It all starts with the Japanese startup Not a hotel, which rethinks the ownership of holiday homes used only for a limited number of days per year. Within the startup’s numerous projects, Not a Hotel Anywhere also came to life, an experimental project by the Japanese studio DDAA founded by Daisuke Motogi.
Starting from the client’s request to design a new, mobile and location-independent way of living, the designers responded by developing a concept based on the use of vintage caravans as living spaces. The basic idea was to propose a more fulfilling way of living than conventional housing, where one can choose a vehicle according to one’s needs and take it on the road without being tied to a particular place.
Two larger vehicles among the five refurbished this time were manufactured by Spartan, and the other three were camping trailers manufactured by Airstream in the 1950s. Each vehicle has one function – such as a bedroom, kitchen or study – that has been reconfigured for use within the vehicle. A large tarpaulin suspended between the vehicles makes it possible to create a large open-air living room, while on rainy days the vehicle’s large bedroom is transformed into a living area.
At the strong request of the customer, among the functions that were conceived was the sunakku, a snack bar typical of the Showa era and still permeating the typical Japanese night culture.
The sunakku, with its characteristic décor, is a lively place of exchange, where what we would call the ‘innkeeper’ interacts with customers at the counter who enjoy conversation and karaoke. The space has been furnished with high upholstered stools covered in velvet, a karaoke monitor and solid, luxurious furniture.
In order to enjoy the scenery and allow a 360-degree view through the windows, the designers chose to concentrate all functions in the lower part of each caravan, so as not to have interfering functional volumes above the living level. The larger furniture units, which protrude into the upper part of the caravan, are all designed with mesh or transparent materials or reduced volumes.
To ensure thermal insulation, the walls are filled with glass wool and soft, ultralight foam material called PE foam, which follows and moves with the curved surfaces without cracking and is fixed to the wall with washer screws.
Photo © Kenta Hasegawa, NewColor
