This tiny convertible A-frame structure is a part kiosk + part shelter designed to aid Ecuador’s unhoused population

Natura Futura Arquitectura, an architecture and design firm based in Babahoyo, Ecuador builds structural solutions that redefine community engagement. Committed to finding and bringing to life solutions for unhouse individuals who face societal challenges in everyday life, Natura Futura Arquitectura conceived The Ambulantito.

Conceptualized through the lens of those experiencing poverty in Ecuador, The Ambulantito was designed to be woven into the urban fabric of Latin American cities. The mobile kiosk provides privacy and a canopy with its A-frame structure for times when the weather requires shelter. Mounted on wheels, The Ambulantito is as much a stationary shelter as it is a traveling kiosk from which unhoused individuals can sell goods to generate income.

Designed to be protective, yet simple, The Ambulantito’s frame is built from welded metal rods, which are then overlaid with panels of locally sourced timber. The structure’s A-frame roof is complete with two eaves, one that unfolds to reveal The Abulantito’s storage shelf, where goods can be placed and sold, and the other fixed. The versatile frame of The Ambulantito at first provides a sort of mobile safebox, where folding lattice doors secure people’s belongings and goods intended for sale and then transform to become a traveling kiosk or bed with an overhead roof come night.

The changing personality of The Ambulantito was created by Natura Futura Arquitectura to adapt to the mobile lifestyle of unhoused individuals in Ecuador. With indigence rates steadily growing, the mobile shelter functions as a first step towards more permanent solutions for the societal struggles that overwhelm unhoused communities across Latin American cities.

Speaking on the design and its intended purpose, Natura Futura Arquitectura remarks, “The Ambulantito is a first small step towards raising awareness of urgent needs such as shelter, productivity, and human safety, seeking to be an engine of consciousness that opens up new possibilities and reflections on our role of responsibility regarding the realities of the city.”

Designer: Natura Futura Arquitectura

Mounted on wheels, The Ambulantito was designed to integrate the mobile lifestyle of unhoused individuals living in Ecuador.

Designed to be versatile and inconspicuous, The Ambulantito changes and blends in with the urban framework of Ecuador.

A foldable lattice wooden door provides protections for goods intended for sale and unhoused individuals’ personal belongings.

One eave folds up to reveal storage space that functions as a sales shelf for goods to purchase.

The Ambulantito comes complete with a chalkboard where the goods can be advertised for sale.

Come night, unhoused individuals can transform The Ambulantito into a sleeping space with coverage from the natural elements.

This sustainable room divider extends its life cycle by using multifunctional steel modules to customize infinite configurations!





Room dividers are multifunctional by nature– they can be changing rooms, photoshoot backdrops, private meeting places, home cubicles– these days they can even be all of that all at once. While they leave a lot of room for us to get creative with their uses, room dividers typically have kept a pretty lowkey, conventional design through the years. Turning the room divider into a conversation about sustainability and versatility, Eunsang Lee has designed 5A1, a modular, infinity room divider that can be endlessly reconfigured to extend the product’s life cycle.

Feeling a sense of responsibility as a designer to create more sustainable products, Eunsang Lee turned to room dividers to reinterpret the classic piece of furniture. Today, new products are typically made from materials with short life cycles, leading to more consumption and waste. Constructed from responsibly sourced and sustainable materials like wood and steel, 5A1 is a minimal room divider, formed by hanging steel cables where steel and wooden modules can be attached and configured to hang clothes, mirrors, or even plants. Inspired by the act of communication between people, the 5A1 room divider comes with modules that can be attached, forming infinite configurations and a multifunctional piece of home decor.

In creating 5A1, Eunsang Lee hopes to continue the conversation around multifunctional pieces of furniture and her aim for sustainability as a designer. Speaking to this, Eunsang Lee says, “I imagined the process of meeting and communicating between objects and communication between objects and people. We observed that attachment is formed when the user directly assigns an [object’s use.]”

Designer: Eunsang Lee

From steel cables, wooden and steel modules can be attached and linked together to form a room divider.

5A1’s steel modules have different links and shapes that can be linked together to form multifunctional configurations.

By using such a sustainable material like stainless steel to configure 5A1, the product’s life cycle is much longer than other room dividers.

Through magnetic linkage, the steel modules can be linked together without additional tools or hardware.

When linked together, the steel modules create a space where clothes or room decor can be hung.

Wooden beams provide each steel cable with enough weight to hang from the ceiling or 5A1’s main beam.

The different shapes of steel modules are congruent in size and orientation so they can easily be linked.