• Tweet ^[1]
• Share on Tumblr ^[2]
• Email ^[3]

^[4]

Malaysian ^[5] architect Tay Yee Wei recently unveiled a towering vertical city populated with hexagonal housing units that offer a solution to urban population growth problems in Asian cities. The tower itself serves as a scaffolding — as the population of urban areas fluctuates, modular ^[6] units can be “plugged in” to the structure to accommodate an expanding population.

^[7]

Wei’s Plug-in Dwelling Development was inspired by Le Corbusier’s theory — “a house is a machine for living.” The project essentially rotates a sprawling community into a vertical orientation. The city puts down the initial costs and retains ownership of the primary structure, which is made of reinforced concrete. Residents will be able to purchase a “lot” and insert a modular housing unit that can be customized to suit each individual family. The pre-fab ^[8] hexagon units can also be combined to create larger homes for larger families. Wei suggests that many open “lots” could be earmarked for green spaces ^[9], recreational areas, and research facilities.

The Plug-in Dwelling project assumes that the development will have a longer lifespan than the city that surrounds it. Wei designed a flexible structure that can be easily dismantled and transported to the next up-and-coming city according to fluctuations in population and economy.

Via eVolo ^[10]