Cubes!

It’s almost time to start the house-hunting ritual that is practiced by we students not attached to dorm-life or greek housing.  I’ve decided this whole process is entirely too difficult or at the very least, inconvenient.  My suggestion? Let us set up some of these pre-fabricated, space-saving housing options at various spots on campus.  Dibs on the Diag.

I’ve fallen in love with the Rotor House by industrial designer, Luigi Colani for Hanse-Haus, a European pre-fabricated-construction company.  The entire structure is relatively small and resembles a sauna from the outside. Inside it features a series of rooms that rotate for exposure to the living room.  The bedroom, kitchen, and a bath tub room are all part of this massive turn-table while the bathroom is located seperately (and firmly) off to the side.  You can see more pictures at MOCOLOCO (design blog I Stumbled upon) and a floor plan here.

Trees!

Another option is this sexy number from San Francisco based Architect, Kyu Che – the Lifepod.  It was designed for “modern nomadic living” which sounds like student life to me.  Yes, they are small.  But still bigger than my dorm-room Freshman year.  And the pictures seem to indicate I could strap it between two oak trees at the Arb.  A definit plus.

If I had to choose, I'd be Jessie.

Okay – one more and then I’ve got to start calling property management companies.  Check out this trend of refurbishing old shipping containers into stylish apartments and houses.  Some of them get pretty intense, varying from the predictable house-in-a-box design to full arubix cube.  This could even be a DIY-project.  Bonus: I finally get to live out my fantasy of being one of the Boxcar Children.

-B.C.Bodnar