This was one of my favorite architectural environment design. “China house vision explorers – future life” exhibition hall 5, Beijing, designed by  B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio.

The ‘Sharing Community of 400 Boxes’ provides a new type of shared community for the young generations living in the city. In the vacant or abandoned buildings, walls that used to separate private and public area will be replaced with small movable boxes. Personal space is designed within the box of less than 5 square meters whereas kitchen, bathroom and laundry are located at the common area outside of the box. Loose furniture such as sofas, tables and chairs can be placed at the space between the boxes which then become the common living area or study. The idea of this sharing community is that the private spaces remain within the boxes whereas the surrounding becomes the neighborhood. Furthermore, facilities such as water and electricity can be supplied from the vacant buildings. This concept of community originates from the traditional spaces such as Hutong and alleys. In the Hutong, furniture has extended from indoor to outdoor, it has the quality of both private and sharing which then expanded the community space. The fundamental idea is to minimize the individual private space, enlarge and create a dynamic public space around, and to make the whole into a city, or a family-like shared living space.

The relationship between family and house is very much like human and clothing. Human will choose the right clothes according to the changes of body shape as well as the seasons and climate. Similarly, with the change of the forms of family, city and society, houses are constantly changing their appearance too. Over the years, the size of a family is also shrinking rapidly. A lot of young people moving from small towns to big cities live alone in confined spaces and therefore we have the idea of sharing home – adding ‘furniture’ that provide basic living needs in vacant or abandoned buildings in the city. In this way, we hope to build a shared community in the disintegrating living environment.

reference: https://www.gooood.cn/house-vision-2018-beijing-exhibition-no-5-pavilion-by-b-l-u-e-architecture-studio.htm

Environmental design–“400 Boxes Community” / Ruoxue Zhao / Environmental Design: Materials, Ecologies, Futures (2020-2021)[SEM1] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0