Volu-te, Micro Living Unit

"Volu-te, Micro Living Unit", designed by Alternative Architecture Practices (AAP, Mef University) and Alter8, is located in Istanbul.

Volu-te* is a temporary living unit, specially designed for places like Istanbul, a city with an uncovered network of leftover voids. It is a vertical and fully prefabricated unit, which makes it easily fit in the leftover voids in the city and leave without a trace when necessary. Also, the project wanted to raise the question of whether or not a small scale living unit can propose an active network in a metropolis. Hence, unlike most of the contemporary examples, Volu-te is not a single unit, it comes with a propositions of a network system. With the idea of this small-scale living unit network, the efficiency of being small comes together with the power of being united.

The interior is designed to meet the daily needs of humans such as cooking, cleaning, working, and sleeping. Each action is separated into different levels based on the user’s daily routines. The unit proposes a compact living space for 1-2 people with levels instead of floors. There are no doors or walls in the interior area; instead, functions and privacy are organized by levels. The user experiences the space through a continuous spiral stair levels.

Volu-te aims to implement minimal energy policies and consider the ecosystem, which includes living organisms and their surroundings as a whole, whether in a city or rural areas. Our priority was to minimize the footprint of the living unit and focus on maximizing the useful volume inside, allowing us to reduce the heat loss area through the fabric. In both settings, we strived to ensure the most effective use of the volume on the smallest floor area pos sible. The living unit serves two different scenarios for both urban and rural areas. For urban areas, using grid for water and electricity is possible, however off-grid alternatives could be implemented in rural areas. ​

The vertical unit is designed in accordance with international transportation limits, which are 2.5 m x 6 m. The prefabricated concrete skin is transported in a horizontal position and then rotated on-site. It is light enough to be lifted and placed by a crane.

Volu-te is a result of Mef University graduate program, Alternative Architectural Practices (AAP). In the program, students firstly developed methods for imagining and building new paths to discover small scale architecture and created a research book about “Small Scale Decent Change”. Then, they designed a micro living unit which is Volu-te and they made it real.

The first prototype is located in the yard of Mef University. The unit is opened to the use of students, employees and guests of university. In 2021, Volu-te received support from the TUBITAK Entrepreneurship Support program (1512), and the members established Alter8.

Why Volu-te?

More than half of the global population is currently living in cities, and this ratio is increasing. As a result, rising population density creates megacities consisting of more than 10 million people, and new ones are added every year. However, megacities lack a basic foundation to supply this demand according to changing daily circumstances. Even though the requirement for a living unit is one of the most important basic human needs, it is challenging for urbanites to find suitable dwellings due to high ground rent values. Additionally, housing prices are not suitable for average-income citizens due to an imbalance between income and outcome in these megacities, forcing people to be tenants rather than owners. House sharing has become popular all over megacities as a solution to these issues.

Andres Jaque has coined the term “Rolling Society” to describe people who are frequently moving between cities, and a new semi-nomadic lifestyle is emerging that rejects the idea of being permanently settled in one place. This is due to the difficulty in finding affordable housing in cities, as well as a supply-demand imbalance caused by the existing housing market’s failure to respond to changing and transforming demographic structures.

The semi-nomadic lifestyle is not only about finding a dwelling but also includes daily life habits in outdoor places like workspaces, transportation, and cafes. The concept of take-away reflects transience since people in the rolling society do not even have time to stop. On average, a working person spends around 9.5 hours at home per day, and 73% of this time is spent sleeping. This indicates that our living spaces are transforming into hotels, where no domestic activity takes place. This situation raises the question of how much space we actually need to live. Volu-te is a proposal to new society tendencies in the context of this question.

Volute* (Volüt):

1. A piece of pump; A volute is a curved funnel that increases in area as it approaches the discharge port. The volute of a centrifugal pump is the casing that receives the fluid being pumped by the impeller, maintaining the velocity of the fluid through to the diffuser. (Source: Wikipedia)

2. forming a spiral curve or curves