Gone Mobile, Auckland

It’s January in the office and we are all sitting in the heat, solemnly staring out the window at those lovely blue skies trying to get back into ‘work mode’. Rent review was approaching and the outdoors were calling. We began to reflect upon our office environment – “how come we are stuck inside the office while the weather is like this!? Can we possibly take our work outside?” As a creative architecture and design studio, we approach these types of questions with a sense of innovation. We proposed to host an experiment – 106 went mobile! In 2016, 106 Architects created a solution for those who wish to be outside during the summer months, instead of working inside the office. Returning to work after the summer, we proposed to adopt and transform a retro caravan into a mobile working space. The concept was to take the idea of the traditional ‘site shed’, and transform it into a flexible and mobile office environment for four architects. Could we cope with going from a 95sq.m traditional office to a 15sq.m mobile caravan by the beach? The aim was to explore the functional side of an office – how much space do we really need; is open-plan a distraction or could it facilitate closer collaboration; and what are the spatial planning, technological and cultural requirements for an office? How would the practical aspects of “gone mobile” impact our workflow and decisions? Reducing our functional footprint to a multifunctional yet practical space was able to happen thanks to a shell of a retro caravan.  As our home-away-from-home, we not only gained the mobility and flexibility we needed, but it gave us the ability to park it on the site of one of our current projects – the Hyundai Marine Sports Centre, in Okahu Bay, Auckland. To adapt the interiors of the caravan into an office, we stripped it down and implemented a ceiling installation of recycled paper and soft furnishings. As for our work tools, due to the reduced space, we kept only the essentials: computers, chairs, an office plant, and a coffee station. The desks were made of cardboard, allowing them to fold and refold as needed. The experiment was revealing – closer collaboration, greater sharing of ideas, clearer observations, and interactions with those in and around our site. It illustrated to us that we can enact an idea based on saying: Why Not!? Photographer: 106 Architects