Boxhome

Boxhome

Rintala Eggertsson Architects as Architects

In the North all buildings for living have to be made in an advanced way due to the ever-contrasting weather. Additionally, the houses have to be properly heated with external energy more than half of the year’s course. Therefore producing smaller homes would bring about a considerable economical and ecological benefit. Today the construction activity stands alone for more than one third of total global energy and material consumption, well exceeding that of all traffic and transport. This should be a crucial question especially in Scandinavia, where people, in accordance with their growing wealth, possess larger and larger houses. And in most cases, this in addition to a second home called a summer house or a cottage.


Boxhome is a 19 square meter dwelling with four rooms covering the basic living functions: kitchen with dining, bathroom, living room and bedroom.


Firstly, the project focuses in the quality of space, material and natural light, and tries to reduce unnecessary floor area. The result is a dwelling where the price is only 1/4 of the price of any same size apartment in the same area. Boxhome is a prototype building, yet the same attitude could be taken further to bigger family housing and consequently to work places.


Secondly, it seems that we have given the right to produce our homes to uncontrollable groups of actors who seek mostly maximum income. The basic need to have one’s family protected has become a great business adventure. Making a simple house, after all, is perhaps not such a difficult task that it should be totally left for this kind of forces. Moreover, meeting the official construction restrictions and laws usually seems to equal to the using of the building industry products and services, thus limiting the possibilities of a real change and development into minimum.


Thirdly, in Western societies at the moment we are enjoying the highest standard of living ever know to human kind. At the same time we are fully informed of the results of our culture of consumerism. Therein lays the greatest paradox: We are forced to actively forget the real reality to be able to enjoy the facade of excess we have created around us.


Finally, and most importantly, the goal has been to make a peaceful small home, a kind of urban cave, where a person can withdraw to, and whenever wished, forget the intensity of the surrounding city for awhile.

Products Behind Projects
Product Spotlight
News
UNStudio’s new Chongqing development balances demand for high-rise living with health and well-being of residents
10 Feb 2025 News
UNStudio’s new Chongqing development balances demand for high-rise living with health and well-being of residents

International architecture and design practice UNStudio has completed 18T Mansion, a high-rise resid... More

Archello houses of the month - January 2025
5 Feb 2025 News
Archello houses of the month - January 2025

Archello has selected its houses of the month for January 2025. This list showcases 20 of the m... More

Polish Embassy in Berlin by JEMS Architekci is a “testament to architectural diplomacy”
4 Feb 2025 News
Polish Embassy in Berlin by JEMS Architekci is a “testament to architectural diplomacy”

A project that was thirteen years in the making, the new Polish Embassy in Berlin officially opened... More

Ika.architekti builds fun and functional DIY sauna in Brno
31 Jan 2025 News
Ika.architekti builds fun and functional DIY sauna in Brno

Brno-based ika.architekti has built an upcycled sauna using an array of old materials. The project i... More

Francine Houben, Isabel Van Haute, Stephan Chevalier and DaeWha Kang named as Archello Awards 2025 jurors
27 Jan 2025 Archello Awards
Francine Houben, Isabel Van Haute, Stephan Chevalier and DaeWha Kang named as Archello Awards 2025 jurors

Archello is pleased to announce the first group of its esteemed jurors for the newly launched Archel... More

HGAA expands restaurant in Bãi Cháy with a building that embraces nature
27 Jan 2025 News
HGAA expands restaurant in Bãi Cháy with a building that embraces nature

Vietnamese architectural studio HGAA was included in Archello’s list of the 25 best architectu... More

Mole Architects elevates “mundane” 1960s English bungalow with new extension
27 Jan 2025 News
Mole Architects elevates “mundane” 1960s English bungalow with new extension

Cambridge-based architectural studio Mole Architects has completed the upgrade and extension of an e... More

New Samuel Paty School in Béziers plays with materiality
21 Jan 2025 News
New Samuel Paty School in Béziers plays with materiality

Paris-based ateliers O-S architectes (Vincent Baur, Guillaume Colboc, and Gaël Le Nouëne)... More