(October 9, 2017) NEW YORK — Mini Living Urban Cabin will be on view in the outdoor courtyard at A/D/O until Nov.  22. Designed by Mini Living in collaboration with New York-based architecture firm Bureau V, Mini Living Urban Cabin at A/D/O aims to offer a solution to the modern challenges of urban living in the form of a micro-living, shared-housing concept.

Mini founded A/D/O as a creative space dedicated to exploring new boundaries in design. A/D/O aims to stimulate great design and be a prolific source of new ideas that improve urban life.

The Urban Cabin is a compact micro-house (approximately 160 square feet) designed to fit up to two people, featuring transformational aspects that enable both moments of privacy and interactions with the outside world in a clever and charming way.

First launched at the London Design Festival 2017, Urban Cabin is an ongoing project that explores the future of urban habitats based on the creative use of space. As a means of this exploration, the Mini Living team has designed the micro-house as a research space for relevant urban needs and local cultures.

As the Urban Cabin moves locations, the Mini Living design team partners with architects in each city to learn and explore what is unique about their hometown. These local architects then create Kitchen and Experience rooms in each city’s Urban Cabin.

One of today’s biggest challenges is the global crisis of forced migration, which has reached a record high. While this crisis involves numerous complex issues, at its core is a question of home. Millions of people from all over the globe call New York City home, making it one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. The collaboration between Mini Living and Bureau V at A/D/O in New York City addresses the question of “home” through the Urban Cabin, which creates a respite for the urban citizen, providing a sense of comfort and humor.

“The iridescent surface of Urban Cabin plays with the angle of vision, your point of view on New York. Like when you are walking through the city - the colors are changing while you´re moving. The interior is a room of inspiration and surprising interaction designed to evaluate the personal needs of the NYC urbanite. It is crucial to our design process that we truly understand what makes living in this specific city unique,” explained Corinna Natter, Experience Designer MINI LIVING.

Bureau V’s additional “kitchen” and “experience room” combine assertive and rigid forms with expressive colors and plush materials, seeking to “add a dose of humor and to provide some respite from the stress of relocation,” according to Stella Lee, Principal of Bureau V. “In addition to its contribution to human well-being and to the lowering of stress levels, humor plays a vital role in the contemporary media landscape, providing a powerful vehicle for cultural and political criticism,” says Peter Zuspan, Principal of Bureau V.

“Mini Living believes that the creative use of space is key to finding new approaches for the cities we love,” says Oke Hauser, Creative Lead of Mini Living. “In an increasingly generic urbanized world, we can use design to turn spaces into useful and significant places for the city; places that offer specific local characteristics and functions to create a unique identity on various experiential layers.”

To complement the Urban Cabin installation, A/D/O will host a series of events and workshops throughout the month of October, which will focus on topics of a changing residential landscape and further development of the Urban Cabin into an inhabitable concept for 2018. The events will culminate in a workshop with AIANY’s New Practices New York committee on Oct. 27 at 12 p.m., as part of a series entitled “New Local: Finding Ground in an Uncertain World.” Additional programming information is available at a-d-o.com.

“Our aim at A/D/O is to provoke debate about where the world is headed and examine the role that design plays in steering us toward progress,” says Nate Pinsley, Managing Director, A/D/O. “The Urban Cabin encourages us to challenge stale assumptions about housing and demand fresh solutions that respond to new lifestyles, culture and demographics.”