

An Architect Squeezes 24 Rooms Into 344 Square Feet (Video) - BrentRitterbeck
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/03/an-architect-squeezes-24-rooms-into-344-square-feet-video/72775/

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olalonde
Why do reporters constantly feel compelled to use the words "green" and "eco"
in every situation they can? This has absolutely nothing to do with ecology,
it's simply about optimizing space usage in a city where space is extremely
expensive. I guess talking about green stuff sells more.

~~~
kovar
This is a very good example of "eco-friendly", and the word "green" was never
used.

It is eco-friendly for various reasons. Two major ones are:

\- The lighting is mostly natural, so there is less energy use \- The space
required per person, and thus the associated materials, is significantly less
than a typical US living space. Further, less space means less heating/cooling
requirements.

~~~
olalonde
> the word "green" was never used.

\- The title of the video is "The World's _Greenest_ Homes"

\- [...] is what shaped architect Gary Chang's _green_ philosophy [...]

People in Hong Kong don't live in tight spaces because they are green but
because space is very expensive.

~~~
kovar
Upvote to you. I'd downvote myself if I could. My bad. I was going off of the
video only....

Yes, this isn't by choice, but lack of choice doesn't mean that it is not eco
friendly.

~~~
olalonde
Right. The result is in fact probably eco-friendly :) What annoys me a bit is
I feel we are trying to force the "eco-friendly" virtue a bit too much on
people who are doing nothing more than pursue their own self-interest (which I
believe is perfectly fine and desirable).

~~~
guptaneil
Isn't eco-friendly also in our own self-interest? ;)

~~~
olalonde
Yes it is. That's all the beauty of capitalism :)

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pgbovine
this is a great inspirational hack because:

1.) it scratches an important personal itch (having to live his whole life in
a crowded urban apartment)

2.) it demonstrates resourcefulness and ingenuity given the (literal!)
constraints

3.) the lessons he learned from hacking his own apartment could be used to
improve urban living spaces in general

this is a reminder that hacks don't necessarily need to be hosted on github ;)

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mhb
He should get rid of those CDs so he can have another six rooms.

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zephjc
A stumbling block: effectiveness decreases as the number of concurrent
occupants increases

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geuis
This is something like 2-3 years old.

~~~
wyclif
It's also a dupe. I've seen this video on HN at least two times previously.

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spectre
Cool idea, but unless there is some system to lock the walls into place, this
would be very dangerous in an earthquake. I've seen a number of high density
file systems (same idea but just files) that caused significant safety issues
in the recent Christchurch Earthquake.

~~~
yannickmahe
AFAIK, Hong Kong is a fairly safe place earthquake wise. The main natural
danger there is the typhoons.

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iM8t
Well... This is quite cool for 1 person, but how about if a family would live
in that kind of apartment? You're watching TV and suddenly your kid has to go
to the bathroom..

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dlokshin
I wonder what this guy could have gotten had he taken all the money he spent
on his high tech setup and just bought a bigger, nicer apartment.

~~~
wladimir
Look at this with more of a hacker spirit: experimentation is not a waste of
money, but important for discovering new ideas that can further the state of
the art.

Building/construction is a sector that has been stuck innovation-wise for a
very long time. Or at least goes very slow compared to other areas of tech.

It might be one step along to programmable, self-reconfiguring houses of the
future.

~~~
FEBlog
If you a interested in self-reconfiguring houses and furniture check out this
Swiss research <http://biorob.epfl.ch/page-36376.html>

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ck2
There's something wrong about doing all that around complete poverty. How much
did he spend creating it?

No family could live like that, everyone would need a different mode.

I live in 400 square feet, can't imagine a family living here, it would be
rough.

~~~
cheez
Now having one of those for each family member would be friggin cool. My kids
would love it.

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hardy263
Although it would decrease the "greenness" of the home, I can imagine that
making the walls motor-powered would make room switching easier. You could
integrate a master controller into the wall with options for which room you
want to switch to.

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joelrunyon
did anyone else read this and think that there were going to be 24 actual
rooms you could physically walk into at 1 time?

