Everyone needs (or demands) their own bit of defensible space. In an increasingly urbanising world with living conditions becoming ever more dense, that space may not amount to much. Still, the diminutive dimensions of this private cloister (the smaller, the better, says the “good” urbanist) need not be boring, nor spatially simplistic.
On the contrary, such limitations give birth to innovative new designs, like architect Sigund Larsen‘s “Shrine” project, a small wonder of cabinetry that maximises style and function despite its negligible footprint.
Larsen says the design came from a need to store all his personal belongings, such as gadgets, keys a record player and a bottle of whisky. It should be sculptural yet fully operable, Larsen thought, impelling him to devise a cluster of adjacent, interconnected compartments that could collapse into a solid volume to save space. Using local oak wood, he fashioned the unit piecemeal, working out a complex configuration of internal “courtyards”, each of which could be accessed from the outside.
When opened, the resultant collage of projecting volumes and hinged spaces satisfy Larsen’s sculptural requisite without inhibiting operability. Larsen likens the pieces to a small house with sections “forced together” into a patchwork of drawers that can store all your little (and big) secrets. So whether you live in a studio apartment or a two-storey house, the Shrine becomes “your most private place in the house”.
Republished with permission from Architizer.