Maison Fleximum Part 2 Project 2001 Angie Abbink Amsterdam University of the Arts Amsterdam | Netherlands MAISON FLEXIMUM is an urban dwelling with maximum flexibility, achieved by its ability to adapt. This flexibility manifests itself between the borders of the physical minimum and the intuitive maximum: otherwise known as FLEXIMUM.Of the fourteen homes I have inhabited over the past twelve years, the dwelling invariably dictated 'how I was to live' and proved unable to accommodate many changes in my world. As a reaction, I developed my ideal home:I wanted a house which would:let me dictate the spatial and functional form of my living environment; continually adjust itself to changes in my world;have an urban context, as my world is linked with the city.Armed with a fascination for the increasing adaptability of everyday objects, I undertook a series of studies of historical and current examples of flexibility and unique city dwellings, domestic requirements of a wide range of urbanites, and potential applications of techniques such as hydraulics and screw jacks for the benefit of movable floors, flexible sanitary units and adjustable transport. The resulting prototypes are internally and externally adaptable, making MAISON FLEXIMUM eminently suitable for filling holes in the urban fabric, enriching the cityscape with a whole range of possibilities for future lifestyles. In the present climate, home consumers in the Netherlands are demanding more and more individuality and influence on the final product, and getting it too. The upshot of this is that the following generation is confronted with a freeze-frame of how their predecessors lived. If there is any flexibility to speak of, then it is more often than not in the mind of the user; the inhabitant uses the home in different ways while the house itself remains static.Maison Fleximum changes all this. It tries to find new ways to make the house physically and functionally adaptable, so that each new owner can turn the generic house into his or her specific home overnight.The result of this project is not just a product or a design. It is research as well. Whereas usually minor investigations into a diversity of subjects are put at the service of a resulting design, here the procedure is quite the opposite: the designs for two prototype houses – the Lift-house and the Ring-house – are made to fuel fundamental, relevant and timely research.