The Cushicle and Suitaloon

The Cushicle and Suitaloon are a pair of conceptual designs made by Michael Webb and published in the Archigram magazine in the 1960’s.

The Cushicle is an invention that enables a person to carry with them all the essentials of living –  a self sustaining nomadic unit. It consists of two parts, both of which can open out and be used independently or simultaneously.  One is essentially a spine-like chassis that carries all appliances needed for living. The helmet includes a radio and a mini-tv and and the food and water supply are carried in the pods attached to the chassis.

Chassis unopened. Image Source: Archigram Archives 

 

The second part is the actual enclosing, habitable element, which consists of an inflatable envelope with “extra skins as viewing screens”. (A Guide to Archigram, Archigram Archives, pp 186)  There is also the option of adding additional service nodes and apparati, allowing the Cushicle unit to develop and become a part of a larger, widespread urban system of smaller personalized enclosures.

Cushicle with skin expanded. Image Source: Archigram Archives

Cushicle side elevations of empty suit. Image Source: A Guide to Archigram

The Suitaloon was an idea conceptualized later as an add-on to the earlier Cushicle. It is “clothing for living in – or if it wasn’t for my Suitaloon I would have to buy a house” (A Guide to Archigram, Archigram Archives, pp 207). Whereas in the Cushicle the environment for the rider was provided in a car-like mechanism, the Suitaloon was imagined as a wearable inflatable space that would fit into the larger structure of the Cushicle. In this concept, the Suitaloon would provide all the necessary services, while the “Cushicle would be the source of (a) movement, (b) a larger envelope than the suit can provide, (c) power.” (A Guide to Archigram, Archigram Archives, pp 207). Each suit has a plug that would function analogously to  a key to your front door. You would be able to use it to plug into any envelope to move into another one or combine several of them to form one larger envelope. Many different versions of the Cushicle envelope and the Suitaloon would be available for different types of lifestyles, from super sports to family style.

Sequential drawings of Suitaloon inflating, plugging into another and attaching to the Cushicle, respectively. Image Source: Dance with Archigram

Conceptual drawings of Suitaloon. Image: A Guide to Archigram

Testing out a prototype of the Suitaloon. Image: Dance with Archigram

-Weeney