Photography: António Pedroso e Lara Jacinto.

A search for a mobile, self-sufficient dwelling, Capsules revisits the relationship between architecture, site, and urban infrastructures in the service of environmental self-determination. Designed for a couple who decided to live off the grid, the project leveraged a series of juridical loopholes to circumvent a legal system that continues to prevent alternative construction systems, including those aimed at lessening eceological footprints. The self-sufficient house sits on three retrofitted truck trailers on what was originally considered an unbuildable site, deplying locally sourced, low-budget industrial and rural surplus materials, and even reinterpretations of traditional insulation systems.

Text by Pedro Gadanho for Generation Próxima, at New York Center for Architecture