This prototype modular living unit has been created by Italian designer, Luca Nichetto, and Toronto-based developer, Urban Central. The unit aims to combine all of your living spaces into a single component and introduces a new approach to modular housing.
The prototype has been named Cubitat and was on view at the Toronto Interior Design Show. It’s been inspired by real-life developments, such as the Wex River City 3 tower apartments, which feature a central island with bedrooms that can be closed up.
The aim with Cubitat was to create a modular living environment that was akin to the “plug-and-play” devices we use every day – to be able to take it with you when you move, and install it in your new home. The version featured at the Toronto Design Show was built off-site and then transported to via truck. Its design allows it to be split up into different components, that can then be reassembled at the owners location.
The cube is mostly finished in a matte laminate from Fenix, but also features wood in the bedroom area to bring a sense of warmth and homeliness: “It’s soft and tactile and with the wood it makes you feel at home.” The kitchen and bathroom have been finished with a more practical material – porcelain.
Cubitat features a kitchen with lots of storage cupboards, and it contains all the amenities you’d expect in an apartment. To the right of the kitchen you’ll find the living area with an inset TV and shelving. Just below the TV there’s a compartment that contains the bed, transforming the living room into a bedroom.
On the next face of the cube a door leads through to the interior of the unit, which holds a generously-sized bathroom, complete with toilet, bath and shower. The final wall of the Cubitat is dedicated entirely to storage with two large closets.
For more unusual living spaces, check out this small apartment in Japan that uses clothing to create partition walls. Or, this tiny house that features furniture stored within the walls. See all living spaces.
Via Inhabitat
Photos: Urban Capital
You can’t just take that cube and park it on the ground outside. You have to build a house around it. So for this one, thumbs down. It would be too expensive… foundation, house, and utility hook-ups, etc. Not worth it.
On the contrary, ingenious I’d say. I picture developers creating affordable open spaces within rental/condo buildings where dwellers can bring their “rooms” and orient them within the space to suit their needs/light requirements, etc. It would free up some of the developer’s budget to create better green spaces, decks, common areas. Possible to see more diversity in a building because it would vary what occupants brought as their moveable units, how they arranged them, degree of finish, etc. Potentially be a catalyst for an amazing dynamic of diversity in population & individual unit aesthetics as opposed to the stamped out version developers are forced to produce in order to make a building financially feasible.
Agree with Faune, and disagree with Linda on this.
A similar concept was done maybe 3 -4 years ago in France… but you went upstairs to the bedroom. I’d say on the whole, it is better done than this… and the one in France was a retrofit of an old garage into a house which brought the outdoors inside to a great extent.
Sorry, can’t recall the URL but I know it was NOT in Paris.
Do you ship to México City, what about the plumbling for the toilet,you’ll need a special instalation isn’t it?!Do you provide asesory?Can you give me the price pls??!!Thank you!