Can you envision the look and vibe of your city in 20 years? In what ways can it enhance the residents’ quality of life? How can it change mobility, technology, the education system and social living standards?

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Living In The Box (LITB) created a comprehensive concept of future-oriented social housing in Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, where I currently live. I split the project into two sub-projects, Box of Life and Box of Light.

Box of Life will focus on solving the problem of “narrow land, crowded houses” in Vietnam by designing a small space apartment construction project with a living area of ​​no more than 14 square meters to save more land.

Although Box of Life addressed and tried to solve the land and population issues, another problem arose. That is the “Disconnection” between people. People in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City must do their best so they can stay and work in HCM City. Although Box of Life may solve the problem of overpopulation, the price to pay for living in a big city will still increase day by day (this seems to be the law of modern society, and we must have been getting used to this situation). As a result, people will gradually become more distant and less social with others because they now have to work harder and sometimes must overwork to pay for housing. And the state of “Disconnection” if prolonged, can lead to negative consequences on their mental health.

Therefore, Box of Light designed a place where people can connect with each other by telling their stories. In my perspective, stories are powerful and can help people connect. The biggest problem that leads to the “Disconnection” between people is sometimes not because we do not open up to share our stories. Sometimes we are simply afraid that even if we share the story, there will be no one there to listen. For the reason above, Box of Light will encourage users to share their hard-to-talk stories. Let them know that when they share their story, someone out there has been listening to it. This app will help people connect and encourage each other to overcome difficult moments in life.

Connectivity will help people lead healthier lives while living in a harsh and sometimes cruel world.