Why do reporters constantly feel compelled to use the words "green" and "eco" in every situation they can? This has absolutely nothing to do with ecology, it's simply about optimizing space usage in a city where space is extremely expensive. I guess talking about green stuff sells more.
this is a great inspirational hack because:<p>1.) it scratches an important personal itch (having to live his whole life in a crowded urban apartment)<p>2.) it demonstrates resourcefulness and ingenuity given the (literal!) constraints<p>3.) the lessons he learned from hacking his own apartment could be used to improve urban living spaces in general<p>this is a reminder that hacks don't necessarily need to be hosted on github ;)
Cool idea, but unless there is some system to lock the walls into place, this would be very dangerous in an earthquake. I've seen a number of high density file systems (same idea but just files) that caused significant safety issues in the recent Christchurch Earthquake.
Well... This is quite cool for 1 person, but how about if a family would live in that kind of apartment? You're watching TV and suddenly your kid has to go to the bathroom..
There's something wrong about doing all that around complete poverty. How much did he spend creating it?<p>No family could live like that, everyone would need a different mode.<p>I live in 400 square feet, can't imagine a family living here, it would be rough.
Although it would decrease the "greenness" of the home, I can imagine that making the walls motor-powered would make room switching easier. You could integrate a master controller into the wall with options for which room you want to switch to.