Airless, puncture-proof and compacting down to a 9-inch-wide package, the Revolve wheel makes it way easier to transport and store both bicycles and wheelchairs than ever before. Aiming to be the world’s first modular wheel, this design enables you to open and close the wheel in a single motion, lock and unlock its position, and carry it around with ease. Designed by Andrea Mocellin, the six-pointed design is ideal for urban cyclists, and could play a pivotal role in the folding bikes of the future.

With this design, there will be no more frustrating, greasy tire-changing pit-stops on the road, and keeping your bike more secure by toting the front wheel along with you is easier than ever. It’s designed to easily store in a backpack, inside a vehicle or in the overhead baggage hold on an airplane, and it’s compatible with most bikes and wheelchairs. When fully expanded, it’s the universal wheel size of 665mm.

As an example, the designer presents a folding body concept that can be used in conjunction with the Revolve Wheel, folded up into a compact trolley or unfolded into a scooter with space for carrying bulky or heavy items.

Mocellin also envisions it working for a surprising third use: “A total new experience can be evolve with the integration of Revolve. Robotics, land drones can easily be more usable thanks to large wheels and more possibility to approach all terrain.

More than ten physical prototypes have been made, a patent is pending and it’s been tested on both bicycles and wheelchairs, so this is more than just another digital concept. No news yet on commercial availability, but it will be interesting to see where the Revolve goes in the future.

Space and privacy are increasingly valuable commodities in cities, and many people on tight budgets find themselves in living situations that feel more than a little cramped. The average student in a city like New York or San Francisco can’t afford to live alone, and many more have difficulty accessing shared housing with just a handful of roommates. In Bangkok, students facing financial difficulties have been offered a ‘space scholarship,’ but the catch is they’ll be living with 6 other people in a tiny apartment. How can designers make such tight quarters more tolerable?

Fabrica, a research center based in Italy, came up with a few solutions as part of a corporate social responsibility initiative by Thai property developer AP Public Company Ltd. Making use of existing condo units in Bangkok, the firm did some heavy research on what makes co-living work before setting out to design the spaces.

Some are ultra-compact, consisting of just a single undivided room, yet manage to be comfortable for multiple inhabitants through built-in furniture that makes use of the vertical space. Others have a couple separate bedrooms, but pack three to four people into each one. Fabrica’s extensive use of smooth, pale wood surfaces, simple lines and cohesive color schemes goes a long way toward making each apartment feel spacious and uncluttered despite the number of people living there. The same materials and color schemes are carried throughout the interiors, including the kitchens and living rooms.

No matter how you spin it, 7 people is an awful big number for one compact condo. But take a second to consider what most college dorm rooms look like, and whether you’d prefer their cheap bunks and hot plates to a well-designed space full of useful space-saving features.

Extending beyond the existing rooftops like a fast-growing plant, this compact cylindrical home slotted into an unused urban plot in Milan features a breathable ‘skin’ connecting the interiors to the outdoors. Designed by New York-based architects SO-IL for Milan Design Week 2017, the MINI LIVING ‘Breathe’ installation is a response to the growing challenge to maximize available space in cities to comfortably accommodate more residences.

Built on a modular metal frame covered with a flexible, semi-translucent envelope that reacts organically to the environment, the home was designed for a family of three, and features six rooms and a lush rooftop garden. The ground floor is transparent to encourage interaction with the world outside; climb the spiraling staircase and you’ll find a series of private spaces for relaxation, work and sleeping, all separated by fabric canopies.

The outer skin lets in filtered sunlight, while the rooftop garden collects rainwater and helps filter the city air. Hammock-like nets suspended from the upper levels look out onto both the city outside and the interiors below. The architects describe the skin as a ‘jacket’ that can be zipped and arranged differently to protect against various external conditions. The more you layer it, the more privacy or water resistance it offers, so inhabitants can customize the needs of different rooms.

The idea, in part, was to ‘tune’ the interiors to the rhythms of the city, the weather and the sun outside, eliminating the closed-off feel that many homes tend to have. While the tent-like design may not be viable for many urban centers where cold weather, rain and theft might be a problem, it’s an intriguing idea for layering with more solid and secure materials like glass.

With an entirely custom-built interior, a nine-foot-wide sliding glass door and a warm modern aesthetic, this grain silo converted to a compact home seems worlds away from its humble farmyard origins. Architect Christoph Kaiser purchased the 1955 corrugated steel wall silo from a Kansas farmer and had it dismantled and shipped to downtown Phoenix, Arizona on the back of a pickup truck to begin the renovation process that would transform it into a beautiful, cozy and affordable two-story residence.

Once set in place in the up-and-coming Garfield Historic District, the silo began its dramatic makeover process. Large doors and windows were added to bring light into the previously darkened space, and the oculus at the top used to promote air circulation to the stored grain was turned into a skylight. Views of the Phoenix skyline are strategically framed, with the other windows looking out onto a spacious private garden.

With the silo’s tiny footprint, maximizing the interior space was a top priority. Kaiser designed a built-in, all-in-one solution that’s essentially one big piece of furniture to accommodate all of the residents’ daily living needs. Curved to match the line of the walls, the custom interior is clad mostly in reclaimed walnut flooring scored on Craigslist. Kaiser even designed a one-of-a-kind ceiling lamp with hooks for hanging pots and pans to save space. The Eames wire chairs are the only elements that weren’t custom-made for the home.

A spiraling staircase leads to the sleeping loft, which is equipped with a digital projector so the couple has their very own mini movie theater in their bedroom. The bathroom, finished in glossy floor-to-ceiling penny tile, boasts a rounded custom vanity and compact Duravit toilet. When the nine-foot window is opened to the garden in nice weather, the home seems to expand.

“It was love at first sight: an affordable, challenging prospect,” the architect tells World Architecture News. “The thought of assembling a kit of parts that fits in the bed of a truck, and ending up with a home for two was a tantalizing challenge, very appealing from a carbon-footprint, sustainability, and shall we say, ‘architectural rigor’ standpoint.”

A 500-square-foot condo feels a lot larger when you can manage to fit a bedroom, guest bed, dining area, work space and closet in one tiny room without cluttering every possible surface. To prove that it’s possible, the designers at ICOSA teamed up with Peter Suen to make the most of a very modestly sized residence in San Francisco’s Financial District, creating a clean, contemporary, adaptable solution that translates to other small spaces.

The Domino Loft is the result of testing a wide variety of space-saving features within the limited apartment, which has high ceilings, but only one room to work with aside from the kitchen and bathroom. The designers tried drop-down ceilings, movable walls and other more complex ideas, but ultimately settled on the tried-and-true loft concept as the simplest and most effective way to maximize every inch of available space.

The room-within-a-room features a partially enclosed space topped with a sleeping loft, which is accessible via sliding library ladder from the closet area. Inside, a thin and light bed comes down from the wall, and its bottoms surface acts as a whiteboard when stowed away. There’s a built-in bench next to a fold-down dining table, a standing desk and lots of storage. The closet fits an impressive number of shoes and offers drawers as well as space for hanging garments.

Made of concrete panels, wood slats, metalwork and custom cabinets, the components were fabricated off-site in an Oakland workshop before assembly within the apartment.