Self-Sufficient “Micro-Home” Will Join Milan Design Week
Emily Pollock posted on March 19, 2019 |
A close look at a digital mock-up of Beatrice Bonzanigo’s micro-home. (Image courtesy of IB Studio.)
A culture of financial anxiety and ecological worries birthed the “tiny house” movement. Now, Italian architect Beatrice Bonzanigo is taking the miniature house off the grid as she prepares to showcase her Casa Ojalá at Milan Design Week in April.
Casa Ojalá is a self-contained modular home design, measuring only 27 m2 (290 ft2). The circular home can be “arranged” in 20 different ways by adjusting wooden partitions and fabric “walls” with built-in ropes, pulleys and cranks. Whatever way the owner decides to arrange the structure, it’s set up to include two bedrooms, a bathroom, a terrace, a small kitchen, and a living room.
The house can be set up totally independent from municipal water and electricity, as it includes photovoltaic panels, a rainwater collection system, and a septic tank. According to Bonzanigo, it’s designed to have a minimal impact on the environment around it, and the woods and fabrics used in its manufacture can vary depending on where it is built, for maximum sustainability.
Bonzanigo’s design parallels the tiny house movement: a U.S.-centric architectural movement that found its roots in the 2008 financial crisis. The most common definition for a tiny house is one that is between 100 and 400 ft2, far smaller…