Air BnB for Breadline Africa

This project was a competition entry for Airbnb. Airbnb's brief was a home inspired by an object or creature (such as a shoe home). In collaboration with Colab Concepts (https://www.colabconcepts.net/) I designed an accommodation for Breadline Africa, a South African NPO. Breadline had intended to create an adaptable accommodation using a shipping container, and saw the competition as an opportunity for potential funding. Therefore, we needed to design a shipping container accommodation inspired by an object or creature. The conceptual premise of our design is to create a building which can adapt to the changing climate into the future. We want to create a modular habitable space, that is a seasonally adaptive building that responds to the climate, as the physical environment changes. We are inspired by a lizard on a rock. Reptiles are ectotherms who rely on ambient thermal heterogeneity to regulate their internal temperatures - by basking in sunlight to become warm, and moving to shade to cool down. We have designed a building that can fully hibernate into a cave-like structure, or adapt to bask in the sunlight and open up into the landscape. The home is connected to its landscape. This is conceived as a modular typology that can change and morph and be connected wherever it is placed. It is also a space that is inspired by a child’s imagination. A space that allows the inhabitant to be creative, connected, social, introspective… free The recycled shipping container dynamically moves and shifts in and out of the thermal mass core. This shift could happen daily or seasonally, operated by the inhabitant based on immediate needs. The interior of the container is flexible : two convertible bed-couches sit at either end, leaving the rest of the space open to the specific interpretation of the user. There is no plumbing or drainage to/from the container. Photovoltaic panels provide the unit with electricity. The ambiguity of the container is sustainable in the event that it is reused for different purposes. The northern side of the container can open up completely, allowing the inhabitants to connect with the context.