Live Small At Mini's New Apartment and Entertainment Complex

Khodrocar - Mini is the latest automaker to expand into architecture with the brand’s announcement to partner on creating a combined apartment complex and entertainment space in Shanghai, China. As the company’s name evokes, the Mini Living space will aim to make the most out of dwelling within a compact footprint.

Mini and partner Nova Property Investment call this space "a multi-layered co-living initiative” because it combines apartments, workspaces, restaurants, a food market, gardens, and play areas. The company imagines single people and families living at within this space. The apartments would be small, but there would be large lobbies where folks would mingle together. This would create a sense of community among the occupants.

Mini will also experiment with offering high-tech, digital services. For example, residents will be able to book a vehicle from the firm’s car sharing service or book a reservation at the on-site restaurant.

"We are rethinking the idea of living space in the city and developing attractive, need-oriented living concepts. Our aim here is to offer an extremely high quality of life within an extremely small area,” Peter Schwarzenbauer, Mini’s customer experience boss, said.

The site will occupy a six-building campus from a former paint factory in the Jing’An district of Shanghai. Construction work will start before the end of the year.

This will be Mini’s first permanent building but won’t be the company’s first foray into architecture. For example, the firm worked on a temporary dwelling called Breathe during the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy. The 16-foot-wide and 33-foot-tall structure offered living space for three people across several floors, including a rooftop garden. A translucent exterior flooded the space with natural light but didn’t provide much privacy, particularly at night.

Other automakers have also delved into the world of architecture. For example, Porsche Design and Aston Martin have worked with development companies to create their own branded apartment buildings in Miami, Florida.