If life in a future megacity isn’t for you, your hour of escape is fast approaching. Especially if you don’t mind living alone in a 14 x 7 x 7-foot pod. Well, what if I told you the view was fantastic?
Ecocapsule, which calls itself “the first truly independent micro-home,” is a new, teeny tiny smart home powered entirely by the sun and the wind. It can serve as your beachfront cottage, stylish mountaineering tent, or modern day yurt. You can take it just about anywhere, hitched to the back of your electric car — which, by the way, the Ecocapsule’s 9700 Watt-hour battery will happily charge for you.
As with most smart homes, clever features abound: The capsule has membrane water filters installed into its upper surface, which remove bacteria from rainwater before funelling it to a designated tank beneath the floor. The walls are padded with high performance thermal insulation, helping to reduce energy requirements and maintain a comfortable indoor temperature. It’s even got a proper loo, for those who were always averse to going in the woods.
The design itself is simple, modern, and elegant — pretty much what you’d expect for a pod that looks like it wants to be the prototype for future living habitats on the moon or Mars.
Ecocapsule goes on public display during the Pioneers festival in Vienna next week, and will be available for order later this year. The company has not revealed a price yet, but if you live outside of Slovakia where the smart home’s architects are based, be prepared to tack an extra few grand in shipping onto the retail cost. Still, that’s a small price to pay if you’re planning to go whole hog and forsake your city utility bill forevermore.
The pod people are coming. [Ecocapsule]
Images reproduced with permission from Nice Architects
Follow Maddie on Twitter or contact her at maddie.stone@gizmodo.com