Gold Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2016
Pocket House Residential
- A' Design Award 2016 Gold Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2016
- CLIENT: Cristina Menezes Arquitetura e Decoração Ltda
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 28,185
- Verification code 7E057F7FF5 · Verify this award
About Pocket House Residential
Pocket House is a mobile residence built inside a standard 40-foot shipping container. The reused container rests on a simple support base, and the dry construction was completed by installation alone in ten days, with little waste. Sections of the steel side walls were removed and replaced with glass doors, which improve ventilation and daylight and open the interior to the garden. Wood is used as the single interior coating for the floor, walls and ceiling. The compact plan holds a bedroom, a bathroom, a living and dining area and a kitchen.
Pocket House Residential by Cristina Menezes represents a compelling contribution to contemporary residential design discourse, embodying principles of material economy, spatial transparency, and harmonious landscape integration that have distinguished progressive domestic architecture since the mid-twentieth century modernist tradition. The work appears to engage thoughtfully with questions of adaptive reuse, transforming what suggests industrial steel framing into an elegant dwelling that celebrates rather than conceals its structural logic. One observes in this composition a sophisticated understanding of the pavilion typology, where the boundary between interior sanctuary and exterior garden dissolves through extensive glazing that renders the living spaces simultaneously sheltered and exposed to their verdant surroundings. The designer demonstrates particular sensitivity to chromatic relationships, selecting a cool blue-gray for structural elements that achieves complementary dialogue with the warm timber surfaces visible within, this material palette suggesting both industrial heritage and organic warmth. The rooftop terrace expands usable living area while maintaining visual lightness through transparent glass balustrades that preserve sight lines to the mature tree canopy above. Landscape architecture appears conceived as integral rather than incidental to the architectural proposition, with carefully composed ornamental grass plantings, established tropical specimens, and a meandering brick pathway creating processional approach that rewards the visitor with gradual revelation of the dwelling. The photograph captures the residence at blue hour, that liminal moment between day and night when artificial illumination transforms architecture into luminous sculpture, the warm amber glow emanating from within creating an inviting beacon against the cooling twilight sky. What questions might this work raise about contemporary dwelling, about the relationship between industrial vocabulary and domestic intimacy, about transparency and privacy, about buildings that serve as frames for nature rather than barriers against it?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- It is a house within a standard 40-foot container . It is a sustainable architecture with mobility. Construction was only installation, without waste and faster. For the feeling of confinement , due to the small width , the side walls of the steel container were removed to insert the glass doors . This helped the ventilation and lighting , gave a beautiful view of the garden and brought nature indoors. To lose the reference floor , wall and ceiling , only a coating was used: Wood.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- For this project was used a shipping container of 40 feet which measures is 12,20 m per 2,44 , externally. But, the total area of the construction was 46,80 square meters with the deck outside the container. Internally, after the coating, the final measures were equal to 11,80 m per 2,34 m .
- Tags
- Architecture , Interior Design, Mobility, Living Small, Pocket House, Houses in a Container, Sustainability, Wood in Architecture.
- Production Technology
- The owner asked to do the interior design with materials which will remit him to the nature and of course all of them with the precepts of sustainability. The existing civil work was only the support base of the container. This kind of construction, dry construction, just with installation, it is very quickly and it is the best way for future transportations. All construction took ten days to be ready. It is an eco construction with mobility.
- Design Challenge
- The challenge of this project was the relationship with a small space. The domain of spatial proportions was crucial; knowledge of the principles of sustainability and its costs to meet the expectations of the completion of the project, following the client program: a room; a bathroom; living; dining room and a kitchen. All the furniture was carefully studied and designed to meet this concept. The correct choice of finishes and furnishings were important with a limited budget: 55.000 Dollars.
- Project Duration
- The project started on May 2013 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and the construction began on August 15th, 2013 and ended in August 25th, 2013.
- Operation Flow
- This solution for a house it is very important because it is reusing an old shipping container that , probably, it was a waste. It is a solution to recycle an old shipping container. And, it is a positive way for living small where you do not have much area.
- Research
- The most important point to be observed when you are using a container for the construction of a house is the right choice of coatings to ensure mobility without damage. You should use a coating that can withstand the efforts with the movements of transport. Also, you should use the acoustic and thermal treatment for the comfort to live.
- Inspiration
- It is a innovative way to live. Living small with sustainability and mobility. The eco principles were the great inspiration for this design.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Jomar Bragança
Image #2: Photographer Jomar Bragança
Image #3: Photographer Jomar Bragança
Image #4: Photographer Jomar Bragança
Image #5: Photographer Jomar Bragança
Colors of Pocket House Residential
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G0E3 ShopDesign Interview about Pocket House Residential
The main principle of this project is how to live well in a small space. For living small, it is very important, the total domain of the spatial proportions. The idea to use a container shipping to build the house is to guarantee the mobility and thinking green. The sustainability it is very important nowadays. The inspiration behind the design is the concepts of the client's lifestyle!
The main focus of this project was the completely integratiion of the house with the nature surround the house!
I would like to achieve the unity between indoor with outdoor!
I would like to achieve the unity between indoor with outdoor!
I would like to share with everyone the importance of this award that achieved an excellence label for the design...like a signature exclusive of excellence!
Just one month.
As I said before, it was one desire of my client, to have a house inside a shipping container to guarantee the mobility of his house.
Nowadays, my client is using this house on the weekend !
I think , most people enjoy this type of home with all enough to live , fully integrated with nature!
The nature and my client are my main sources of inspiration!
This house is for one or at most two people live !
The most important advantage of this project is the exclusiveness of the entire project , according to the small dimensions of space and the detailed study of the furniture to be multifunctional and proportional to the space !
The name " Pocket House" was chosen because the house is very small and also means you can take it wherever you want !
I used Auto-cad and Revit.
The unity of all project items with the concept of simplicity and respect for the small space !
Only the team of my studio : architects, designers and engineers
To use renewable energy a Solar Energy System, with photovoltaic panels, was
incorporated into the design of Pocket House.
To reduce the house energy consumption it was used thermo-acoustic treatment with
glass wool between the steel wall of the container and the wood coating.
It was used nano paint on metal parts that creates a protective layer that repels dirt and
protects the paint against environmental damage. Thus, with this innovative
technology, the spent of water for cleaning and the ink consumption for maintenance
are minimized.
incorporated into the design of Pocket House.
To reduce the house energy consumption it was used thermo-acoustic treatment with
glass wool between the steel wall of the container and the wood coating.
It was used nano paint on metal parts that creates a protective layer that repels dirt and
protects the paint against environmental damage. Thus, with this innovative
technology, the spent of water for cleaning and the ink consumption for maintenance
are minimized.
I know that our planet is asking respect. So I try to do my part . I conceptualize my projects , with all due respect to our planet and society ! We do not live alone!
It is a innovative way to live!The greatest challenge of this project was the respect with a small space.Starting with the choice of the coatings with the right way to build it; the choice of the right furniture with a restricted budget -
70.000,00 Euros - and a short time to build! And, without forgetting, the principles of sustainability and mobility - main concepts of the client's lifestyle!
70.000,00 Euros - and a short time to build! And, without forgetting, the principles of sustainability and mobility - main concepts of the client's lifestyle!
I decided to send this design for this important international design competition, because I have seen and read about it. So I thought, I'll try to win a prize in A'Design Award . And now , here I am ! Very happy with the prize!
It is a complex form to register the design, but now I learned more about the categories, edition, etc. and for the next year I will do my best!
Thank you for all experience! I am very happy and proud with this important award!