Tricycle House

Year: 2012
Category: Concepts · Architecture +Mobility
Type: Residential
Status: Built
Firm: People’s Architecture Office
Location: Beijing, China

In China private ownership of land does not exist, therefore the Tricycle House suggests a future embrace of the temporary relationship between people and the land they occupy. In a crowded Chinese city, the Tricycle House makes single family housing affordable and sustainable, parking lots are used at night for living, and traffic jams can be acceptable as living can happen while moving. As a construction method we experimented with folded plastic. The entire house is cut and scored with a CNC router and then folded and welded into shape.

The plastic, polypropylene, can be folded without losing its strength. Therefore the house can open up to the outside, expand like an accordion for more space, and connect to other houses. The Tricycle House can be man-powered or battery powered and operates off-the-grid. Facilities in the house include a sink and stove, a bathtub, a water tank, and furniture that can transform from a bed to a dining table to a counter top. The sink, stove, and bathtub can collapse into the front wall of the house. The Tricycle House reduces private living to the smallest footprint and promotes sustainable living by taking advantage of public resources.

Public parks replace personal gardens, public toilets replace private toilets, parking spaces replace land-owning, and through the translucent exterior the interior is lit by sunlight during the day and street lighting at night. A Tricycle Garden also partners the Tricycle House. The garden can be planted with not only grass but trees and vegetables. The front of the garden doubles as tricycle seating in order to maximize green space. And several gardens can be combined to form a large public green space