Tight quarters aren’t what you expect from the architect who dubbed his studio BIG (for Bjarke Ingels Group). As Ingels and his friend Søren Rose, the interior designer, tell it, the two Danes about New York were road-tripping in the Catskills when they struck up a conversation about the need among urbanites for country escapes that are both basic and beautiful. Rose, who in addition to running his own design studio is a serial entrepreneur, was so taken with the idea that he launched his latest company, Klein, with a goal to “reinvent the tiny house.”
The plan? To enlist the world’s leading architects and sustainability experts to create thoughtfully designed, self-powered houses with small footprints. Naturally, Rose enlisted Ingels and his team to come up with the first: an A-frame with twist known as the A45, composed of parts that flat pack, so that it can be delivered anywhere in the world. It’s also completely solar powered. The prototype was just unveiled in a patch of woods in upstate New York. Come see.
Above: The design was named the A45 because Ingels reimagined the classic A-frame by turning it 45 degrees to gain more floor space and higher walls. The prefabricated, flat-packed sections are assembled on site and include a subfloor, a timber frame (over which weatherproof canvas is stretched), and a triangular, seven-paneled window wall. The building materials are all recyclable.
“The structure is slightly elevated on four concrete piers that give optimal support and allow homeowners to place their tiny house in even the most remote areas,” notes Rose
Above: The interior is 180 square feet but feels larger thanks to the 13-foot ceiling. The structure is designed to operate off the grid and is heated by a Morsø woodstove (for sourcing, see 10 Easy Pieces).
An all-star cast of Scandinavian workshops pitched in on the project. Carl Hansen, for instance, supplied many of the furnishings, such as the Wishbone chairsWishbone chairs. Each element, from the frame to the Douglas fir flooring (by Dinesen), is available à la carte, so owners can customize the dwellings as wished.
Above: The streamlined bed doubles as the sofa, and there’s also a sleeping loft. (To find more wooden platform beds go to 10 Easy Pieces.) Above: The walls are lined in dark brown cork, which, in addition to being a natural insulator and sound absorber, adds an organic, textured look. The quilt is a Søren Rose Studio design made from Kvadrat fabric. Admiring the camp gear? The hanging Lumberlander Blanket, painted Axes, and The Waxed Canvas Camp Stool are from Best Made Co. Above: Handmade wooden kitchen specialists KBH Københavns Møbelsnedkeri (which translates as Copenhagen Joinery) supplied the built-in kitchenette. Above: KBH detailed the all-oak design with an overhead cabinet and pullout wooden cutting boards (when one is placed atop the sink, as shown here, it becomes a work counter). Above: The bathroom is all cedar, down to the trough sink. Above: The brass fixtures are by Vola and the brass-framed mirror is the KBH Mirror. Above: A low wooden table echoes the design of the bed frame.
Above L and R: Every side of the multifaceted structure is different: “from certain angles it looks like a cube but from other angles like a spire,” says Ingels. Above: “Oftentimes weekend getaways become so extensive that we end up ruining the nature that attracted us in the first place,” says Ingels. “We wanted to create a rural outpost with the smallest possible footprint for maximum immersion in the wild.”
We were not able to get pricing information, but suffice it to say this is a high-minded rather than budget-oriented proposition. Go to Klein to make inquiries.
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