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Last bus stop: odd, innovative home on wheels
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WHEN 30-year-old Guo Jinfu sold his apartment and moved into an overhauled double-decker yellow bus, many people thought he was a bit nutty.
“Actually,” he confided, “it was just for fun. It’s a lifestyle that suits me.”
Indeed, Guo is in the art world, where eccentricity can be part of the temperament. After studying oil painting at Hangzhou Normal University, he was a master student in contemporary art in France, where he took the French name Fou, which means “crazy.”
The initial idea of renovating a scrap-heap bus and turning it into a home came to Guo one day while he was sipping coffee in the office of his company Builtifou Studio, an art consulting firm in Liuxia Town in suburban Hangzhou.
“Would it be possible to live right next to my company?” he wondered, as he gazed out the window at a vacant parking lot.
Why not, he decided. So Guo bought an old double-decker bus for 8,000 yuan (US$1,168) and spent 200,000 yuan turning it into a trendy living space.
“I’m the kind of person who executes an idea once it’s fixed in my mind,” he said. “Living in vehicles is not very odd in the West.”
Indeed, the US, for one, has more than 40,000 trailer parks with homes sitting on wheels. In Europe, too, there are caravan parks with permanent residents. Many a young hipster in the West lives in a refurbished van, and many a retiree travels around in a house trailer towed by car.
Guo’s bus home isn’t designed to be mobile, but it does have advantages. Parked next to his office, it ended his daily 30-minute commute to work, and it eliminated his 4,000 yuan monthly mortgage payment on an apartment his parents initially bought him.
The bus had no engine, and Guo removed the steering wheel, seats and extra flooring. He was helped in the project by a local interior design company.
As an artist who deals with sculptures and installations, Guo had no trouble envisioning what he wanted in terms of chic living space. His father, an engineer, helped him connect electricity and plumbing.
Guo employed workers to install heat shields to the walls, replaced the small, separate windows of the bus with larger panes, overhauled the flooring and painted the interior. His mother supplied the unique short curtains.
“Some of the work was very tiring,” he admitted, “like looking for leaks and plugging them.”
The whole facelift took three months.
The result is quite stunning, a Shanghai Daily journalist found when she visited the home. At the entrance is a small hallway for changing shoes. There’s an open kitchen plan, with a refrigerator and washing machine opposite a long desk.
Going further into the long, narrow home, one comes to a living area with beanbag chairs, a tea table, a fireplace and shelving. The rear of the bus contains a bedroom and toilet.
The entire decor is in bright yellow and dark blue, giving the home an Art Deco appearance.
“I insisted there be a fireplace to give the small space a homey feel,” Guo said.
The fireplace and much of the furniture were tailor-made to fit the cramped space. Two air conditioners were installed to keep the interior comfortable during warmer seasons.
At night, Guo can gaze at the night sky as he lies in bed.
Two local residents passed by when Shanghai Daily left the bus.
“Giving up a house for a bus?” she heard one say.
“Maybe it is just what he likes,” the other replied. “Each to his own.”
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