As a young boy Leonardo Di Chiara was amazed at how much his parents could stow inside their sailboat. “I had two dreams,” says the architect, “to be independent and to travel.” He's long since accomplished both: Di Chiara tours through Europe with a house on wheels that he calls “aVOID” and presents it at architecture and furniture trade fairs
“aVOID” is an entire program. The name riffs on the dual meanings of empty expanse, i.e. “void” and “to prevent,” i.e. “avoid”. To realize his goal of living in a 9 square meter space – and even inviting guests over – the young Italian opened his mind to all possibilities. Inside, chairs and tables fold down out of the wall, drawers roll out on tracks and the foldaway bed transforms into a double bed thanks to a magic folding trick. Di Chiara turns, rolls and pushes, conjuring a ladder out of the wall to climb up onto the roof patio and pushing the open doors of the cabinet inside. He's selected the HAWA Folding Concepta 25 sliding solution for the kitchen doors. The entire furnishing setup is typical of a “Tiny House”: a micro house with all the essentials, on a tiny footprint. “The less you have, the freer you are. This attitude extends far beyond just living,” explains Di Chiara. To spark enthusiasm among wider circles, he founded a “Tiny House University” in Italy.