Inzen Bunkie
Instructors: John Straube, Jonathan Enns
Team: Serena Siciliano, Maxime Daviau & Christopher Krofchak
Media: Revit, AutoCAD, Lumion, Illustrator & Photoshop
Project Status: Bunkie Concept
Winter 2018
Project Brief / Site
The Inzen Bunkie is a structure intended to be placed between nature and vegetation. The title "Inzen" is a Japanese term signifying "behind the scenes" or "in secret". This characteristic ultimately has been incorporated within the structure's design through material configuration and building science technology. The notion of a "mirrored" exterior finish was the first proposal to amalgamate the structure with its surroundings in the early stages of the project.
Building permits were avoided by keeping the overall usable area under 107 square feet influencing the overall organization of the space through implementing foldable hideaway tables, benches, and a retractable bed. The structure was chosen to be constructed and developed alongside both a river and a hiker’s path within the Waterloo Park region. The Inzen Bunkie is the definition of minimalistic engineering and extends the concepts of how we can reconnect with our surroundings through design and intent.
The bunkie’s site location was chosen to live alongside a river in an egalitarian park area near Columbia Lake in Waterloo. The hiker's route covers the structure's front façade, while the back faces the river, allowing the user to feel connected to two of the major biomes of nature. The bunkie's structural skeleton is a simple wooden frame structure. The main wooden frame sits on a steel bedding in the shape of a "hashtag". Using wood as the main material for the frame of the structure, allows the bunkie to focus on reconnecting with nature becoming a semi-sustainable building.
Shell Elements
A living roof was implemented within the structure’s design in order to act as the main heating source during the harsh winters. The roof would absorb the suns’ energy during the day, and release this heat inside the bunkie during the night. In order to avoid confusion towards the front door of the structure, it has been designed to be painted a weather-proof flat black colour to symbolize the structure’s ingress.
The exterior material consists of polished stainless steel that creates a mirror-like effect, reflecting the objects around it. The windows of the structure are designed to be coated with a silver film to mimic the effect of a mirror finish, while still allowing the users’ field of vision to be uninterrupted outward. This design choice allows the exterior to stay fully flushed while continuing to infiltrate natural light from the outdoors inwards.
The entire structure is raised 14 inches off of the ground to have a futuristic levitating effect. The dead load from the bunkie travels through the four HSS Steel Posts that are embedded within the sonotubes below. A crank next to the main closet operates the ascend/descend of the retractable bed above that is managed through a pulley system embedded within the roofs’ structure. A quarter of the bunkie’s space was extended to create a storage area that can house two bicycles and plenty of excess storage.
Physical Model
The 1:10 scaled physical model for the bunkie was constructed with Balsa Wood, Mirrored Acrylic Panels, Matte Paint and Museum Board. The acrylic panels on the exterior of the model illustrate the idea of being “Inzen” once surrounded by objects.
The inside of the model displays the wall studs, floor and ceiling joists throughout the home. The model’s wall is filled with a foam-like material that is used to resemble the insulation that would take place within the legitimate wall. The rotating handle at the top of the presentation model controls the homemade pulley system that lowers, raises, and stops the bed within the model.