arquitectura mini

ABOUT US

We are a team of architects from Barcelona. We work on the culture of domestic spaces and we are interested in producing new educational and creative forms of play.

THE PROJECT

This is a project of modeling and experimental teaching architecture using participative play, in order to allow an active reflexion about the possibilities of contemporary domestic spaces.

In recent years various initiatives have used the wide range of product catalog © Playmobil to historical disclosure. This has led us to combine the scale and proportions of these products with the working model that the professional offices make, (traditionally abstract, delicate and inconspicuous) in order to experiment with the possibilities of symbolic play about contemporary architecture.

The outcome is a kit house, of simple execution. Designed for assembly in small workshops or family. An object for play, compact, useful and handy, with proper proportions so that you can incorporate the playmobil furniture and accessories you like the most.

Most "playhouses" in the market are away from domestic reality now, many are quite bulky. We wanted to make a simple, modern house, which could be easily customized to individual taste.

The house is made of wood, cardboard and vinyl siding. It is intended as a box that can be closed. Once opened, consists of two parts: the interior living spaces that are inside the box, and the garden, which unfolds with the lid.

HOW CAN YOU GET YOUR CASA MINI?

We will distribute it in three formats:

The graphic instruction booklet

The booklet with drawings and assembly instructions. In this option, thou must buy wood panels and cut as directed, glue them and mount them to have the house finished. This option enables you to make changes on the base. It is suitable if you like marquetry works and have the tools to make them.

The casa-mini kit

The booklet with graphic instructions + wooden box mounted, including: wooden walls cut to size, underlying template for assembling and paving, wall cladding and garden ready for gluing, with basic furniture mounted (mini-kitchen and bathroom). This basic module can be easily mounted with white glue and a bit of patience.

The mounted casa-mini

The wooden box with the house, including floors, walls and tiles already in place, with basic furnishings (mini-kitchen and bathroom). This is the fastest option and you can play immediately.

To produce these casa-mini we thought in Verkami to finance the project. Your contribution can help to take it forward and be able to produce a limited edition of 40 mini-kits of houses and 20 finished houses.

HOW YOU CAN HELP?

We need 1,500 euros to finance the production of the project. And to pay the cost of the 60 houses. The materials, cutting, assembling and editing craft instruction booklets.

Once established this initial step, the mini architecture project aims to grow, first extending the offer to more types of housing, with other provisions and sizes, with different types (row houses, apartments, superimposable in height ...) with unit design criteria and always within a box format where the house can be collected and can store compactly. Afterwards by offering the ability to group homes to form mini small neighborhoods and expand the possibilities of relationship to broader social scales.

WHY WE DO IT?

Because the "casa-mini" is a very good tool for learning and fun.

With these boxes we want to offer to anyone who may be interested in an educational game to learn playing with the possibilities of relationship and family life within a contemporary domestic space. As architects we believe it is very good for everyone, big and small, to be aware of how our lives are affected by the quality of the spaces where we live and where we carry out our daily activities.

Marketed toys, even willing to have a contemporary appearance, usually offer simple and banal spaces. We architects consider that scale models let you play real spaces and are a very important tool for our work. We thought that combining the values of the model architecture with some of the Playmobil@ catalog we get a participatory game that can entertain as well as teach something about how the provision of quality spaces can help us to live, facilitate our relationships and even to give satisfaction by themselves, by their size, the way light enters them or the colors they have.

HOW WILL WE SPEND THE MONEY?

We start with a limited edition of 40 kits and 20 models already assembled. This means to buy the material, cut to size, prepare the wall and floor coverings, craft assembly, packaging and publishing a book with all the explanations for mounting.