The next instalment of our Dezeen x MINI Living series features a concept for a modular balcony system designed to encourage good relations between neighbours.
Entitled Social Balconies, the project was designed by product designer and recent Design Academy Eindhoven graduate, Edwin Van Capelleveen.
The concept consists of a pair of modular components that connect pre-existing balconies, creating shared spaces between neighbours for communal activity.
Van Capelleveen's proposal aims to encourage social interaction by connecting balconies with staircases and bridges
Modules come in the form of a staircase to connect apartments on various levels of a building, and a bridge to connect apartments next to each other.
The system also comes with planters that can be attached to the railings of the staircases and bridges. "Planters can be incorporated to make the building come alive, and to spark interaction between residents," Van Capelleveen said.
The system comes with attachable planters providing a potential point of interaction for neighbours
Van Capelleveen told Dezeen the concept was designed to encourage "social cohesion" for people living in apartment blocks in urban areas.
"This living concept places itself between co-housing and a private way of living," he said. "It offers a more delicate way of implementing social cohesion for the masses."
The designer told Dezeen that he was interested in balconies as a vehicle for innovation wi...