Multifunctional Homes: A Sustainable Answer to the Challenges of the Future

Abstract

The reason for our research is to seek a valid solution, intended for urban development, among those already materialized or in the form of a concept, which corresponds to the pressing needs of the present and of a future dictated by the realities of such a present. We are aware of societal dictating forces as well as of the validity of certain solutions that, if applied on a large scale, could at least partially remedy the deficient functioning of a society adapting to the economic crisis, the crisis of natural resources, and the political and demographic crises, as it attempts to adjust. In the field of urban development, within such a context, as old as it is new, the solution was offered to us in the form of a concept aiming at restructuring and compartmentalizing interior space, with applicability in both the private and public sector. This concept, simple and predictable, has as its goal the reduction of interior space while significantly increasing its functionality through the mediation of mobile structures. It bases its success on reductionism, multifunctionality and versatility, giving up those constitutive parts with null usability or which, by activating the concept, become null, their function being fulfilled by substitution. A reduction applied to the built environment results in a chance given to urban green space, while by restricting the built environment we gain space for nature.