Bill Dunster’s Zedfactory has revealed its latest project – homes built on stilts over ground-level car parking bays
The homes are intended to use space in car parks that are left empty overnight. Dunster’s practice has already built one if the ZEDpods in the car park of building science centre BRE in Watford.
Each 22.4m² home, comprising an open-plan kitchen and living area, a double bedroom and a toilet, will sit over two back to back car parking spaces.
Car park on stilts sketch
Source: ZEDfactory
ZEDpod, sketch
The free standing homes are designed to be self-sufficient in energy using built-in PV and battery storage.
Dunster said: ’Many of Britain’s ground level car parks are filled with cars during the day: at stations, schools and colleges, shopping centres, healthcare facilities. But they’re empty at night.
ZEDpod, living area and upstairs
Source: Peter White
ZEDpod, side-view
Source: Peter White
ZEDpod living/kitchen area
Source: Peter White
’Meanwhile, many commuters using the trains, students from the colleges, workers serving us in the shops or treating us in the healthcare sector are struggling to find affordable homes.’
A two-person pod would cost around £65,000,00 to buy, according to the practice.
The practice is currently welcoming people to view the ZEDpod in Watford for open house events on 14 December, 9 January and 7 February.
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Readers' comments (7)
John McKean13 December, 2016 10:12 am
Brave idea to highlight the real housing-versus-cars crisis in our land today. But I'm not sure I'd have used the phrase "open-plan"...
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Lois Wheller13 December, 2016 11:31 am
It appears to sit over four car parking spaces, leaving just two accessible. When you start stacking these together you'd lose half the capacity of the car park. A development of houses with half-depth ground floors and cantilevered top floor, two spaces wide, would achieve the same parking and more living space. This doesn't appear to be a solution to either issue.
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Philip Bixby13 December, 2016 12:11 pm
Should we not be building proper houses where we can build proper houses – after all, it's not a technical problem that's holding this back but a political/economic one – and pepper our urban carparks with tree planting so they at least go some way to mitigate the cars' CO2 output. I love clever design solutions, but they need to address the right problem. It reminds me of the Hellman cartoon - "Technology is the answer! Now, what's the question?"...
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Sam Cheetham14 December, 2016 10:23 am
Good. It's easier to move than normal houses, and cars aren't going away yet.
What's a 'proper house'? This could also have trees next to it due to it being on stilts and not having foundations like a normal house.
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Ian Goulty14 December, 2016 1:45 pm
Is the logical end point to this to build housing estates over surface car parks, complete with full-sized houses and gardens, roads and parking beneath?
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Robert Wakeham15 December, 2016 10:02 am
For Ian Goulty: This 'end point' was brilliantly demonstrated way back in 1960 by Atelier 5 at Siedlung Halen outside Bern, and this and their other Swiss projects inspired the design of Alexandra Road and a few other developments around London - but such a logical design philosophy seems to have been extraordinarily neglected in Britain over the last half century.
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Industry Professional12 January, 2017 3:46 pm
Great! Lets cram some more houses in London to inflate the prices rather than increase the number of houses across the UK.
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