There are skinny houses. And then there is Jakub Szczęsny’s Keret House, which could make Calista Flockhart look like a fatty. At its most generous, the proposed place, in Warsaw, Poland, will clock in at 4 feet wide. At its narrowest, it’ll be just 28 inches wide -- thinner than the average doorway. And we complain about our sardine can in New York...
The empty space between those two buildings is where the proposed Keret House will be located
What the new Keret House would look like after construction
The house (officially an "art installation," because it doesn’t meet Polish building code) is slated to fill a crack between a pair of buildings in Warsaw’s Wola district. When construction's finished in December, it’ll be the thinnest house in Warsaw and possibly the whole world. We did a quick Google search and couldn’t find anything leaner.
Interior views of the Keret House
Szczęsny designed the house to be a work space and home for Israeli writer Etgar Keret. It’ll also be a “studio for invited guests -- young creators and intellectualists from all over the world.” If, that is, they're willing to drop half their body weight to fit inside.
Kidding, kidding. In all seriousness, though, the house is a pretty remarkable feat of architecture. If everything goes according to plan, Szczęsny will manage to squeeze in designated rooms for sleeping, eating, and working. The place will have off-grid plumbing inspired by boat sewage technology and electricity lifted from a neighbor. To save space, the entry stairs will fold up at the press of a button and become part of the first floor.
COMMENTARY: I love the Keret House. For someone on a tight budget and looking for new digs, this is killer, dude. All the comforts of home. All you have to do is look for a space between two buildings and hire Jakub Szczęsny to design it for you.
From the look of things, the Keret House will be warm since it will be squeezed between two buildings keeping out the wind and cold. Come to link of it, you could build two Kerret Houses in that space. A sub-let perhaps. The Keret House is scheduled for completion sometime in December 2011.
Courtesy of an article dated July 25, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design and an article dated September 2009 appearing in Arch Daly
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