Glass walls are a huge trend in interior design – many people nowadays opt to have an entire wall of their house made purely out of glass, especially if they are surrounded by beautiful scenery. But what happens when you crave a little privacy? What if you miss the ability to shut yourself away, so you’re not in full view of the world?
There’s now a tiny little cabin that allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds, thanks to Olson Kundig Architects. This group is famous for taking a slightly unconventional approach to residential buildings, blurring the lines between inside and out.
Their exciting new cabin is very basic: it’s just one single, open room for living and sleeping, with a kitchenette and bathroom hidden away in the only enclosed space in the cabin. Three of the four walls are made entirely of glass, giving the illusion that you’re outside at all times. Surrounded by the amazing wilderness of the Puget Sound, the views are quite breathtaking.
But if there’s a point where you feel a little exposed, and want to close yourself off to your surroundings and simply enjoy the solitude and cosiness of your own small cabin, it’s quite simple. The oversized shutters surrounding the cabin pull up effortlessly, so you can hide yourself away and enjoy a private meal, a good film or an excellent night’s sleep.
The folding theme doesn’t stop there – there’s a Murphy bed which can be folded down from the only interior wall, meaning there’s also the possibility for the cabin to be rented out as a guesthouse or holiday let.
The folding homes trend
Folding homes are not a particularly new idea – but they’re really starting to become a viable way to either live, or spend your time. Blu Homes is a company in California which uses computer modelling to create ‘flat-pack homes’, which fold up in the factory and are then are unfolded into full-size homes when they arrive at their destination.
A similar Russian company, Dahir Insaat, has a similar offering, creating houses on wheels, which can be folded up into a truck-like configuration, which can then be pulled away effortlessly. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘mobile home’! These constructions come with all the mod cons, and a single story home gives you 1,500 square feet of space. The company say the buildings are most often used as seasonal dwellings, as well as portable offices, tourist centres and even mobile warehouses.
Will the folding house trend catch on in the UK? The technology is certainly there – it remains to be seen whether the public will make use of it.
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