Conditions in Europe are not yet what they are in Japan, even if London is fast closing on Tokyo or Osaka. But the Old Continent is fast catching up: The housing market in the metropolises and big cities is quite literally getting ever tighter. So why not turn to the Japanese for expert help, as they know all about urban densities? MINI presented a residential installation at the Salone del Mobile 2016 which it developed together with Yokohama architects ON design and the Berlin office of international engineering consultants Arup. The central issue addressed was how to live on an even smaller footprint? The answer of MINI LIVING: Shared space is double the space.
Together you have more
An apartment with only 30 square meters of space for everything: Kitchenette, workstation, living and sleeping area, and a bath. In a former industrial building at Milan’s Porta Genova MINI displayed a fully equipped and thoughtfully designed one-room apartment which included everything that today’s urbanites could need for their everyday lives. That said, when so many functions are housed in so few square meters things invariably get tight. The MINI LIVING concept centers on sharing in order to foster a pleasant sense of spaciousness all the same. The idea: Several such small units share communal zones outside the apartments themselves, spaces for social interaction and new experiences.
“How to creatively use the space?” is how MINI LIVING project manager Oke Hauser describes the approach. “The focus is on how to live innovatively in a small space and nevertheless not have to dispense with anything. Or rather to even gain added value by sharing things.” The “creative use of space” has been MINI’s credo since 1959 – which is why the MINI LIVING concept fits the marque so well.