Finnish architect Marco Casagrande of Casagrande Laboratory is behind Tikku, a micro-apartment that can be built overnight and fit in a single parking space.
Created for Helsinki Design Week 2017, the three-floor structure is designed to producing its own solar energy and avoids the need for a water connection with dry toilets.
Tikku means “stick” in Finnish, referencing the building’s cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure, which is ballasted by a sand-box.
A 10cm-thick CLT exterior was used for the inaugural project, with 20cm-deep walls sufficient for cold winters without the need for insulation.
The first 1:1 scale Tikku prototype contained separate floors for sleeping, working and a green-house on top, with the functions and combinations of the modules able to include an office, shop, kitchen, sauna or workshop.
The team behind the project notes that it does not contain fresh water or plumbing, but say that “it will offer privacy, safety and comfort. All the rest of the functions can be found in the surrounding city”.
They added: “Many Tikku’s can grow side-by-side like mushrooms and they can fuse into larger organisms.”