The MINI LIVING – Breathe installation. MINI creates a resource-conscious living concept on a minimal footprint.

Munich/Milan. Attractive places to live are in
increasingly short supply in today’s cities. And when it comes to
those living spaces, the responsible use of resources is an issue of
gathering urgency. MINI has teamed up with New York architects SO – IL
to present a visionary solution to this two-pronged challenge. The
installation MINI LIVING – Breathe is a
forward-thinking interpretation of resource-conscious, shared city
living within a compact footprint. “MINI LIVING – Breathe calls into
question conventional living concepts and introduces a creative
problem-solving approach for future challenges in urban areas,”
explains Esther Bahne, Head of Brand Strategy and Business Innovation
MINI. “The installation shows what happens when we view houses not
only as a space in which to live, but as an active part of our
environment – one which plays a positive role for the environment and
the people living there.”

 

MINI LIVING – Breathe: living, reinvented.

In keeping with MINI’s adherence to the principles “Creative use of
space” and “Minimal footprint”, the installation creates an attractive
living area for up to three people on a previously unused
50-square-metre urban plot. A modular metal frame forms the basic
structure of MINI LIVING – Breathe, and a flexible, light-permeable
outer skin creates the boundary between inside and outside. A total of
six potential rooms and a roof garden provide space for personal fulfilment.

 

On the ground floor, a kitchen area acts as a spatial and social
interface with the area around the installation – i.e. the outside of
the world. It welcomes guests, brings people together and encourages
them to engage with one another. Above it are various living areas,
spread over three levels in all, which offer an inviting place to both
relax and work. Sleeping areas, a potential wet area and the roof
garden flesh out the installation’s upper reaches. The individual
living areas are separated by light-permeable textile walls. This
translucency allows people in other rooms to make out silhouettes and
movements, and creates a feeling of connectedness and togetherness.
But it also grants residents a sense of privacy, if preferable.

 

MINI LIVING – Breathe: the house as an active ecosystem.

However, the installation offers more than an attractive living
space: “The approach we took with MINI LIVING – Breathe extends far
beyond purely a living concept,” says Oke Hauser, Creative Lead of
MINI LIVING. “We view the installation as an active ecosystem, which
makes a positive contribution to the lives and experiences of the
people who live there and to the urban microclimate, depicted here by
the intelligent use of resources essential to life – i.e. air, water
and light.”

 

The MINI LIVING – Breathe installation enhances the microclimate in
urban areas. Its flexible outer skin has a special coating which
filters and neutralises the air. Plus, the roof garden uses vigorous
oxygen-producing plants to further improve air quality and the urban microclimate.

 

The outer skin is translucent, too. It floods the installation with
daylight, ensuring a bright and pleasant atmosphere inside. An
intelligent construction on the roof collects rainwater to be used
later and taken from a tap, for example. The structure is mobile and
adaptable. It is designed to be disassembled and installed at another
location. The fabric is interchangeable, and can be replaced with one
that performs appropriately to different climates.

 

“MINI LIVING – Breathe brings its residents into direct contact with
their environment. By making living an active experience, the
installation encourages visitors to confront our tendency to take
resources for granted,” adds Ilias Papageorgiou, Principal at SO – IL.

 

MINI LIVING – Breathe: Salone del Mobile 2017.

Visitors to the Salone del Mobile on Via Tortona 32 in Milan, Italy,
can experience MINI LIVING – Breathe from 4–9 April 2017
inclusive. The fringe programme for the installation has been put
together by the brand’s own A/D/O design research platform. At
its home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, A/D/O offers designers, architects,
creatives and start-ups a 2,000-square-metre space to dream up
innovative products – within an ambitious programme – that responds to
the most pressing social issues we face.

 

MINI will show a further MINI LIVING installation at A/D/O in New
York in the second half of 2017.

 

MINI LIVING.

MINI LIVING is an initiative launched in 2016 as a creative platform
for MINI to develop architectural solutions for future urban living
spaces. Last year,

MINI LIVING showcased visionary concepts for shared and collaborative
living/lifestyles/working in urban areas through the installations
MINI LIVING – Do Disturb (at the Salone del Mobile in Milan) and MINI
LIVING – Forests (at the London Design Festival). MINI LIVING –
Breathe is the third installation created as part of the initiative.