Existenxmaximum - Atlas of Shared Living. Vol. III from Venice to Shanghai and back

The new type of dwelling for the digital nomads is born as a fruit of the capitalism
and globalization. It takes advantage of the relative low cost of the travel and of
the sharing economy systems to make it easy to roam from one location to the
other with a great convenience. The millennial housing becomes some sort of a
worldwide franchise chain: if one knows how one location works, he knows also
what to expect from the others. What does this imply in terms of space?
Taking the example of any capitalist giant that provides spaces to stay, let’s say
Starbucks. Can one guess if the coffee shop is in Bejing, Berlin or New York from
the interior? If we shut the view to the surrounding context there will be not many
hints to know. The place would be the same anywhere, the smells, the taste and
the way the place lives would be the same; the surroundings - irrelevant. A 21st
century heterotopia.
Now we take the housing example. We go to Airbnb, we choose a superhost, we
check the reviews, we look to a neatly looking flat. Is it in Bangkok or Milan? On
average we are going to encounter a vast amount of listings looking all the same,
even furnished with the same furniture, exhibiting the same objects. We recognize
that average-nice style, we know we can expect an average-good quality, we go for
it.
But does it really make any sense to move from one part of the world to the other,
to finish up sitting on the same chair be it in Beijing or Berlin? Being a big crowbased/crowd-funded
network instead of a collection of autonomous entries, the
existenzmaximum housing could allow the luxury of denying the globalization
and the capitalism in its locations. Every single location should become a catalyst
of the local spirit. It should be entirely designed taking into consideration the
identity of the place, the construction traditions, local materials, artisan crafts and
the local living habits (contemporary, not nostalgic).
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