Last updated: 29 Apr 2023
According to these standards, you can carry a lot of luxury in a van as anything beyond a match, a knife, and a bottle of water is considered a luxury.
Because my dad was an architect, I grew up studying a lot of issues of DOMUS in the 70′s and early 80′s. My hometown Stuttgart/Germany has the highest number per capita of architects in a German city and quite a bunch of close friends are architects. So it’s not surprising that architecture and design influenced my life.
Recently I’m in love with the architecture that comes out of Japan. Japan has a rich history of design and architecture, and there are many innovative and creative ideas that can be adapted to small spaces like a van.
Here are some examples:
Tube house, Serigaya house, S-house, Municipal housing, House in Tanimannari, Apartment renovation, Kso house, Large roof house, and office.
I think the clean, warm, and functional style is perfect for a small living space as it can provide comfort and organization. Like many others, I enjoyed building small “forts” under tables and ladders when I was a child. To this day, I enjoy tinkering with small spaces.
I have the philosophy: Everything more than a match, a knife, and a bottle of water is luxury. So even in a van, I can haul a lot of luxury. You don’t have to be a hippie to understand that you ideally have all natural materials in such a tight quarter. Vinyl for example and many other plastics are gassing off for quite a long time so I’m gonna try to avoid these materials as much as possible.
I appreciate the versatility of plastics, but it’s essential to be mindful of their potential health implications if you plan to live with or use them for an extended period.
In future posts, I will discuss each aspect of the van’s design and layout in detail, and in the future, I will document every step of the van conversion process. I will cover topics such as layout, insulation, ventilation, plumbing, sleeping arrangements, seating, heating, electrical systems, and more, while keeping the overall design of the van discreet and stealthy.
