Aeroform : Subsidized Urban Living Module

Aeroform is conceived as a prototype which explores the dimensionality of the billboard and creates a subsidized living module that would allow people with limited means to live in a home in a major metropolitan city where in the future escalating real estate values would prohibit such home ownership. This fusion of the billboard and the house creates an opportunity for inhabitants to generate income from the billboard in turn subsidizing the exorbitant cost of living in a home in a major metropolis.

aeroform by nocturnal design lab

aeroform by nocturnal design lab


Text from the designer :
With Aeroform we wanted to examine ways to occupy residual space within the city? For example, take a common element which is pervasive in every major metropolitan area – the billboard. Now most people perceive the billboard as a simple structure used for the display of two-dimensional graphics. In their minds it is merely a flat plane. What if we start to think about the billboard in a more dimensional way? How can we occupy the space behind or around it? That why we designed Aeroform.

aeroform by nocturnal design lab

aeroform by nocturnal design lab

Designer : Nocturnal Design Lab



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13 thoughts on “Aeroform : Subsidized Urban Living Module

  1. This is so wrong on so many levels. perhaps someone who doesn't have a problem with the advertising industry whilst residing in a veritable trap of a home that no-one else could possible want to live in (see toyotaboy to find out why) with the resale value of the change in my back pocket would like to live in this thing. I wouldn't though. Or perhaps you already worked that out.

  2. How many billboards do you know of that are piped and ready for sewer and fresh water?

    The noise will be the least of your problems. Since billboards are usually only supported by a single shaft, you'll be rocking in the wind like a boat on the ocean. Any vibration coming up the pipe will be amplified and resonate until it dies down on its own without dampening. Nevermind the dangers of living on a freeway!

    I say all of these "new idea" designers be subject to their own creations before they are publicly announced. This one has "dumb idea" written all over it.

  3. I wouldn't WANT to live in this, but if I had no other option, it's definitely better than a park bench. I applaud the innovation though.

  4. There are MUCH better places to put this than behind a billboard. under bridges, behind dividing walls, in coastal areas, LOTS of places that aren't nearly as dangerous. Plus, who wants to climb a ladder after a hard day? At least put it on the GROUND

  5. How would this be cost effective for people who couldn't get an apartment? The billboards are already there: Why should someone make money just from moving in behind it?

    This is just a trailer with no utilities and terrible accessibility. And it requires a freaking CRANE, as well as some serious maintenance and engineering to remain safe, if only so it doesn't fall on passers-by.

    Lastly, if we're worried about running out of space in some futuristic city, don't you think free-standing billboards will undergo innovation before real estate? "Oh noes! We'd all have room to live if those darned billboards weren't getting in the way. We could either move them up against walls or attach crazy Ewok huts to the back of them….hmm…."

  6. This is simply a repackaging of a well-published and internationally presented idea from Mark Harris, AIA of studioTEN architects – first published in 1998, and presented throughout the UK and Europe as recently as 2007 as part of a lecture on Hybrid Architectures.

    Plastering a blob onto a hacked up billboard structure simply reveals that the designers of this project only know a creative idea when they see one, but can’t really grasp the complexity of the idea enough to take it to another level, which would not be insulting – as this is. They do not even understand the basic structural requirements of a billboard, nor did they take the time to understand this aspect before beginning. This is simply plagiarism at it’s worst because this project did not even take the time to understand what they were stealing in the first place.

    This is what is wrong with architecture today. Quick returns, lack of any intellectual prowess or clarity, and a self-absorbed clutching at attention. It takes work, guys. Real work, real thought, and real creativity that spawns from your OWN world view.

  7. We also noticed on the web site of these guys that their work is highly derivative of other architects, specifically Cadwell (urban treehouse) and the highly talented Neil Denari (the prototype urban house they present is a poor copy of Denari’s Massey House). Again, I think it a crime that this type of plagiarism and insecurity is so blatant, and that it unfortunantly finds a place to live.

    Young designers and architects, do not be seduced by this kind of work that lacks content, thought, and originality. These are little more than good graphics, which they could live on by themselves – the graphics and presentations are very good, if not common today. However, these ‘architects’ are clearly trying to be ‘known’ for their thoughts and creativity. They seek notoriety rather than real development and contribution. This is not real work – just children parading around in an adult world.

    I would suggest that you spend your time using your own mind, developing your own language, and creating your own work. It doesn’t take any more time – but it does take some honesty, and some talent.

  8. just imagine trying to get your groceries up there.. or trying to climb down the next day when youre wicked hungover. doesnt seem like a very smart design

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