The tiny cabin goes high design in new micro housing concept

There’s a new tiny house in town.

Built under the auspices of MINI LIVING’s Urban Cabin program, and designed in collaboration with New York firm (and 2015 Curbed Groundbreakers) Bureau V, the 160-square-foot installation—now on view at Brooklyn design incubator A/D/O—is one part architectural experiment, one part social commentary.

The Urban Cabin program made its debut at this year’s London Design Festival, when, inspired by London’s status as a capital of literature, architect Sam Jacob created a micro-library clad in copper panels.

Bureau V, inspired by New York's vibrant immigrant communities and the recent momentum behind micro housing as a way to address the city's lack of affordable housing, offers a different use for the cabin: as a shelter for two. Bureau V’s modular concept includes a gabled kitchen made of corrugated vinyl painted in shiny silver (a hat tip to New York diners), alongside a MINI LIVING-designed lounge paneled in colorful, iridescent-glass panels. The pavilion’s interiors are kitted out with a mini library, featuring books suspended from a weighted pulley system, a hammock, and a seating area, also by Bureau V, upholstered in plush micro-suede.

The MINI LIVING Urban Cabin is on view at A/D/O in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, from now until Wednesday, November 22.