UNStudio proposes plug-in dwellings in munich with its van B residences

UNStudio reveals imagery of its proposed van B residences, sited along munich’s future creative quarter, the ‘kreativquartier.’ the ongoing work will offer a completely new housing type that reimagines the future of urban living. a prototype for modern city dwelling, van B is designed to cater to changing demographics and multiple family constellations. with its highly flexible apartments, outdoor and shared communal spaces and striking facade, van B will offer a new form of urban living.

images by bloomimages

UNStudio founder ben van berkel comments on the van B residences in munich: ‘what makes van B truly special and unique is that it offers a completely new form of ‘smart’ living. this is not smart in the usual sense of tech integration; it instead involves reinterpreting ideas from the digital world in order to improve the analogue, physical spaces we inhabit.’ the architect continues: ‘individual spaces in our homes have had to become multi-functional, serving as offices, gyms, living rooms and sleeping nooks, all at the same time. this means that now, more than ever before, we need to develop new living concepts that cater to the changing demands of our homes.’

in the design of its van B residences in munich, UNstudio notes that flexibility has become more important than sheer size. with van B, the team introduces new ways to make the footprint of an apartment more flexible by generating as many different possible ways to reconfigure a unit. to achieve this, an adaptable partition and furniture ‘plugin-based’ system is designed. this strategy allows homeowners to use the space in a 40 square-meter apartment almost as if it were a 60 square-meter loft. the van B plugin system allows the occupant to easily change the use of the same floor space in a matter of seconds, making it possible to transform a room from a generous office into a cozy living room or bedroom.

UNStudio’s munich van B residences challenge old conventions of square footage and fixed footprints to empower occupants to live in more flexible ways. quality meters become more important than square meters. the flexibility lies in the fact that each element can work in different configurations and that the resident can chose an individual configuration of plugins based on a catalogue of nine elements. in order to achieve this, a grid was devised upon which each element is based, as whenever one element is opened, the back of the other one needs to be adjacent to it. this means that no matter which elements the homeowner chooses, and no matter how they arrange them inside their apartment, the modules will work together, 


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project info:

project title: van B residences

architecture: UNStudio

location: muich, germany

design team: ben van berkel with jan schellhoff and julia gottstein, bart chompff, alexandra virlan, dimitra chatzipantazi, ana maldonado, patrik noomé
 

local architect: BKLS architekten

landscape architect: andreas kübler und partner

cost and quantity surveying: leitwerk AG

structure: ingenieurgesellschaft albrecht + brettfeld mbh

MEP: IB schmidbauer planungsgesellschaft haustechnik mbh & MTM-plan gmbh

fire safety: brandschutzservice zobel gmbh

status: ongoing

visualisations: bloomimages