2.5³ is a Multifunctional Living Cube for Contemporary Nomadism

October 23, 2014

2.5³ is Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke‘s proposal for living minimally. The multifunctional space reduces life’s material needs down to the bare essentials and follows ideas of utopian thinking from the 60s and 70s, when many architects and designers were working on modular and mobile living structures. Perfect for small homes or as a functional island within a large loft or warehouse space, this cubic wooden structure will let you sleep, eat, relax and work within its reduced design.

Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke, minimal living unit, 2,5³, Viennese design, Papanek, multifunctional living space, wooden cube, Contemporary Nomadism

Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke based their cube on various visionaries’ concepts. The research included an investigation on Ken Isaacs’s ‘How to Build Your Own Living Structures’, Joe Colombo’s ‘Total Furnishing Unit’, and off course, Papanek and Hennessey’s ‘Living Cube’ concept. But unlike Papanek and Hennessy’s design, which included one cube per function, the Viennese designers successfully overlapped several functions into just one unit.

Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke, minimal living unit, 2,5³, Viennese design, Papanek, multifunctional living space, wooden cube, Contemporary Nomadism

2.5³ offers a space for sleeping, eating, relaxing and working within just 8.2 feet in each direction. Made entirely from pinewood, it can be cut off-site, assembled on-site and put together in just an hour, offering all your necessities right at hand.

Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke, minimal living unit, 2,5³, Viennese design, Papanek, multifunctional living space, wooden cube, Contemporary Nomadism

The designers explain the cult for owning less and how we need to adapt to contemporary necessities: “In our concept the spatial idea that has dramatically changed by the use of notebooks, smart-phones and the web, play an important role. To shorten this, we just need less space, as there are less books, less paper, no fax, no television and so on.”

Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke, minimal living unit, 2,5³, Viennese design, Papanek, multifunctional living space, wooden cube, Contemporary Nomadism

Another important aspect in the project is the cult of movement, they continue, “We want to move, to travel, to take new jobs, be more independent. So we have also to minimize our belongings and habits.” Following this idea, their multifunctional cube consists of a desk, that can be changed to a kitchen, a rolling cupboard, that can be unfolded to an eating table, a bed, a big cupboard for clothes, a drawer, and a special chair with the height of the kitchen/desk.

But there’s more: The whole cube can be closed with textiles for extra privacy and it could also be climbed offering a perfect spot for reading a book or just take a different perspective on life.

Would you like your own cube? 2.5³ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and there is a free downloadable version online, here!

Find out more about this Viennese duo here.

Photos courtesy of Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke

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