The Cabanon 世界上最大的最小公寓丨荷兰鹿特丹

STAR strategies + architecture

Female owned

Rotterdam, NL

In the first longitudinal section of the Cabanon, Guido and Boston discuss tonight’s menu before Guido will enjoy a bath. ©STAR - BOARD

"The Cabanon - the biggest smallest apartment in the world"

The Cabanon is a fully equipped apartment of 6.89 m² including two infrared saunas and a whirlpool bath. It is organized into four spaces, extravagantly different in materials and heights: a 3 m - high living room, a 1.14 m - high bedroom with plenty of storage, a toilet with a rain - shower, and a spa. The spa is the most enclosed space of the Cabanon: the room within a room.

The Cabanon is probably the smallest apartment in the world; certainly the smallest with a spa.

The Cabanon is the conversion of an existing attic used for storage into a living space. It is located on the top floor of a 1950’s residential building in the centre of Rotterdam. Its inside dimensions are H: 3 m, W: 1,97 m, L: 3,6 m. It has a 6 m² window overlooking the city.

The Cabanon takes its name from the eponymous cabin of Le Corbusier at the Côte d’Azur.

Like the Le Corbusier cabin, the Cabanon of Rotterdam has been conceived by the same architects who will use it. It is 6,89 m², half the size of Le Corbusier’s unit and –unlike his Cabanon– fully autonomous and designed for a couple.

The Cabanon is an experiment in space for Beatriz and Bernd - the architects and the owners, who increasingly saw personal growth in voluntary reduction. However, this reduction was never understood as austerity. The Cabanon is of the most luxurious smallness, an “epicurean reduction”.

The Cabanon is a fascinating manifestation of the specific desires of Beatriz and Bernd for their second home. They wanted a small bed to sleep close, and a bench along the window. They didn’t need a large kitchen as they love to eat out during the weekend, but they wanted to have the possibility of cooking nonetheless. They wished to have a rain - shower, two infrared saunas, and a whirlpool bath.

The Cabanon is a temple in the proportions of its owners who became the modulors of their Cabanon. Beatriz’s and Bernd’s heights are 1,72 m and 1,78 m respectively. The spaces at the Cabanon are dimensioned according to the height and width that they need to perform their functions: When they shower they need a space of 2,13 m in height and a width of 62 cm; when they take a bath or use the saunas they need a height of 1,80 m; and when they sleep or sit on their bed they need a height of 1,14 m and a width of 1.35 m. For the living area they wanted to keep the generous height of 3 meters.

The Cabanon makes clear that different rooms with different sizes and functions might not need the same height.

The Cabanon seemed to get bigger the more programs were added to it. The adaptation of heights made that possible.

The four spaces in the Cabanon have been shaped based on standard products: the bedroom was designed with a specific mattress in mind; the spa according to the bathtub length; the kitchen based on the mini-fridge depth, in order to avoid the need of customized objects, but rather the other way around: the Cabanon would adapt to standard and affordable products.

The materials of the Cabanon could have cost four times more had it been realized in its initial colours. The spa was initially conceived in green marble, the shower in white mosaic, the living room in blue cement-tiles. Irresistible offers in building materials caused the spa to be cladded in black Chinese marble from the 80’s, the shower in bleu mosaic, and the living room in coral cement-tiles. Mint green for the bedroom was the only colour voluntarily chosen, and it rather came as a surprise, as mint green would never have been a first choice.

The Cabanon could help optimizing housing and costs but in no way does it advocate towards the reduction of surfaces as the only strategy towards affordable housing, neither it pretends to become the “house of the future”. However, we can extrapolate some of its strategies in order to make current housing production better and cheaper. Some of these are: the optimisation of space – optimisation not understood as ‘reduction’ but as ‘maximisation’ of the possibilities of one space; the modulation of heights of certain spaces in order to superpose some functions; and the detachment towards possession and consumerism, so we are less inclined to buy and accumulate useless objects that clutter our houses (and minds).

This project was conceived by STAR and BOARD shortly after completing their large research project in 2012 into the “maximization of space” by sharing, on their project “Co-Residence” for the AIGP (Atelier International du Grand Paris). For the Cabanon, STAR and BOARD, took an opposite path and experimented on reduction.

This project was developed while STAR was designing Ilot-3H in Grand Paris, a large housing complex of 288 experimental apartments.

Status: Built

Location: Rotterdam, NL

Firm Role: Architect

Additional Credits: CREDITS + DATA

The Cabanon

Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Programme: Living unit + spa

Date: 2014-2024

Type: Renovation

Surface: 6.89 m² (net.) – Volume: 21.19 m³

Design Team: STAR strategies + architecture & BOARD (Bureau of Architecture, Research and Design)

-Team STAR: Beatriz Ramo with Geoffrey Clamour; Images: Efraín Pérez del Barrio, Ivan Guerrero Jiménez

-Team BOARD: Bernd Upmeyer

-Thanks to: Ana Beatriz López- Angulo, Javier Ramo, Ana Ramo, and Danae Zachariaki + Claudia Consonni from BOARD.

Construction : Midwinter - Timmerwerk & Decoratie (Arjen van Caspel and Mirjam Groenendijk)

Photos: Ossip van Duivenbode

Models-Dancers: Guido Dutilh and Boston Gallacher

In the living room of The Cabanon Boston and Guido decide who will make breakfast today. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Guido is in the bedroom. Boston after showering asks him if he would like to join him for a sauna. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Guido and Boston before their nap. It was an exhausting morning; last rehearsal before tonight’s premiere. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Boston and Guido get ready for bed; they like counting the stars to fall asleep. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Guido is about to enter the sauna; first he does a bit of stretching. Boston awaits in the spa. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

In the second longitudinal section of the Cabanon, now it is Boston who enjoys the bathtub while Guido reflects on his new year’s resolutions. ©STAR-BOARD

Guido exits the infrared sauna as tonight he is in charge of dinner. Boston is glad that he can spend some more time in there, as dinner duty is off his shoulders. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

It seems that Guido and Boston fell asleep in the spa. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Boston waits for Guido. When Guido leaves the shower, they prepare dinner together. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

It seems that Boston left already for rehearsal, but forgot to close the fridge door. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Guido is organising the storage space next to the bed. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

On Sundays, Boston and Guido like to lay on the floor at the living room and enjoy the sun through the large window of The Cabanon. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Detail I. Guido’s favourite corner of The Cabanon. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Detail II. Boston’s favourite corner of The Cabanon. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Detail III. Guido’s second favourite corner of The Cabanon. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Boston and Guido hold the light paper models of the Cabanon.

The Cabanon and its large window glow in the night sky of Rotterdam. Guido likes to watch the Willems bridge before closing the curtain and going to bed. ©Ossip van Duivenbode

Form follows height: four rooms, four functions, four different heights. Boston and Guido help us understand the necessary height for each room.

Plan lower level: We see three of the four spaces of the Cabanon: kitchen / living room, shower / wc and spa. Guido is showering and Boston is cooking.

Plan upper level: we see two of the four spaces of the Cabanon: kitchen / living room and bedroom with its storage. Guido is alone today; Boston is on tour.

Two axonometries: We see the four spaces of the Cabanon: kitchen / living room, shower / wc, spa, and bedroom. Guido and Boston are still there to help us understand the scale. ©STAR-BOARD

Cross-section: We see three of the four spaces of the Cabanon: shower / wc, spa, and bedroom. Guido is meditating.

The four spaces so radically different in heights and materials unfold like four stars. Boston and Guido play hide and seek.

Pannekoekstraat, Rotterdam, 1962. The space in the square will become the Cabanon 60 years later. Boston and Guido are not born yet.

The Cabanon, Rotterdam by STAR and BOARD : The “Biggest” Smallest Apartment in the World