ar+d

Highly commended

Oskar Kaufmann

Fred

Reuthe, Austria

December 2000

Everyone on the jury fell for Fred. He (or it) has a cheeky personality, which seems capable of adaptation to almost any social and topographical location. Call your trucker, say the architects, and next day you live somewhere else. Clearly technologically advanced Fred is not an answer to refugee problems, or to the predicament of folk made homeless after an earthquake. But the proposal perhaps has potential for people living in the barrios of the second world, mobile workers, and many others who need temporary accommodation.
Fred starts as a 3m cube, which is enlarged, when he settles down, to provide 18m2 of floor space as he is extended telescopically. He comes complete with bathroom, kitchen and sleeping area, and large windows. And Fred is green, being mainly made of wood with thick thermal insulation and the possibility of water collection from the roof.
Yet, of course, Fred asks as many questions as he answers: who, or when or why or what does he hope to serve? And how do you do the plumbing? All these questions have been answered in existing caravan (trailer) parks. Fred is much more elegant and unobtrusive than they are, and he could at least make a very great difference to the coastlines of much of Europe.

Contact: Oskar Kaufmann, Kaufmann_Kaufmann_Architektur
Tel: 3
Fax: 3
Email: