Living In A City Egg

Living in the center of China’s capital Beijing is too expensive for the newly graduate architect Dai Haifei. Therefore he has designed his own small movable apartment. His so-called City Egg is a two meter high house for one person (although two would probably fit) made of sack bags, bamboo spints, wood chippings and grass seeds. The seeds will grow naturally and will create a well isolated wall. Two small wheels enable the City Egg to move place.

According to ChinaDaily, “Dai was inspired to build the 6,427 yuan ($964) home after attending the 2010 Shanghai Biennale Exhibition where he was attracted by a novel architectural project called ‘City’s Egg’ earlier this year”. Dai has moved the house close to the office where he would stay until midnight and uses elementary facilities. Inside ‘The Egg’ Dai has only a bed, a lamp and a water tank available.

We have covered many single person home projects on this blog before, but this is one of the few examples that are really built for practical reasons. Whereas most Western design experiments with alternative building methods, such as parasite architecture and all sorts of pop-up constructions, end up concluding “nice, but not for real use”, Dai really depends on his design, which certainly adds relevance to the project. The architect experiments not only with materials and construction, but also with a new urban lifestyle, based on individual mobility, minimization of expenditures and working late.