MIT researchers create 'home in a box' transformable wall system for micro apartments
By BD+C Staff
How can you make a 200-sf micro apartment feel and function like a typical studio unit?
That was the objective a team of MIT Media Lab researchers set out to achieve when they invented CityHome, the Swiss Army knife, so to speak, of home appliances and furniture.
As the video below demonstrates, the transformable wall system integrates furniture, storage, exercise equipment, lighting, office equipment, and entertainment systems into a movable, compact unit.
Built-in sensors, motors, and lights allows users to pull out the bed or dining table, or turn on the lights, with a hand motion or voice command.
One potential scenario for the CityHome, according to MIT's Kent Larson and Hasier Larrea, is where the bedroom transforms to a home gym, the living room to a dinner party space for 14 people, a suite for four guests, two separate office spaces plus a meeting space, or an a open loft space for a large party. Finally, the kitchen can either be open to the living space, or closed off to be used as a catering kitchen.
