05/2006

Type: Experimental Housing Scope: Competition Entry, Project Development Location: Almere/NL Client: Municipality Almere Collaborator: MBA/S Team: Stefan Werrer, Matthias Bauer Consultant: Switbert Greiner, greinerengineering Size: 50 sqm Cost: EUR 120.000 Period: since May 2006 Status: Winner, Fonds BKVB Prize, ongoing

The competition "Simplicity" was initiated in 2006 by ComitŽ de Fantasie and organized in association with CASla within the tradition of experimental housing areas in Almere which has resulted in the widely acclaimed locations De Fantasie and De Realiteit in Almere.

Situated in a unique location on a clearing in the woods the 12 chosen designs will form a new sustainable neighbourhood for individual housing desires and imagination.

With freedom from welfare supervision and only few commitments towards building regulations Simplicity aims to show the potentials of private initiatives on the housing market.

convertible house #1 is an adaptable housing unit. It is an experiment aiming at a simple yet flexible solution for the complexity of contemporary housing.

The constantly changing intensity of use in relation to season, weather and number of inhabitants and guests is facilitated by the variability of the inhabitable volume.

This variability is the result of the combination of a fixed and a mobile volume on rails. The fixed volume contains all necessary functions and installations whereas the mobile volume offers flexible space for circulation and living.. Kitchen, bathroom, heating, walking closet and beds are integrated into specially shaped cocoons.

There are 2 different radical modes with each its own delicate relation between inside and outside: the convertible house #1 oscillates between monolithic and wide-open.

In wide-open mode the convertible house #1 changes into a open floorplan with a collective patio. This patio offers open-air qualities and can be covered with parasols.

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