Walls move toward sustainability

For every kid who dreamed of living in the House of Tomorrow, Hong Kong native Gary Chang is bringing those dreams one step closer to reality and laying the groundwork for future architects. His designs make the most of a resource that is becoming scarce in many world cities: space. 

As populations continue to rise, creative and practical solutions will be needed to provide every citizen with satisfactory housing. Hong Kong, a city of seven million people, is among the most densely populated areas in the world. Apartments here are typically smaller than 700 square feet and rent costs the average resident nearly two-thirds of his or her monthly income. Many residents end up living in glorified chicken cages hardly wide enough for a mattress. While some try to remedy cramped conditions with shelves, wide mirrors and new paint schemes, Chang decided to break down walls and build 24 rooms in one. He calls his home "Domestic Transformer" and it features sliding walls, folding furniture and hidden appliances. Chang's company, Edge Design Institute, explores other flexible housing systems.

In a house like the Domestic Transformer, concerns might arise when one person needs the bathroom while everyone else is enjoying breakfast in the kitchen. Western culture values its privacy. Even spacious, multi-room homes, however, can benefit from a flexible groundwork. Designs that have a Swiss army knife mentality save material, money and time. Nationwide, construction and demolition debris is estimated to produce between one quarter and one third of all waste. One study conducted by the New York Department of Sanitation found that construction and demolition accounted for more than 60% of the city's solid waste stream. Transformable homes make remodeling easy. Need to add a third bedroom? In lieu of calling on a wrecking ball, you can move the walls using your own two hands.

Another concern would be making sure that all building materials come from renewable resources. The energy efficiency of flexible housing would be negated if the parts contained toxic materials or needed to be replaced every three years. Three companies, Haworth, KI and DIRTT, design walls made from durable, recycled materials. DIRTT makes a variety of flexible walls, KI sells the Genius Wall and Haworth's LifeSPACE even supports electrical cabling. All three companies currently market their products toward commercial spaces, but Chang's innovation shows how the same technology might be applied to residential spaces as well.

Sliding panels, for example, have long been a staple of Japanese architecture. Made of wood or rice paper, these elegantly simple panels save space and provide a natural means of temperature control. The panel material can be changed alongside the seasons to conserve heat or encourage air flow. On a wider scale, flexible housing might allow cities to build smaller homes, curb urban sprawl and devote more land to uses such as community gardens. Green spaces have been shown to lower stress levels and provide cool sinks in the summer, and in a world where you live elbow to elbow with your neighbors, conserving open land becomes even more important.