The tiny house, aVOID, built by Leonardo Di Chiara, a 27-year-old Italian architect and engineer, has a very modest footprint of 97 ft² (9 m²). Despite its diminutive size, the architect has still managed to squeeze all the functions you need from a home into this compact dwelling.
The house, composed of a single room lacking any furniture, is made functional through the activation of wall-mounted mobile devices, enabling different uses of the living space. The reclining bed also serves as a sofa and becomes a bench when used in conjunction with the foldable table.
Photo: Giacomo Terraciano (c)
“Every single element inside aVOID was designed and manufactured as a unique piece for my tiny house. The foldable mattress, the safety windows, the reclining sink, and even the trailer where the iron frame perfectly combines with the upper wooden frame of the house were developed using an artisanal method. This precise customization, which makes aVOID a very special living space, resulted in a very high cost for all the construction processes, calculated to be around €40,000 (about $47,500). I am now working to understand how industrialization and standardization can reduce the costs of production without completely losing a certain level of personalization,” Leonardo Di Chiara said.
Living inside the little house isn’t just minimalist for the young Italian:
“Rather, it feels like an intimate relationship that, over the past few months, has brought me into direct contact with my first creation as an architect. Often, I find myself stopping to think, observing the space in its different functional arrangements. The living experience allows me to verify, test, and modify the house, enhancing it with new solutions. For this reason, I call aVOID an ‘open’ prototype: a work-in-progress construction site. The tiny house is like a short instruction manual for reductionism. It teaches and encourages you to let go of unnecessary things, to consume less water and energy, to put your clothes back in their place, and to wash the dishes immediately after eating. The void, which is obtained by closing all the wall-mounted furniture again, is the refuge of my creativity. The absence of any visual distraction caused by personal objects or daily business makes room for my imagination, which is reflected in my future designs.”
Photo: Anna Fontanet Castillo (c)
Photo: tinyhouse360.de (C)
Leonardo Di Chiara has been touring his tiny house since March 2018. The tour includes seven stages connecting Germany, Switzerland, and Italy in a journey starting from the Bauhaus Campus in Berlin and ending in Rome. The tiny house will be hosted by museums, such as the HfG-Archiv in Ulm; as part of events, like a city installation during the Salone del Mobile; and by institutions like the Goethe-Institut in Rome. If you are interested in learning more about the architect’s tiny living experience, you can follow him on his aVOID Facebook page.
Photo: tinyhouse360.de (C)
