Project: Baitasi House of the Future
Architects: dot Architects
Location: Beijing, China
Area: 322 sq ft
Photographs by: Wu Qingshan
Baitasi House of the Future by dot Architects
The Baitasi House of the Future is a modular home created by dot Architects in Beijing, China. This home was designed for the tech company Whaley who focus on smart homes. They’ve commissioned the Chinese studio to develop a compact modern home that can be suited to the changing lifestyles of its residents.
The most impressive features of this house is the movable furniture modules as well as fixed modules that accommodate foldable beds. This design enables the interior to be reconfigured according to the inhabitants’ wishes.
Baitasi House of the Future is located in a historic hutong area of Beijing. The client is a tech company focuses on the smart homes. The commission is to create an experimental house that suits the future lifestyles of young people.
Baitasi is one of the well preserved hutong neighborhoods. The original site had a 30 sqm house and a 80 sqm yard cramped with illegal building works.
When we talk about house we are talking about home. The house of the future should represent such a lifestyle of young people.They can fluidly shift between work and home. Access and convenience are more important to them than ownership. The possibilities of home space outweigh its physical dimension. The boundary between home and society is blurred by the rise of the sharing economy, nomad workers and technology. Our lives are fragmented and can not be accommodated by a fixed layout.
The original house is wood framed. To minimise construction work and reveal the beauty of traditional Chinese wooden structure, we replaced the decayed roof and removed all the interior partitions. Two moveable furniture modules and one fixed module are placed under the new roof. With the moveable modules, the house can have four different layout options.
According to the needs of the residents, it can shift from a three bedrooms house to a small office. The facade can be open up to connect the living space and the outdoors.
The moveable modules are controlled by a smart TV. This TV system also controls lighting modes, curtains, security alarm and other home appliances.
Based on the strategy of minimal intervention, we use WikiHouse system for the only new built structure on site. It serves as the kitchen and toilet. The WikiHouse is an open-source project for building houses. It is lightweight and digitally fabricated. Its faster and cleaner construction process suits the crowded and noise sensitive neighbourhood very well.
Compared to many futuristic design, this tiny house is nothing close to future at the first look. But its humble appearance and user adaptive interior may reflect something about the future in the ancient capital.
