VS_Studio_5: 2011

Monday, May 2, 2011

Mobile Transformer: Futuristic Tent + Truck + Trailer Home

This is far from the first cool architectural concept to seek a new form of nomadic living, but it is an impressively daring, comprehensive and versatile one. The idea borrows strategically from familiar typologies and recent histories, but blends these influences into something uniquely forward-thinking.

Unlike many portable housing plans, for instance, the distinction between driving and living space is fundamentally blurred in this work by Maynard Architects. Passenger and driver seats become swiveling lounge chairs in the midst of a mobile living room, preventing unnecessary divisions of labor and functional duplication.

Along the same space-saving, multi-functional lines, all key vehicular components (drive train, engine and gearbox) are tucked neatly under this pair of front seats. As footprints go, this one is small – the size of a normal truck that is highway-worthy and can be parked in most conventional spaces, too.

The most obvious move – a slice down the center that allows the vehicle to split and fold open – is dramatic but not fundamentally new. What is, though, is the arrangement of parts around and within it – the hybrid set of ideas that make it both more internally efficient as an interior design but, conversely, more connected to the outside world as well. Conventional campers, tents, sleeper trucks and canvas yurts may have all just met their match.