A HOUSE FOR EXISTENZMINIMUM

 

 

Giambattista Vico was probably right: everything happens in cycles.

 

Who would have thought, just days ago, that “houses” 89sq.ft in area would be advocated and built and sold, in the USA, of all places…!?!

 

Yet, we read with astonishment that at least one company, Tiny Homes, builds such houses and sells them for something between 20,000 and 40,000.

 

Of course, in many parts of the world with this money you would build a much larger house, maybe even a “palace” in some “select” countries.

 

Anyway, small is coming back. Small is nice – some think. And small, indeed, is the maternal womb, where we all come from and which, we think, defines that sense of home we all aspire towards but never truly manage to arrive at.

 

As you can see in several of the pictures here one can live in a quite small space, especially if one is alone.

 

But at a time of “crisis”, one can do with less.

 

So we ask you to design A TINY HOUSE.

 

A HOUSE FOR EXISTENZMINIMUM.

 

But a house that is very different from the one herein illustrated.

 

Strange how retrograde these little houses are.

 

Why is it that even when the house is quite big the thinking behind it can be quite small…?

 

And why is it that this small thinking remains very small when the house is small too…?

 

Why not actually attempt to counterbalance the dimensions of the house (small) with the dimensions of the imagination and creativity invested in this small house…?!? That is, big…!?!

 

So yes, we invite you to create highly creative small houses, houses that do not repeat the tiring paradigms that the pictures herein illustrate.

 

Be creative, dear architect, be even provocative, think “out of the box.”

 

Create the smallest house, the most creative house.

 

Condensate the largest amount of imagination and creativity in the smallest house imaginable.

 

Create the paradigmatic SMALL HOUSE, one that cannot be further reduced.

 

Design THE TINIEST HOUSE, full of creativity, even exuberance, full of “wild imagination!!!”

 

Can one be “wild” in 89 sq. ft.…?

 

This is what we ask you to do: TO BE WILD IN 89 sq. ft.

 

Please send us ANY work, ANY size and ANY format that responds to the theme to works@icarch.us. We will publish all the projects received on our website, www.icarch.us. The deadline is February 15th, 2011. If you have any questions please contact us.

 

Thank you,

 

ICARCH Gallery