designboom book report: micro very small buildings

____________________________________________________________________________________

bigger is not always better.

‘micro very small buildings’ is a survey of over 50 newer and lesser known projects from

around the globe. many of the works contain only a few spaces, but in a lot of cases,

they are often presented as single spaces.

author ruth slavid takes a look at the little guys, literally, noting works which are humble in size.

sure, the spaces are constrained, but the ideas are not. from ‘serious’ structures to more

‘artful’ pieces, the book covers projects which fall into 5 chapters of overlapping themes:

public realm, community spaces, on the move, compact living and extra space. each chapter

starts out with historical examples that fit under the theme, and moves into the more modern

and contemporary works that are of our time.

ranging from the more classically conventional with jay shafer’s XS house (USA),

a simple house that allows one to divest themselves from excessive consumption, to the more

eccentric like carlosmartinez architekten, schlafhhaus(SP) a habitable pod that looks like it came

from the space age, slavid shows us that even within the smallest of spaces, we can make things work.

even those who are not architecture buffs will enjoy this book, which is beautifully illustrated with

pictures and the occasional technical drawing. it will definitely get you to think about reconsidering

the way we design and use space.

‘microdwellings’ by N55, denmark

‘sauna box’ by castor canadensis, canada

‘schlafhaus’ by carlosmartinez architekten, spain

‘miele space station’ by 2012 architecten, the netherlands

_________________________________________________________________________________________

designboom ratings: ……………………. interesting ………………. good read, worth a look …………. very good ……. excellent, recommended . must have _________________________________________________________________________________________