Tag Archives: modular design

Modular treehouse units with triangular pitched roofs offer unlimited views of an old French château in the countryside!

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Treehouses inherently exude an air of myth and adventure. When stationed either in dense jungles as a natural hub to study wildlife or placed in a suburban backyard for kids, the treehouse is the place where the escapist can let their hair down. Take the treehouse and tuck it next to an old French castle in the countryside and it’s something straight from the storybooks. Forma Atelier, a Mexico-based architecture firm, turned that storybook setting into reality with their modular treehouse concept that cleverly combines razor-sharp triangular roofs with sweeping glass window panes to share the rural hills with that of an old French château.

Dartagans is a French crowdfunding site that allows citizens to help preserve heritage sites like châteaus through donations. Through these crowdfunding efforts, entire cultural sites in France are able to stay put and avoid any prospect of future demolition. Hosting a competition that welcomes young architects to design treehouse concepts for châteaus throughout rural France, Dartagans hosted one such competition for Loudun’s Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers. Rising to the top, Forma Atelier designed a modular treehouse concept that comprises limited residential units as their competition submission.

The prototype of each scalable treehouse was designed to be replicated and placed anywhere. Conceptualized as mobile and adaptable, the treehouse’s build achieves stability through its cross-layered foundation constructed from the overlaying of wooden planks. Forma Atelier designed two different sizes for their treehouse concept, a 100 m3 unit, and another 65 m3 unit. Built on a grid system of .30 m and .40m, the treehouses were sized and measured respectively. The treehouse’s modular structure gives each of them a geometric look. The countryside treehouse unit’s high-pitched roof in the shape of a triangle appears to be constructed from wooden panes, allowing for high ceilings while each unit’s cube-shaped main room, reinforced with steel beams, implements broad glass window panes for unfettered views of the countryside.

Designer: Forma Atelier

Through an intricate weaving process of cross-layered timber as its foundation, Forma Atelier’s treehouse maintains stability.

Sweeping glass window panes and high ceilings bring residents closer to the surrounding countryside and dissolve the boundary between nature and the indoors.

Sporting a geometric build that seamlessly transitions from one facade to the next, each treehouse unit is like its own miniature wooden castle.

The 100 m3 treehouse unit floor plan.

The 100 m3 treehouse unit floor plan.

One side view of the 100 m3 treehouse unit.

Another side view of the 100 m3 treehouse unit.

The 65 m3 treehouse unit floor plan.

The 65 m3 treehouse unit floor plan.

One side view of the 65 m3 treehouse unit.

Another side view of the 65 m3 treehouse unit.

This transforming furniture goes from a standing peg tree to a wall-mount, adapting to your child’s needs!

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I know there are some items from my childhood bedroom I wish I kept around to repurpose for my current bedroom as an ode to not only the long-lasting relevancy but also the potential longevity of the design. While I loved my Winnie-the-Pooh wallpaper, night lamps, and bedspread as a kid, I’m talking about those timeless designs like toddler-sized hardwood stools and miniature treasure chests that could be repurposed as nightstands and jewelry armoires. Pupupula, a self-described lifestyle brand for kids aged 1-100 based in Beijing, designs household products with that intent in mind, their aim being to produce simple and innovative designs that will adapt to the changing needs that come with aging.

Pupupula recently debuted their Tree Clothes Rack Series that transforms through the years from a simple wooden clothing rack to either wall-mountable or upright coat racks. While the construction process is fairly involved, including lots of heavy-duty machine operation and precision detail sanding, assembling Tree Clothes Rack’s initial form is simplified as a result. Requiring few, if any tools for assembly, the Tree Clothes Rack Series utilizes wooden pegs and corresponding holes in order to transform into different structures that adapt to the user’s varying and evolving needs. Once Tree Clothes Rack’s preliminary product reaches the end of its life cycle, it can later be transformed into either a single-beam, pegged coat rack or one that’s wall-mountable.

When users first set up their Tree Clothes Rack, two vertical beams support the main, horizontal wooden beam to form a standard clothing rack. To achieve this frame, the vertical beam’s protruding pegs easily slide into the horizontal beam’s holes that were accurately sized and bored during construction. Then, once the user feels ready for a new form to take shape, the clothing rack can be changed into a stand-alone coat rack that follows the same peg-hole assembly pattern exhibited by the product’s original structure. Moving from a standing coat rack, suitable for an apartment entryway or storage room, users can once more morph the Tree Clothes Rack into a wall-mountable coat rack that requires some tools and minimal screws for mounting.

Designer: Pupupula

Tree Clothes Rack’s original form connects two vertical wooden beams with a single horizontal wooden beam via pegs that slip into previously bored holes.

From a clothing rack suitable for hangers to an upright coat or tote rack – the Tree Clothes Rack Series can grow or shrink to match your needs.

With help from additional hardware, screws, and tools the Tree Clothes Rack Series can be mounted onto walls to function as additional coat racks or even as a fixture where you can hang your houseplants.

From blending to steaming, this Dieter Rams-inspired modular kitchen appliance does 6 unique functions!

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Kitchen appliances can quickly turn into collections of bulky hardware and tangles of wire if we’re not careful. Blenders, toasters, kettles, and steamers – the wish list is endless and there’s always a new kitchen tool that could be added to our carts, and then when it comes time to organize, forget about it. Modular kitchenware designs come in handy when we feel that we’ve reached our limits…or storage capacities. Finding inspiration in the design language of Dieter Rams’ Braun collection, ChenKai Zhang created renderings for a modular kitchenware concept that’s as familiar and practical as the iconic Braun appliance.

Zhang recognized several strong points in Braun’s design language, including its timelessness, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and approachability. Zhang hoped to achieve a similar timeless feel for his modular kitchenware concept by attributing like-minded color schemes and construction materials to his product design. The clean coupling of stainless steel accents with a colorful coating of ABS plastic is reminiscent of Braun products and carries with it a sense of familiarity. With this combination of fresh, sleek display and a trusted construction process, Zhang developed his own interpretation of Braun’s approachable and timeless appeal. Zhang essentially universalized Rams’ mechanical design language to offset and charge one base component so that it can then provide power for other attachable kitchen appliances such as juicers, electric kettles, and blenders. Inside the base component, gear buckles, motors, and conductors all work together to either provide heating or power for the two mixing blades to run. The base component consists of a high-speed motor and a heating component to which users can attach and utilize most kitchen appliances. In order to take up less space in the kitchen, Zhang ensured that all of the kitchen modules were the right size to stack onto one another. Zhang also redesigned the spout for modules containing liquid by both flattening it, offering slower pours, and lengthening it for easy pickup.

An integrated interface of two aluminum switches, located on the design’s electric base component, gives users the option to either use a high-speed motor or a heater. Once decided, additional modular components can then be attached to the base component to prepare food items according to the chosen mechanism. In addition to the three modules mentioned, Zhang designed frying pan, steamer, and breakfast pot modules to attach to the base component for other options. The product design’s efficiency is attained through Zhang’s commitment to practicality above all else. This practical approach to design is shown through the modular kitchenware’s conceptualization phase. Moving through three generations of products, Zhang ultimately designed a modular tool for the kitchen that allows users to choose between six different functioning cooking appliances.

Designer: ChenKai Zhang

Bobby Berk would approve of this modular, wooden cabinet inspired by the phases of the moon!

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I love modular, easy-to-assemble furniture that is designed to adapt to your space – big or small. Right now IKEA is the biggest player in this arena but if you dig a little deeper (or just follow Yanko Design, we do the digging for you) then you will find gems like the MOON cabinet – Bobby Berk will 100% approve of this!

This timeless looking piece is crafted from solid wood finished off with rounded corners that give it an organic form. “We got the three elements from deconstructing traditional wooden cabinets and immovable system furniture,” says award-winning furniture designer Chuang. MOON allows the user to have a flexible lifestyle as this one cabinet serves many different purposes thanks to its modular build. You can combine, assemble, and deconstruct it to fit your space or transform it from storage to seating. Just like the phases of the moon, the shape of this cabinet changes to fit different needs – in fact, it has a little circular cutout detail to symbolize that. I love that you can stack it up or take it apart to change the height of the piece as a whole.

It has open storage, cabinet doors as well as closed drawers so you really get every type of compact storage solution in one single furniture design. When not being used for storage, it can serve as a seat and a table too because it has been constructed to bear human weight! MOON is an evergreen, universal, and functional furniture design that maximizes flexibility through minimalism.

Designer: Chia Chun Chuang

This Modular Refrigerator uses an innovative shelving system to tackle food wastage

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Those of us who use small kitchens know the importance of storage space, especially when it comes to the refrigerator. So, staying on top of what food is expired is key. Produce gets smelly and leaks, leftovers just take up entire shelves and clearing out the food that’s gone bad feels like a day’s task. In the UK, 5.8 million tons of avoidable food waste is garnered each year, which can be traced all the way back to a simple problem: frustrating refrigerator design. Thalis Nicolaou brings us his solution: PRESENTA, a modular refrigerator design.

Most of today’s refrigerators are like deep bookshelves that come with air conditioning. They store a lot and keep our food items fresh, but as they fill, older food items just pile up and rot, so cleaning out your refrigerator ends up being more laborious of a task than it should be. In order to combat this, Nicolaou created PRESENTA, a new fridge design that keeps the storage capacity of the typical refrigerator but ditches the unfriendly depths. Three modular, three-tier shelving units comprise PRESENTA and thankfully they make both storage organization and inevitable clean up much more approachable. Detachable, plastic shelves line the swing-out design of this refrigerator and they can be swapped out and reorganized in order to optimize storage and cleanability. When the user opens the refrigerator, each of the inside contents is immediately made both visible and accessible. The refrigerator’s slide and swing door allow for the interior shelving units to expand outside the refrigerator, making the contents inside of PRESENTA apparent within a matter of seconds. Below the main door is a deep, pull-out drawer that extends to the refrigerator’s full-depth in order to store bulkier items. Nicolaou also integrated a color-coded signal that alerts PRESENTA users when the contents haven’t been checked for more than 24 hours – an orange, LED light indicator lets users know to check on their food items.

The modular design of this refrigerator is impressive because, in a market full of technologically smart, but massive refrigerators, PRESENTA finds a solution in constructive simplicity. In this simplicity, rests accessibility since Nicolaou addresses the need for active and collective food waste reduction measures by creating a tangible solution that doesn’t require costly changes to your lifestyle or diet. So, say goodbye to those days filled with procrastination before a big fridge-cleanup because PRESENTA makes it as manageable as it always should have been.

Designer: Thalis Nicolaou