A new proposal for Hong Kong tries to fit people into pipes.
All the design sites are showing James Law Cybertecture’s proposal for the O-Pod, an apartment built into an 8-foot diameter concrete pipe. Matt Hickman asks, “Is this housing solution just a pipe dream?” and quotes the architect:
© James Law Cybertecture via Dezeen
Matt notes that these could be plunked into Hong Kong’s many nooks, crannies and alleyways. “And because these concrete micro-homes are so heavy — the pipes weigh as much as 22 tons each — they needn’t be bolted together, just plopped atop one another in a neat stack without much additional work.”
So what’s wrong with this picture? For one thing, there is a lot of wasted space between those pipes. There is also a lot of wasted space inside the tube; just like in a geodesic dome, it is hard to put stuff on the walls. For another thing, if you stacked them up between two buildings as shown, there would probably be enough outward thrust to collapse the buildings on either side. Imagine what might happen in an earthquake.
Then there is the question of insulation. The architect says “being concrete, these pipes have good insulation properties” which is really surprising for an architect who should know better, because concrete has no insulation properties. It has terrific thermal mass, which is a different thing altogether. But it can keep you comfortable. As they explain on Green Building Advisor,
Here, you see a big air conditioning unit on the wall of the tube. Without any insulation in that pipe, it is going to be working day and night trying to cool down not just that interior but the whole pipe itself. Note also the silly excuse for the kitchen, a microwave sitting on top of a fridge.
© DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images
Then there are all those other associations that come with living in pipes. This isn’t something that people usually do out of choice.
Finally, there is the issue of whether the cost of construction in Hong Kong is the actual problem. In fact, it is the cost of land that is the issue. One might claim that these could be stacked temporarily on land, but surely shipping containers, which are lighter and are designed to be moved easily, would be a better solution for that, as we saw in London. Boxes stack more nicely, too.
So, to answer Matt’s question, is this just a pipe dream? The answer is yes. It is just silly.
xray delta one/CC BY 2.0
Although in these times, it might make sense if one buried it, which is where sewer pipes are supposed to be anyway.
