As the world's population grows rapidly and cities get overcrowded, architects all over the world have to come up with new, creative and adaptive living solutions for unused spaces. These Parasitic Architecture examples are adaptable, sometimes fleeting and exploitive, but always rely on other buildings for support. From unusual homes' extensions like this bizarre rocky penthouse in China, to tiny shelters suspended from monuments' walls in Paris, click through the photos to see how parasitic might redesign our cities.
Cut-architecture’s Rehearsal Room
Paris-based Cut-Architecture has come out with an unusual idea for extending one of their clients’ homes: They built a new, bright and airy “parasitic music room” suspended between the client’s house and the neighbor’s wall.
Plasma Studio’s Geometrical Extension
London’s Plasma Studio updated a 60s house in Italy that’s topped with a clashing geometric extension. Instead of following the “host” building’s style, they designed a new geometrical timber unit which adds a wonderful outdoor area that can also be climbed.
Lara Calder Architects’ Prefab Parasite
Australian firm Lara Calder Architects have come up with an idea that makes good use of unused urban landscapes: The “prefab parasite” is a parasitic structure that can be affixed onto empty walls, creating an attractive private dwelling.
Stephane Malka’s Pocket of Active Resistance
French architect Stephane Malka sees existing Parisian buildings as opportunities for affordable housing. His project Pocket of Active Resistance shows how the interior walls of la Défense could host affordable, interconnected, and colorful living modules to shelter future habitants of the city of love.
Stefan Eberstadt’s Add-on Room
German designer Stefan Eberstadt created an add-on room that is the perfect addition to cramped apartments. The 97-square-foot box made from welded steel and birch-veneered plywood interiors can be suspended from any building’s façade, bringing in daylight while simultaneously expanding the living area.
Ja Studio Inc Bridge City
Canadian Ja Studio Inc submitted a quirky proposal for the renovation of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway in Italy. The idea is to bring people closer to nature by building houses and shops on the foundations of a highway’s bridge, thus creating a new, parasitic city.
