Living in just 9 square meters, it seems impossible, but Leonardo Di Chiara, a 27-year-old young architect and engineer from Pesaro, has studied and designed “aVOID“, the first tiny mobile house entirely developed and built in Italy thanks to the collaboration of Häfele and Schüco Italia. Inspired by the equilibrium of the void, from which it takes its name, aVOID is a prototype of a house on wheels that in just 9 square meters encloses every necessary comfort for everyday living.
aVOID will be present in Milan from 17 to 22 April, in the area of ​​Piazza Castello and Parco Sempione with talk and experiences of living tests.

The aVOID project

aVOID is presented as a simple room developed longitudinally, devoid of any furniture, but which, through the use of Häfele retractable mechanisms, is transformed responding perfectly to all the functions of a house.
The folding bed becomes the first sofa for the study corner and then, combined with the folding table, turns into a comfortable bench for two people. Thanks to a system of pull-down doors, the wall disappears, leaving space for an equipped kitchen with LED lighting, extractor hood, concealed sink, hob and storage shelves. The large French window with three doors on the southern front, designed by Schüco Italia, allows both the natural lighting of the space and its total opening towards the outside. The front window on the back, with concealed profiles to give maximum brightness, and the glazed opening that allows access to the terrace are also made by Schüco. A small bathroom in okumè houses the services and a shower designed to minimize the consumption of water. A retractable staircase finally allows access to the roof creating a suggestive corner.
“The 9 square meters - explains Leonardo Di Chiara - correspond by law to the minimum size of a single room in Italy. With this reference I would like to underline the need to rethink the housing standards of our homes, still linked to the provisions of the 1975 Decree, which take into consideration only the floor area without evaluating the quality of the space both in functional and technological terms “.
The proposal of aVOID is aimed at promoting the discussion on the sustainability of living in relation to the needs of contemporary society, and is today the protagonist of a touring tour that will cross Europe from Berlin to Rome in 2018, including among the many stages also Milan for the Fuorisalone.

Micro living: the perspective of Häfele and Schüco Italia

The reduction of living space is now transforming the way of living the home. Flexibility, functionality, beauty and comfort have become the fundamental factors of all companies that address the social, cultural and architectural possibilities of micro living. Supporting the design of aVOID, Häfele and Schüco Italia have embraced the principles of micro living, deepening the aspect of the industrialization of its construction process.
“For many years Häfele - explains Gianfilippo Borella, Marketing Manager Häfele Italia - is dealing with the global trend of urbanization and concentration of living space. On smaller surfaces the imperative is now more versatility and functionality. These objectives can be achieved thanks to systems and mechanisms that are able to satisfy design and adaptability requirements. The sponsorship of aVOID is therefore part of the conceptual path that our group has undertaken on this subject. The collaboration with Di Chiara has allowed us to express the ability of our mechanisms and our solutions to make the multi-purpose spaces, extremely versatile and transformable according to the housing needs. “
“The trends of living are in continuous and ever faster evolution - comments Roberto Brovazzo, General Manager Schüco Italia - and it is a duty for those involved in innovation in designing to investigate new ways of living spaces, both domestic and urban. Contributing to the implementation of aVOID has allowed us to explore the most revolutionary aspects of mobile living, dealing with on one hand with reduced spaces to be interpreted from both the aesthetic and sustainable, on the other with new concepts of urban planning and use of the city soil“.