A prototype is currently on show at Milan Design Week Sleek, experimental modular dwellings designed by Ljubljana-based OFIS Arhitekti tend to perch precariously on the cliffs of the Slovenian Alps. But the firm?s latest creation can be found in an altogether different kind of environment: this year?s Milan Design Week.
Rising like a geometric monolith in Parco Sempione, the black three-story structure shows off the versatility of the new modular system OFIS developed in collaboration with architecture studios C+C and C28, engineering firm AKT, and contractor Permiz. Designed to adapt to a wide range of terrains, the Living Unit modules can be arranged vertically or horizontally and used for everything from a holiday house to a climber?s mountainside shelter or a backyard studio. The modularity also allows the structures to be used efficiently as temporary buildings that can be disassembled and removed. The Milan prototype shelter is made of three vertically stacked modules, each measuring about eight feet wide, thirteen feet long, and nearly nine feet tall. Structurally, the units are made of a wooden frame reinforced by plywood and clad on the outside by black-painted planks?though one could use almost any kind of material on the exterior.

A typical vertical configuration might contain a kitchen and seating area on the first level, a bathroom on the second, and a bedroom on the third.

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