Munich/Los Angeles. At the LA Design Festival from 7
– 10 June 2018, MINI presents the MINI LIVING Urban Cabin in Los
Angeles. The micro-apartment concept was developed in an unused attic
space in downtown LA in collaboration with local architect duo FreelandBuck.
The Urban Cabin in LA is now the third interpretation of a
concept developed by MINI LIVING last year; there are to be five in
all. The Urban Cabin provides temporary living space with a high
degree of flexibility and lots of possibilities – on a surface area of
just 15 m2. One particular design focus is the local
identity and culture of the specific location in each case. After
London, New York City and now Los Angeles, there are plans to
implement the project in Beijing and Tokyo during the second half of
the year.
In pursuing this concept, MINI is taking the first step towards
a global network of creative apartment solutions in which the idea is
to make residents feel at home, regardless of the city they live in.
“We’re working on our own very distinct interpretation of
co-living. Our aim is to enable a genuine sense of community, opening
doors and creating public space,” explains Esther Bahne, Head of
Strategy and Innovation MINI. “Our installations and visionary
formats seek to explore a whole new range of possibilities in the
creative use of space, and we’re now putting what we’ve learned into
practice in the form of real-life construction projects. In Shanghai
we’re currently working on our first hub with more than 50 apartments
complete with shared and public space: this is due to open in April
next year.” The Urban Cabins anticipate the real-life MINI LIVING
buildings in terms of their concept and design.
Big life. Small footprint.
The MINI LIVING Urban Cabins offer as much living quality as
possible within a small space. They are made up of three formal
elements. The two outer modules are the living and sleeping area on
one side and the bathroom and kitchen on the other; these two elements
are designed by the MINI LIVING team. The third part – an experiential
space with the character of an installation – is defined by MINI as an
empty space, and for each cabin, a local architects’ bureau is invited
to fill it out. The theme selected always has to be relevant to the
specific location. The two living areas have a perforated metal facade
on the outside. The transparency, lighting, spatial impression and
character change during the course of the day. On the inside, the look
is created by combining wood with surprising, modern materials.
“Creative use of space” – the core MINI principle – is
reflected down to the last detail in smart, space-saving solutions:
push, fold, rotate and fold mechanisms enable various use scenarios
for day and night. Portholes, windows and fold-out shelves also allow
residents to make flexible use of private and shared space: the Urban
Cabins open outwards – one of the fundamental principles of MINI LIVING.
The approach of the cabins not only seeks to address the
decrease in available living space as well as the rise in prices and
the drop in living quality that this involves but also provide a
corrective for the global spread of more homogeneous architecture and
the resulting loss of cultural identity and variation.
Next stop: Los Angeles
Los Angeles
residents attach great importance to being connected to the natural
environment.
The MINI LIVING Urban Cabin in LA addresses this in
a downtown setting by providing an urban oasis. In the cabin’s
experiential space, architect duo FreelandBuck from Los Angeles
created a hanging garden along with perforated areas to let in plenty
of air and light. The duo also designed two nested cubes that produce
a kaleidoscopic visual effect. The result is an atmospheric interplay
of light refractions and visual illusions – a kind of trompe l’oeil.
The outwardly protruding hanging garden combined with this suggestive
play of light conveys to visitors the sense of being in the
countryside – even though it is in the middle of the city.
Looking ahead: the global village
After the
MINI LIVING Urban Cabins in London, New York and now LA, further stops
are planned for the concept this year. The next ones will be at House
Vision in Beijing and Design Art in Tokyo. In both cases, local
architects will be contributing their individual perspective. The five
Urban Cabins provide a foretaste of the various functions and spaces
in the MINI LIVING building, the first co-living project in China
which is due to open in Shanghai in 2019. Together these form a global
village of MINI LIVING initiatives that map out a potential pathway to
the future of urban living.
The MINI LIVING Urban Cabin is on show from 7 to 10 June 2018 at
the LA Design Festival.
In case of queries please contact:
Corporate Communications
Matthias Bode,
Press Officer Product Communications MINI
Phone:
+49-89-382-61742, Fax: +49-89-382-28567
E-Mail:
matthias.bode@mini.com
Andreas Lampka, Head of Communications MINI
Phone: +49-
89-382-23662, Fax: +49 89-382-28567
E-mail: andreas.lampka@mini.com
Markus Sagemann, Head of Communications MINI, BMW
Motorrad
Phone: +49 89-382- 68796, Fax: +49
89-382-28567
E-Mail: markus.sagemann@bmw.de
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