull-out bed looks more convenient than the concept of a Murphy bed. You do not have to fix the mattress to remove the bed when unexpected guests ring the doorbell. This model can be simply closed with one click.
The bed slides in with one movement
There is plenty of storage space in the back panel.It's really great. A traditional building takes a long time to build. Plumbing and electrical wiring are installed at different stages. The Cubitat separates the living area from the outside walls, offering everything to be plugged in and used. It creates a tight prefabricated house in a box and can be placed anywhere: a new home, an old factory, a loft or a school. There are some serious problems that still need to be solved. The biggest is that the cube won't fit through a door. This really limits its application. Bucky Fuller, when designing his prefabricated bathrooms in the forties, cut them up into pieces to be reassembled inside. Perhaps that would apply here too.
The most remarkable thing is how the services are separateddirectly from the space. Professor Peter Prangnell from the University of Toronto named three main components of architecture: support, fill and action. This can be interpreted as the basic structure of the building, which acts as a supporting material, what we put into its fill, and how we use it - the action. The support is designed by architects and builders. The concept of Fill is like a choice, which is the future. The more the volume is filled instead of remaining only a support, the wider the possibilities for consumers. And the better the concept is designed, the more space there will be for action. So Urban Capital and Nichetto Studios have made an extensive step towards this. And you, would you not refuse such a house?
The project of the cubic house against Mick Jagger
