As we enter the new year with hope and forward-thinking optimism, Americans findnew opportunitiesto redefine their collective futures in a new world. Displaced from the office complexes and time-sucking commutes of the past, modern families are left searching for more meaning and genuine experiences in their lives.
Rethinking The Future Awards 2021
First Award | Architectural Innovation of the year (Construction)
Project Name: 2021 Living Vehicle
Studio Name: Living Vehicle Inc.
Design Architect: Matthew Hofmann
Interior Designer: Joanna Hofmann
Owner Experience: Walter Hofmann
Humanity is moving towards adventure, freedom, and mindfulness with the world around them. All this becomes possible with the emergence of the work-from-home era. With the continued advent of technology, this transcends the homeplace andthe concept of “work from anywhere”becomes possible. Nomadic lifestyles are only limited by the vehicles for travel, homes for shelter, and technology that empowers us to be our best selves and stay connected to the world around us.
The sustainable travel trailer is a vision of that very future. The vehicle allows users to live and work off-grid with enduring, sustainable power. Designed to connect people with nature, mobility empowers connection with the world around and embraces the natural environment’s healing powers. Above all, the mobile lifestyle encourages individuals to be true to themselves and through the freedom of choice – the choice to freely be your best self.
Across the nation, state law and local jurisdictions are battling the sky-rocketing costs of housing and continued depletion of inventory. America is in a housing crisis. The investigation of creative solutions such as the conversion of once-thriving retail complexes to urban housing. Alternative housing solutions are becoming ever more mainstream, with mandatory ADUs permitted for residential lots. Communities across the country are embracing portable, mobile dwellings to meet code requirements for ADU structures. The vision of the aluminum home on wheels is to supply this housing solution without burdening the fragile and already overloaded grid and public infrastructure. Barriers are knocked down when no connection to the electrical grid is required.
The nomadic homeowner enjoys authentic off-grid living. Access to reliable energy is necessary as a life-sustaining resource for safety, health, and connectivity. With more solar power than most homes, the all-aluminum trailer is designed to be ultimately net zero from an energy perspective. Powering all major appliances, heat, and cooling, the vehicle is built for all four seasons with solar power at the very core. With the advent of electric tow vehicles, the near-term vision is to store solar energy and then charge the same truck that pulls the trailer, bringing the concept of a fuel-free world one step closer.
America’s great resource of public access to nature, BLM, and free dispersed camping makes this lifestyle a reality of now, not just a hope for the future. Whether working from snow-covered hilltops in Colorado, playing in the forest of Alaska, or the backyard of an urban dwelling, the vehicle calls all places home.
