Adam Kalkin is an architect and artist who is unveiling his Push Button House, a shipping container with motorized walls that unfold like an elaborate Murphy bed to reveal an unexpectedly muted interior with refined furnishings. one he says, "It works like a flower - you push a button and the thing transforms itself." "Mr. Kalkin is also using containers for humanitarian purposes, most notably a series of recreation centers for underprivileged children in Russia. Mr. Kalkin created the design pro bono for Natalia Vodianova, a fashion model whose charity, the Naked Heart Foundation, has raised $500,000 to build the first one next year in Nizhny Novgorod, Ms. Vodianova's hometown and Russia's third largest city, which has agreed to provide a 20-acre plot near the city center.Mr. KalkinPingry School in Martinsville, N.J. The idea was to create a safe, defensible space in the event of war or disaster while also providing a teaching tool. Each dwelling unit, capable of housing up to 40 people, is made up of eight containers stacked on two levels and positioned around a communal courtyard covered by a roof made with parachute fabric. Students are helping to build a prototype on campus. Source
Information on other projects by Adam Kalkin is at www.architectureandhygiene.com
Labels: Innovations, novel architecture