Portland, OR
As part of a selection of 14 architects rethinking urban living, we selected the smallest of the 14 parcels: a 16′ x 16′ plot. The three story house (as interpreted through the building code) is actually a mini-tower with eight floors. Like a full-scale doll-house, the goal of occupying minimal space while enjoying maximum functionality becomes possible through the users’ curation of activities, objects and spatial relations.
The daily ritual of Miniature Living becomes a musical score where the horizontal lines become the useable surfaces and the notes become the human figure nimbly scaling up and down the staff.
Instead of literal floors, there are only ascending and descending surfaces specific to the metrics of the body. Unlike a ‘regular’ house where eating, sleeping, bathing, working, etc. are expressed by single-function rooms, programs are defined by the datums the occupy.
