JUNG

At only 6.89 m², the cabanon is one of the smallest, fully equipped homes in the world - and yet offers extraordinary home comfort. Located on the top floor of a 1950s house in the centre of Rotterdam, a former attic is transformed into a self-sufficient living area with kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and spa. It spite of its minimal size, the cabanon offers everything that is needed for living.

The architecture is based on a precise room concept: four autonomous areas, each with different materials and room heights maximise the use of the limited space. The dimensions are produced from the individual requirements and measurements of the users - the architects became the "Modulor" of their own room. The living area with kitchen with a height of 3 m is spacious while the sleeping area with a height of 1.14 m is designed to be compact. The shower with WC and the spa, the only enclosed area, are functionally optimised so that each square centimetre fulfils a specific task. A 6 m² large window opens the room to the town and increases the feeling of width despite the small floor space. The material selection follows a pragmatic approach. Instead of the originally planned high-quality finishes such as green marble, white mosaic or blue cement tiles, affordable alternatives were selected from outlet stores - black marble tiles from the 1980s for the spa, blue mosaic tiles for the shower and warm coral tones for the living area. The choice of the LS 990 switch range Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier in 32111 l’ocre rouge moyen was carried out from this material selection. The only consciously selected colour element is the mint green bedroom, which creates a comfortable retreat with its soft lighting.

The design of the cabanon is inspired by Le Corbusier's famous hut on the Côte d'Azur. However, while Le Corbusier's cabanon was purely intended as a retreat, the Rotterdam version is fully autonomous and tailor-made to the requirements of architects Beatriz Ramo and Bernd Upmeyer who have made it their second home. Their requirement for reduction was not seen as a sacrifice but as a conscious decision for enjoyable and luxurious compactness. The cabanon is more than a minimalist living space - it is an architectural experiment which shows that quality of life does not depend on size. It poses the question of what room height is really required for which function and how maximum comfort can be created in the smallest space through targeted planning. It does not claim to offer a general solution for urban living but gives valuable impetus to the creation of compact, carefully considered living arrangements.