Tag Archives: mobile lifestyle

This portable Japanese store uses an easy-to-use DIY design to easily create minimal stores

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As someone who has worked in retail occasionally, I sometimes think about stuff that would make our staff’s life easier. There are times when we have to join various events and trade fairs but our products are not that easy to transport and set up. Sometimes all we have is a table and a small shelf so the display doesn’t look that great. It would be nice to have a mobile shop that we could bring with us whenever we need to have a mini bookstore with us. This mobile store by a Japanese design studio is something that we could have used.

Designer: COC

SHOPKIT is a sort-of DIY furniture set that you can bring along with you as a mobile store or display booth. It is pretty easy to assemble and disassemble and is also pretty portable so you can bring it with you whenever you need something to display and sell your wares. The design is pretty minimalist and uses various materials like wood, steel, and polycarbonate so it will fit right in with wherever you’re setting up shop, whether it’s a park, an exhibition venue, at the mall, or any other urban spaces.

There are two types of SHOPKIT currently available. The single door type is made up of one box and is the easier one to assemble of course. If you want something bigger, there’s a double door type that is made up of two boxes that has work counters held in place with magnets and has a translucent facade so you can get a little bit of lighting as well. The module also has a place where you can hang a split shop curtain to protect you from the sun if you’re outdoors. It’s also something reminiscent of traditional Japanese shops so it fits with the aesthetic.

Originally, these units were just temporary structures as a building was being renovated. But they have now been repurposed as a piece of mobile architecture that is movable, portable, and easy to assemble and store. The model can be used by businesses and entrepreneurs that are in need of mobile shops and like the minimalist, Japanese design. It would be pretty useful for my past retail self who had to lug around tables, shelves, and books.

The post This portable Japanese store uses an easy-to-use DIY design to easily create minimal stores first appeared on Yanko Design.

Stackable prefabricated modules are here to create futuristic LEGO-inspired buildings

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PolyBloc is a prefabricated, modular housing solution designed to confront the demands of rapid urbanization and globalized lifestyles.

As the ways we work and live evolve, so do the ways we confront architecture. In direct response to rapid urbanization and the fall of the nuclear family, city architecture, in particular, is seeing major changes. In collaboration with pioneering companies who share their goal of “reimagining today’s habitat,” Paris-based architecture studio Cutwork developed PolyBloc. Designed as a prefabricated building system that implements industrial production and modular construction, PolyBlock is a “means [of] confronting the rising housing crisis.”

Designer: Cutwork

Noting the world’s inevitable pull towards shared spaces and mobile lifestyles, the creatives behind PolyBloc set out with the aim of revolutionizing urban architecture. Initially conceived as PolyRoom, a prefabricated single-room, 21-square-meter (226-square-foot) unit defined by its flexibility and multi-use nature, PolyBloc marks the studio’s larger-scale progression.

Focusing on the reproduction value and modularity of PolyRoom, Cutwork went about developing PolyBloc as a means of “creating adaptive, flexible housing solutions in different contexts, from urban to rural.” Adaptive and flexible in its very purpose, each PolyRoom is outfitted with concealed, multi-use pieces of furniture that save and create space for growing needs.

Designed to be a centralized room without an established purpose, PolyRoom takes cues from Japanese design concepts like ‘washitsu’ and ‘tatami room,’ design modes that reconfigure spaces to accommodate residents’ needs. With this in mind, each module comes stocked with multifunctional furniture like disappearing beds, foldable storage cabinets, and telescopic rail systems that transition partitions and doors to create more floor space.

To further each module’s appeal to cohabitation and multi-usability, PolyRoom is outfitted with living roofs and facades that utilize automatic irrigation systems to embrace different cities’ unique biodiversity. Finding flexibility and multifunctionality in a modular building method, PolyBloc is composed of modules that stack together like LEGO building blocks.

The PolyRoom units from Cutwork essentially can be constructed in bulk and stacked together to form full-sized residential complexes in different cities much quicker than traditional building methods allow. Forward-thinking in their creative process and mission, Cutwork explains, “It’s not only about building objects and spaces; it’s about crafting the systems to build [objects and spaces]–systems to help solve the challenges ahead.”

The post Stackable prefabricated modules are here to create futuristic LEGO-inspired buildings first appeared on Yanko Design.

This traveling tiny home goes from work to home and anywhere there is a road

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IMAGO-iter is a wooden mobile home that can be taken anywhere there’s a road for whatever reason, from camping to working.

Tiny homes might be the main show these days, but mobile homes are edging in on their spotlight. Designed to offer tiny living escapes on the move, mobile homes go where you go and don’t require any permits for use.

Whether you use them as off-grid workspaces or campers on the go, mobile homes provide cozy getaways that we can bring wherever the wind takes us. BESS, a Japanese building firm that specializes in wooden houses, designed and constructed a mobile home called IMAGO-iter to join the party and move with our changing needs.

IMAGO-iter carries a 6.5m2 interior volume with 2.4 meters’ worth of headspace, providing just enough room for buyers to customize the space according to their needs. BESS took a customizable approach in designing every aspect of IMAGO-iter, so the mobile home is outfitted with only the bare essentials.

From the outside, the 70mm thick domestic cedar wood facades remain unfinished so buyers can paint the mobile home in any color that speaks to them. When customizing their own trailer, buyers of IMAGO-iter can also choose between a traditional timber or a domed, wagon-like plastic membrane roof.

On all four sides of IMAGO-iter, windows open up to the outdoors so users can always feel close to the landscape surrounding them. Suspension and electromagnetic brakes have also been worked into IMAGO-iter’s build to help ensure stable and safe driving.

In addition to the trailer’s incorporated safety features, BESS conducted a driving test through Japan’s Automobile Research Institute to confirm that “sufficiently stable driving was possible.”

Designer: BESS

The post This traveling tiny home goes from work to home and anywhere there is a road first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny home on wheels uses colourful windows to create a fun space for a young family

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Planedennig is a tiny home on wheels built for a mother and her young son to balance playtime with relaxation.

Considering the number of tiny homes to come out of recent years, distinguishing one tiny home from another can be hard. After all, there’s only so much space to work with, many tiny home builders prioritize efficiency and function over unique design. Then, there are always the unicorns that have it all.

Designer: Baluchon

No stranger to unicorns, Baluchon is a tiny home company co-founded by Laëtitia and Vincent who devote their time to building tiny houses on wheels for clients and their various needs. Planedennig, a tiny house on wheels built for a mother and her young son, finds some pizzazz with a colorful exterior and functionality with a multifunctional interior.

Planedennig, which translates to ‘little planet’ in Breton, was designed and built for Gaël and Eflamm, a mother and her young son, to have a place for living and for play. Defined by its colorful joinery that punctuates the exterior, Planedennig’s outer facade keeps a cedar finish that helps calm the playful energy. Measuring a total length of only six feet, Planedennig has a unique layout that makes the most of the tiny home’s interior volume.

While there is no integrated off-grid technology, Planedennig only requires a standard RV-style hookup to power up all of its amenities. The home’s entrance is located in the kitchen, right beside the wall-mounted, wood-burning stove. Upon entering Planedennig, residents are immediately welcomed with a window opposite the entrance that brings in views of the outdoors

Right below the kitchen window, residents enjoy a full kitchen, equipped with a sink, two-burner propane-powered stovetop, dining table, refrigerator and freezer, an oven, as well as ample storage space for appliances and kitchenware.

Right next door to the kitchen, a cozy living area leaves space for a roomy couch and small reading nook. Then, when the pull-out couch isn’t in use, guests enter the bathroom from the living room, where they will find a toilet, storage space, and a small hip bath and shower.

Upstairs, Gaël and Eflamm find their respective bedrooms. Accessible via a staircase next to the kitchen, Gaël’s bedroom is a small loft bedroom with a double bed. Then, a netted play area connects to Eflamm’s bedroom, where a twin mattress cozies beneath an expansive pentagonal window.

The kitchen blends seamlessly with the living area which is connected to the full-size bathroom.

The upstairs children’s bedroom is a lofted area with enough room for a twin-sized bed and a few pieces of furniture.

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This vintage camper from 1985 is making a comeback with accordion extensions that triple its size!

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De Markies is a vintage camper circa 1985 with accordion-like expansions that triple the camper’s size with the push of a button.

Since the start of stay-at-home orders, campers have made quite the comeback in the world of modern camping. The campers coming out from recent years have been some of the most versatile and compact designs we’ve seen in years. A few years back and ahead of its time, Dutch architect Eduard Böhtling submitted his transforming De Markies camper design to 1985’s Temporary Living architecture competition. The type of camper that can be reintroduced in years to come and still send a tingle down any camper’s spine, De Markies is a tiny home on wheels that can triple in size with the push of a button.

Ten years after the Temporary Living competition, De Markies saw its first prototype and received 1996’s Rotterdam Design Prize’s Public Prize for it. Fast forward to 2021 and De Markies is still turning heads. Built with accordion-like expansions, De Markies’s shape begins as a cubic camper on the road and triples in size to form a complete semicircle.

Once De Markies expands into its final shape, the camper’s main bedroom can be found inside of its opaque orange awning, while a sunroom comes into shape underneath the van’s transparent awning. Inside the caravan, a kitchen, bathroom, and sitting room come with all the amenities needed for a comfortable retreat on the road, including a stove, sink, countertop, storage space, and tables.

Constructed to withstand most elements, Böhtling found durability in plastic cladding for De Markies’s roof. Unfurled into its semicircular shape, the awnings find privacy on one side through an opaque orange plastic covering, and a sun-soaked room on the other side with a transparent plastic covering. Slated for next year’s Geneva Architecture Exhibition, De Markies is still making its rounds.

Designer: Eduard Böhtling

The post This vintage camper from 1985 is making a comeback with accordion extensions that triple its size! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This futuristic mobile home comes with mechanical legs to traverse the remote terrain of alien planets

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Encho Enchev’s futuristic mobile home concept traverses rough terrain on mechanical legs that bring the home and its residents to even the wildest and most remote destinations of tomorrow.

The future is mobile. In recent years, mobile home designs have changed the way we approach work, living, and travel. Working from home and travel restrictions have inspired many of us to take on a more mobile lifestyle, allowing us to work on the road and travel as we please.

Born out of this collective movement towards mobility, designers across the world have issued their own interpretations of mobile homes and workspaces. Looking ahead to a more futuristic concept of mobility, 3D visual artist Encho Enchev designed a mobile home propped up on mechanical legs that can traverse all kinds of terrain to bring residents to remote and treacherous destinations.

Contained within a cubic frame, Enchev’s mobile home blends the utopian, sci-fi design elements of retro years with futuristic transportation capabilities to create a familiar space that treads new territory.

Supported by a collection of mechanical legs, the mobile home can either remain uplifted, an elevated distance from the ground, or descend from its raised height to merge with the ground.

The mechanical legs are nimble and fortified by a 5cm layer of non-slippery rubber and two deployable spikes on the bottom of each leg, assuring each step the mobile home takes is bolted by some guaranteed friction. Enchev also equipped his mobile home with four deployable harpoons that provide additional support for the mobile home to remain in place even on rough terrain.

Inside, Enchev hoped to achieve a modern and high-tech layout through curved design elements and pops of colors against an otherwise white interior. Finding inspiration in the potential of future architecture, Enchev outfitted the mobile home’s windows with smart glass technology that would function like invisible blackout curtains.

Filled with plenty of household appliances like automated furniture and smart technology, Enchev’s mobile home is all about convenience at the end of the day. While the inside of Enchev’s mobile home is boiling over with futuristic technologies, the living space’s interior design screams the timeless utopian aesthetic that was born circa 1960, when The Jetsons and Star Trek seemed to think of everything the future might hold.

Designer: Encho Enchev

Throughout the home, Enchev incorporated smart technology to bring home into the future. 

Integrated storage space, water tanks, and power cells ensure residents can live off-grid comfortably in Enchev’s mobile home.

Enchev’s mobile home could be stationed anywhere in the world.

Propped up by mechanical legs, the futuristic mobile home can even rise between mountain gorges.

From the desert to the plains, from the mountains to the lakes, the futuristic mobile home redefines the mobile lifestyle.

The post This futuristic mobile home comes with mechanical legs to traverse the remote terrain of alien planets first appeared on Yanko Design.

This compact water boiler concept features scheduled heating that can be controlled from your smartphone!

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Nomad is a battery-operated, compact, and portable water heating concept that includes programmed heating and smartphone controls to make heating water as simple as ever.

Nomad is the lifestyle of 2021. Like a newsletter we actually enjoy receiving, we’re all subscribing to it. With remote work becoming more plausible for everyone, a mobile lifestyle has too. While there are plenty of upsides to the nomad life, there are just as many challenges. Luckily, designers across the globe have come up with their own solutions. Industrial product designer, Hamza Bavčić created a compact water heater, aptly called Nomad, designed for the modern nomad to have access to hot water wherever their travels take them.

Inspired by the natural mobility of migratory birds, Bavčić designed Nomad to be portable, lightweight, and beautifully shaped like a stork. To make Nomad portable, Bavčić designed the water heater to disassemble into separate parts that be stowed away for easy packing and traveling.

Once all of the parts are put back together, Nomad’s heating abilities are activated once the device’s orange tip is submerged in water. Users simply place their desired cup of liquid on Nomad’s electric base underneath the heating nozzle and soon enough, hot water is at their fingertips. When there’s no liquid present, the heating elements are automatically shut off to ensure safe operation during and following use.

When traveling, having access to hot water means there will always be coffee in the morning and tea at night. While the entire product requires AC or batteries, once Nomad is charged, the entire operation can be controlled from your smartphone. Bavčić also equipped Nomad with programmed heating so once your alarm goes off in the morning, Nomad turns on. With Nomad, Bavčić makes sure that we’ll never face a morning without a cup of coffee.

DesigneR: Hamza Bavčić

Semi-trailers transform into luxury caravans in Poland’s first mobile hotel chain concept!

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Good Spot is Poland’s first mobile hotel chain built from renovated isothermal refrigerated semi-trailers found abandoned throughout Poland.

While some of us are ready to commit to the mobile lifestyle, the rest of us want a trial period. Mobile hotels are cropping up in response. Ranging from floating hotels to camp trailers, mobile hotels are even inspiring many to continue with their own mobile lifestyle following checkout.

Inspired by the mobile lifestyle and the movement of wind, Wrocław-based architecture and interior design firm Znamy sie constructed Good Spot, Poland’s first mobile hotel chain concept that transforms disused isothermal refrigerated semi-trailers into two-bedroom mobile campers.

Following a kitesurfing trip in Poland’s coastal town of Hel, the designers at Znamy sie set out to conceptualize a mobile hotel chain designed for guests to travel wherever the wind brings them. Honing in on the hotel’s mobility concept, Znamy sie first coated each dilapidated isothermal refrigerated semi-trailer with a stainless steel exterior similar to the Airstream caravan. Inside each trailer, the designers outfitted the perimeter with all of the amenities and functional elements found in hotels.

Reserving the perimeter of each trailer for the amenities provided more interior walking room, carving out a spacious walking path from one end of the trailer to the other. Custom-built wooden furnishings wrap around the perimeter of Good Spot trailers that include plenty of storage space and seating. Accommodating up to four adults, both ends of Good Spot trailers host two separate sleeping areas where large windows help draw in natural light, brightening the interior’s crisp, white walls even further.

Through Good Spot, Znamy sie remains committed to ecological tourism by bringing new purpose to discarded semi-trailers and providing the off-grid means to explore all of Poland’s natural beauty. Speaking to this, Znamy sie says, “Our project, prepared in cooperation with Good spot, involves upcycling, i.e. increasing the value of the material and changing the purpose of cold storage to hotel rooms. By renovating the trailer, we give it a second life!”

Designer: Znamy sie

 

This micro house-on-wheels built to withstand extreme weather conditions was also designed for off-grid living!

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The Nomad is a compact mobile camper built to withstand all the elements, hot or cold, and for off-grid living, equipped with everything from a solar system to a composting toilet and water tanks.

These days, the nomad lifestyle has the spotlight. Going off-grid and mobile during this era of WFH has never been more tempting. With sustainability and getting away at the forefront of our minds, companies have delivered on tiny camper designs, merging eco-consciousness with the mobile lifestyle. One company, in particular, Quebec-based Minimaliste has been designing micro houses-on-wheels for some time now, and their latest model, the Nomad, is an even tinier camper built with off-grid capabilities and for the most extreme of weather conditions.

Being the only Minimaliste camper capable of off-grid operation, the Nomad camper includes a composting toilet, two 36-gallon tanks for black and gray water, as well as a 54-gallon freshwater tank allowing two people to enjoy a short vacation without having to empty or fill the tanks. Additionally, Minimaliste equipped the roof with a grid of solar panels that take lithium batteries, outfitting each Nomad camper with a minimum of 5.12 kWh solar power, or an advanced package stocked with 10.24 kWh.

While the Nomad might be shorter in length than Minimaliste’s previous camper models, measuring in at 165 feet2, it makes a home out of the space it still has. The one-bedroom camper also features a kitchen, bathroom, dining area, and living area all within its steel-clad frame. When entering the Nomad, the kitchen and dining area greet you with walnut laminate finishes, and optic white walls, with black coated handles and accents dotted throughout. Equipped with high-quality appliances, the kitchen features a propane boiler and water heater, a Furrion 12V refrigerator, and a Furrion propane stove oven.

Moving into the bedroom and bathroom, the same walnut laminate and optic white paint are seen throughout each room, but the bedroom’s ceiling rises to seven feet to ensure plenty of headroom even for taller guests. The bedroom is all about storage, featuring integrated storage underneath and around the bed, where an additional water tank can be found for off-grid living. Finally, the bathroom hosts all the amenities one might need for when nature calls: an optional flush or composting toilet, a decent-sized vanity unit with a medicine cabinet, and a 24 × 36 tub shower, as well as a 12V fan that exhausts and refilters the air.

Designer: Minimaliste

Integrated storage decks out the Nomad’s bedroom, ensuring enough room even for one of the camper’s water tanks. 

Air conditioning units and insulation create a comfortable interior temperature throughout the year and changing seasons. 

The kitchen even comes with a built-in 2-in-1 washer-dryer unit.

The dining area transforms into sleeping accommodations for two children or one adult when not in use during the night. 

This Mercedes Vito turned camper keeps you outdoor ready with everything from an outdoor shower to a rear kitchen!

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French atelier Serge Propose transformed a Mercedes Vito L2H1 van into a minimalist camper van ideal for the nomadic lifestyle, equipped with everything from an outdoor shower to a removable kitchen stove and sink.

Minimalism goes with camping just like wheels go with a van–it makes things a whole lot easier. Camping requires the essentials: stove, boots, water, check. The rest is just extra weight. Well, you might need a blanket or two. Unless you’re sleeping in a van. As the mobile lifestyle becomes more and more popular, designers are converting their vans into autonomous campers for the ultimate nomadic mode of transportation. French design atelier and van-camper converter, Serge Propose tied minimalism into their latest project where a Mercedes Vito L2H1 transformed into a camper equipped with only the essentials.

Transforming the Mercedes Vito L2H1 into a modern-day minimalist camper meant creating a nomadic living environment for Serge Propose. The French atelier hollowed out the inside of Mercedes Vito L2H1 to outfit it with a sleeping and lounge area, rear kitchen, and plenty of storage space throughout. Constructed from birch plywood, the wooden interior living area is also insulated with hemp wool and projected cork so campers will stay warm during the night and colder months without leaving the van turned on. Stocked with adaptable furnishings and concealed storage compartments, Serge Propose thought of everything when converting the Mercedes Vito L2H1.

Most of the interior is covered by a cushioned bench, also constructed from birch plywood. During the day, the bench operates as a sit-down working space or dining area, then come night, campers can convert the bench into a 130x200cm sleeping bed. Underneath the adaptable bench, campers can find plenty of storage space and hidden drawers to keep the nonessentials. The showstopper of the camper van is certainly the rear kitchen where campers can prepare meals using the van’s removable stove and sink. Overhead, campers can rest assured the raised taillight will keep them dry from extreme weather.

Outfitted with plenty of electrical and technical features, the van comes powered with an auxiliary battery, a DC charger, and a converter all provided by Victron Energy. Additionally, campers can find a dry toilet and mini-refrigerator just beneath the interior’s longest bench. Every feature inside the van from the LED lighting, to the outdoor shower, a built-in 2D air heater, and handmade curtains is tailor-made by the designers at Serge Propose.

Designer: Serge Propose

The rear kitchen has overhead protection from the raised trunk during rainy weather conditions.

A removable kitchen stove and sink provide heating and clean water for cooking. And the van is outfitted with adaptable furniture to save and create space.