Project Description

In an increasingly dense cityscape, where traditional divisions of inhabitation are changing and old typologies fall short of an increasingly integrated dwelling methodology, how can we create connection for our urban communities?

Global urban communities are unique, powered by different desires, hopes and dreams. As such, facilitating the future resilience of community infrastructure as spatial identity is inherently fluid. Cubemunity embraces this fluidity, acting as a portable spatial transformer module, a kinetic structural shell in which in communities are able to build their own narratives of identity and connection.

Informed by the constraint of 10 cubic meters, and the limited spatial footprint available for small scale community interventions within our cityscapes, this project aimed to define a generous minimum where diverse community needs can be met. Drawing on a basic principle of relationality, Cubemunnity defines this minimum by using the human body as the primary unit of measurement for the structure.

Drawing on Inara Nevskaya’s principles of hard and soft dimensions, proportionality creates meaning. A suggestive height becomes a table, a place to read, rest and study. Add a tier of seats and the same surface becomes a level in a micro-amphitheatre. This allows the structure to remain loosely non-typological. This flexibility creates community resilience through providing for a diverse range of users, from educators and small business owners to children and families.

Using systems of passive transformation, Cubemunnity manipulates this relationality to offer community placemaking: collapsing down to just over 1 cubic meter and expanding outwards up to 9 cubic meters, the transformer acts as a hub for gathering, rest, work, learning and play. It may be a micro workshop or market stall during the day, a play space in the afternoon and a dining table in the evening. Unobtrusive when not in use and able to expand into a vibrant hub of connection, ritual and care, Cubemunnity takes on the cycles of those around it.

The transformer’s scalability enables it to be a powerful tool for the future resilience of community spaces. Cubemunnity’s streamlined, passive design methodology enables it to be constructed with entry-level or low experienced trade. Its metal frame and wooden panel system, with simple mechanical sliders instead of complex or motorised mechanisms, can be easily customised with locally sourced materials, contributing to sustainability and replicability. Its small spatial footprint when collapsed also enables easy transportation and the potential for manufacturing and distribution at scale. Returns agency to community codesign of the city, Cubemunnity lives and grows with those who live alongside it, a scalable solution to reactivating urban streetscapes for all.