Are you a fan of caravans, but you feel limited by the need to always sit behind the car wheel when you want to take your shelter to the perfect location? Well, this is no longer a problem. Meet Taku Tanku, the super light caravan made of water tanks, which can be transported by a bike, a boat or simply be carried by two people.
The super light travelling house is a product of Marcelo Ertorteguy and Sara Valente, founders of the New York-based design firm Stereotank. It is made of two 3,000 l (670 gal) water tanks that are joint together via a wooden ring, which also makes up the entrance and the middle of the caravan. It’s green features include solar LED lights and solar fan, and it is painted with insulating paint on the inside.
The mobile shelter is not extremely big, it could fit two or three people in it, but because it is so very light, it can be brought anywhere by a simple bike, or just pulled by two people. It is eco-friendly, and does not have fancy components. Re-purposed materials and off-the-shelf gadgets are all it takes to make it. It is extremely compact, highly affordable and can be made suitable to fit to various types of landscapes and conditions.
All of these features most definitely make up the coolest camp-site caravan around, but the design has one additional purpose to serve. As Ertorteguy and Valente explain, it is also “a sculpture that celebrates the vital role of water in our lives”.
According to the inventors, the pre-shaped water tanks allow the assembly of similar constructions in various layouts. In its current form and size of 9 sq m (96 sq ft) the travel house would cost around $10,000.
The design was put together by Stereorank in collaboration with Takahiro Fukuda, and it took part in the Little House Competition 2014 in Saitama, Japan.
Image (c) Stereorank