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Bed in a tin: the new student eco-mmodation
Architects these days sure seem to have a lot of fun thinking up projects on the improbable side of practical (when you'd think the recession would have us back designing grey blocks of flat in an effort to be rational and money-efficient); are some of them just taking the piss? This could very well be one's initial reaction upon coming across the latest in student accomodation; a French-developed projects by the imaginative people at Olgga, the proud inventors of Crou. A bunch of stacked up containers, each containing one student (not so much like sardines then...) and the essential living space (not so appealing indeed but enter one of the existing Gallic student rooms and prepare to see it in an altogether different light).


The ultimate hamster experience (it's chic!).
Actually this one tin is largely reheated as similar projects have sprung here and there over the past years, most notoriously perhaps in South East London, home to Container City. And whether they were drugged or bribed isn't clear but residents do seem to be really rather content when asked about their lives in metal boxes.
If only our school trips had been this entertaining...
Innovative as it is, the student house is something of a myth; is our collective eco-conscience taking us a step too far? For many life in a shared, sometimes dirty and shabby house was the essence of their student days. So if times are so tough we need to become green fascists why not relocate the actual universities to these boxes instead? After all classes are often deserted and a pleasant studying environment will be lost on any student having to sit through, say, a four-hour Constitutional Law tutorial. After all these days an education can be bought but certain memories can never be put in a box!

The Young Ones: the original student house (and health hazard).
Aurelie Bellavigna
Source: Designboom
Photo credits: Courtesy of Olgga.
TAGS: crou student accomodation green architecture olgga shipping container container city the young ones
