Really narrow.
Etgar Keret, one of our favorite Israeli writers is planning to move into a house in Warsaw – at least for a while. At the widest spot it will be 133 cm. Width of the front door = 71.12 centimeters. That’s narrower than the table I’m working at right now….
The table is 90 cm. On the right you can see the space in which the house will be built, at Chłodna 22. I think it’s great that these garbage dump will be turned into a house, except I’m not sure Etgar knows what he’s in for, with all the book-loving hipsters just down the street at Chłodna 25 club-cafe.
Either way, Jakub Szczęsny of Centrala designed the house, which is actually referred to as an art installation called Ermitage. It will be a small but neat, livable house, with kitchen, bathroom, workspace and sleeping space.
Yes, the stairs do fold when you press a button.
Our worry is the lack of windows – i.e. sunshine. And the ladder (getting fit, eh?). However, in the longer run this will not be a home of Keret’s but a residential space for artists and intellectuals coming to on an exchange to Warsaw. Presumable they wouldn’t be spending much time indoors any way. Ermitage is an appropriate name.
Also, this is highlighting much more important point of spatial planning, which is a big problem of Warsaw’s. We don’t have many smart housing solutions around the city, architecture is rarely sustainable in any terms, much less so in terms of urban planning. Unless one counts the post-war large scale estates, which can actually house many people, but at the danger of them slicing each other’s throats from living too close together.
Around February we’ll definitely be knocking on Etgar’s door to see how he does.
All photos (except for the desk) courtesy of Jakub Szczęsny, Centrala.
