SO-IL and MINI create an air-filtering house that "contributes to improving urban life"

In this exclusive movie produced by Dezeen, MINI Living Initiative creative lead Oke Hauser and SO-IL co-director Ilias Papageorgiou explain how they collaborated to install a translucent prefab home in an unused urban plot in Milan. The prototype house, developed by MINI Living and New York architectural practice SO-IL, consists of a three-storey modular structure wrapped in a white mesh exterior and topped by a plant-covered roof. Titled MINI Living – Breathe, the installation is intended as both an urban space-saving strategy, and a way to facilitate engagement between its inhabitants and their environment. "[Breathe explores] how we can turn housing and living solutions into an active ecosystem that contributes to the improvement of urban life," Hauser says in the movie. "How can we turn a house which is very static into something more flexible, more performative?" The house has three main living spaces for rest and sleep, in addition to areas for collective activities. Papageorgiou describes it as having been organised not as a traditional house but "more as a stack of atmospheres and spatial configurations and experiences". The whole structure is wrapped in a light PVC-coated net, which filters the air. "It&this very translucent, purifying fabric," continues says Papageorgiou. "With the sun it decomposes several agents and dirt, so it cleans itself but also cleans the air around it as it filters through the fabric."