The Tricycle House and Garden Imagines a Sustainable World on Three Wheels

The Tricycle House and Tricycle Garden create a world where you can sleep, bathe, and eat food from your garden, all from the comforts of your own … tricycle. According to the designers, People’s Architecture Office (PAO) + People’s Industrial Design Office (PIDO), the self contained traveling home and garden concept was in part a response to property laws in China, "The inability to own land is a fundamental condition in China unique from many western countries. The Tricycle House suggests a future where the temporary relationship and the public nature between people the the land they occupy is embraced."

---

The Tricycle House is man powered, allowing people to live off the grid, with amenities that include a sink, stove, bathtub, water tank, and furniture for sitting and sleeping. Made from a new, experimental form of folding plastic, the house can either open up to the outside, expand out like an accordion to increase space, or connect to other houses. The polypropylene material is translucent so that light can come through either from the sun or street lamps.

The Tricycle Garden can grow vegetables or plants, and can be combined with other gardens to make one larger green, public space. With this innovative concept, the architects surmise that, "Single homes can be affordable and sustainable, parking lots are not wasted at night, and traffic jams are acceptable." I can't imagine a world where traffic jams would be acceptable, but this project might just make me a believer.

Images courtesy of People’s Architecture Office (PAO) + People’s Industrial Design Office (PIDO)