Hong Kong studio
James Law Cybertecture has developed a prototype for low-cost, stackable micro
homes in concrete pipes, which could slot into gaps between
city buildings.
Called OPod Tube
Housing, the project sees 2.5-metre-wide concrete water
pipes transformed into 9.29-square-metre homes, with doors that can be
unlocked using smartphones.
Studio
founder James Law envisions these tubular
structures being piled up on top of one another, creating affordable starter
homes for young people in vacant city-centre locations across Hong Kong.
He told Dezeen
he thinks residents could live happily in the tubes for one to two years. He
believes they would appeal to "young people who can't afford private
housing".
"OPod Tube
Housing is an experimental, low-cost, micro-living housing unit to ease Hong
Kong's affordable housing problems," he said.
The OPod project
is currently still a concept, but the architect has built a prototype to show
how a typical home could look. Inside the curved concrete walls, the home
contains facilities for living, cooking and bathing.
A fully glazed
front panel doubles as a door and window. Additional natural light is provide
by lighting strips set under the shelves and a retractable lamp set into the
wall.
The interior
walls are whitewashed, lessening the industrial aesthetic, while a flat wooden
floor has been installed to make it easier for the occupant to move around.
A bench seat can
be folded down to also function as a bed, with the cushions doubling as a
mattress. There is also room for a mini fridge, a microwave cooker, a rail to
hang clothes from and a stand to place a suitcase on.
The rear part of
the pipe is been screened off to form a bathroom compartment with a shower and
a toilet. The circular walls are tiled with neat white hexagonal tiles, and the
floor is covered in slatted boards to provide drainage.
Hong Kong has
least affordable housing market in the world
Hong Kong is
currently facing a major housing crisis, due to a rising population, a
high demand for accommodation, skyrocketing property prices, and land limited by
the city's island geography. The 2017
Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey ranked
Hong Kong as having the least affordable housing market in the world.
Law doesn't see
his proposal as a permanent solution to the crisis, but he believes his
design could provide temporary relief for residents looking for something
affordable in the short-term.
He claims
his micro apartments cost approximately £11,000 each to manufacture, and
could be rented out for less than £300 a month. The average rent for a one-bedroom
apartment in the centre of Hong Kong is currently over £1,500.
Tube homes could
fit into narrow gaps between buildings
Because each
tube is only 2.5 metres wide, they could easily slot into narrow gaps. And Law
suggests they could be stacked up to four high without any additional supports.
"With
additional structure [they] can be unlimited, within reason," he told
Dezeen.
With each unit
weighing 20 tonnes, they can be lifted with a standard medium-sized crane onto
a long flatbed trailer, allowing them to be relocated with relative ease.
They could also
be arranged in self-contained low rise modular communities – the architect has
developed plans that show the pipes arranged in a horse-shoe formation around
access platforms and staircases.
In this way,
they are potentially more flexible than the hexagonal sleeping pods designed by creative
agency Framlab to attach to New York buildings, to house the
city's homeless population.
Architect aims
to make the project a reality:
The project is
still in the experimental stages. But Law is in negotiation with local
government, with a view to start installing and renting out OPod homes.
He is not the
first architect in the city to come up with this type of proposal – the city's
creative community has come up with various space-saving solutions to combat
the ongoing housing crisis.
Back in
2014, Hong Kong studio Affect-T suggested that bamboo micro homes could be
installed inside abandoned factory buildings.
And more
recently, local studio Design Eight Five Two used sliding partitions, moveable furniture and
concealed storage to make the most of space in a 51-square-metre apartment,
while NCDA used a treehouse style mezzanine to make extra
space in a 34-square-metre apartment.
