Alive Mobile Terracotta Heater Project
Spatial divider for loft-type apartments.
Domus Academy Master in Design Project, 1999
Open-plan loft apartments have no walls to define spaces — and no logical place to put a heater. The Alive project explored a spatial divider that doubled as a portable heating element: a terracotta structure that could be repositioned throughout the space, letting the occupant take warmth with them as they moved.
Designed as part of the Master in Design programme at Domus Academy, Milan.
A heater that moved with the user
The design used terracotta — a material with natural heat-retention properties — shaped into modular spatial dividers. The forms functioned simultaneously as room partitions and radiant heaters, so the occupant didn't have to choose between defining their space and staying warm.
The terracotta explorations tested different surface patterns, thermal mass configurations, and structural geometries to find the balance between heat performance and spatial presence.
Results
A terracotta spatial divider and portable heater concept for open-plan loft apartments — designed as part of the Master in Design programme at Domus Academy, Milan.
Terracotta · spatial divider + heater · Master in Design · Domus Academy, Milan