FLEXIBLE BRICKS
Widespread structures, tiny houses, tree houses, mobile housing cells.
Many are the declination of alternative living that are taking shape. You tend to reduce, in the amount of items you own, in the square footage of the space you occupy, in the impact you cause on the environment. All thanks to prefabrication technology and the desire to minimize practical needs. The project by Vittorio Grassi Architects attempts to connect the dots. <<We believe in a modular, scalable and customizable architecture>>. This is the belief with which the team presented, for the “Architecture 6.0” exhibition at Fuorisalone, Planet Earth Module. It is a prefabricated building that originates from a cubic shape that curves into concave and convex faces from time to time.
The cell is designed to build an independent living unit, created with repeated, modular sections that can be made in an off-site industrial process, created on site and installed. Cubes can be placed side by side, isolated, grouped or stacked, allowing for a multitude of configurations and articulations. After being placed, then, they can be connected with vertical mullion blocks and interconnected to form the overall structure of a building, the shape of which varies based on the choice of placement.
The module thus constructed can adapt to any place and landscape; it can change based on climate and other characteristics of the area, and it can use different materials and finishes. For example, modules can be stacked in lightweight, breathable towers in humid microclimates for adequate natural ventilation. Or they can be covered with wood panels that are highly insulating against the cold. Still, they can be protected with fossil wood in marine environments or produce energy with photovoltaic panels to achieve energy independence.
