Truck-A-Tecture Showcases Flexible Homes For Urban Nomads

Increasing numbers of people live a nomadic lifestyle. They change jobs more frequently than toothbrushes, they’re not bound to a fixed house, and have organized their life to fit in a quickly changing world. To find a good way to create houses for this new lifestyle is an issue that many designer deal with. In Omaha, Nebraska, the exhibition venue KANEKO sets the stage for Truck-a-Tecture, an exhibit that showcases examples of the efforts to create comfortable and flexible architecture for modern urban nomads.

Truck-a-Tecture examines architecture redefined by mobility and technical expansion. According to the makers, “this exhibition will generate a unique conversation and offer a new perspective on modern housing. A mash-up of popular and elite cultures”. Especially for this occasion, four architecture offices — Min | Day, Jones,Partners:Architecture, Office of Mobile Design, and Mark Mack Architects — have built full-scale structures, that have traveled from various locations of construction in other parts of the country to KANEKO.

PNEUMAD by Min | Day

PNEUMAD by Min | Day

Truck-a-Tecture

The Omaha and San Francisco-based office Min | Day created the PNEUMAD, an inflatable igloo-shaped structure that accommodates a room for someone with the desire to spread out. The pneumatic system fits in a small trailer that can be transported by any normal car. The inflatable frame is infilled with opaque, translucent, and transparent materials.

Aero-Mobile by Office for Mobile Design

Aero-Mobile by Office for Mobile Design

The Aero-Mobile by Jennifer Siegal, principal of Office for Mobile Design, is a micro house on the back of a taylor-dumn truck. A pod on top of the cab of the vehicle is elevated with a scissor lift system. This allows two fabric walls to flip down in order to create more space. The self-lifting mobility project by architect Mark Mack Architects is comparable to the Aero-Mobile in a sense that it uses a scissor lift system to create more space. Built on a small trailer, the adjustable two-story system allows for a life with less space and less clutter.

Mobile Dwelling Support Structure (MDSS) by Wes Jones

Mobile Dwelling Support Structure (MDSS) by Wes Jones

Truck-a-Tecture

Designed by architect Wes Jones, the Mobile Dwelling Support Structure (MDSS) consists of eight units built on a trailer. Each of the units has a specific function in organizing the day, such as a bed, a kitchen, food storage, cloth storage and a bathroom. Solar panels provide the vehicle with power and create shade at the same time.

Please hurry if you’re around and want to visit the exhibition — this week is your last chance!