":'111

PRESTEL
MUNICH BERLIN LONDON NEVV 'tORK

oos

PRESTEL VERLAG, MUNICH BERLIN LONDON NEW YORK, 2002

FOR CONCEPT AND TEXT BY COURTENAY SMITH AND SEAN TOPHAM , 2002
THE RIGHT OF COURTENAY SMITH AND SEAN TOPHAM TO BE IDENTIFIED AS AUTHORS OF THIS WORK
HAS BEEN ASSERTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COPYRIGHT, DESIGN , AND PATENTS ACT 1988.
COVER: DOUG JACKSON, CASA VERTICAL, 2000
FRONTISPIECE: SOFTROOM, TREE HOUSE, 1998
PHOTO CREDITS: SEE PAGE 167
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DESIGN AND TYPOGRAPHY BY SMITH LONDON
PRINTED AND BOUND BY PASSAVIA DRUCKSERVICE, PASSAU
PRINTED IN GERMANY ON ACID-FREE PAPER
ISBN 3-7913-2789-5

006

House In Hackney
Anti oedipal House
seml-oysf\.mctional House

o1AT ION .

166 BIBLIOGRAPHY
16B ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TO~

urn

~'-

1\

EO l " '"IMA<>IS

PA~t

THIS

fl-'MfiOVAtil' J-fOME IN DAllO\S,

TlV'~

PfMO.. ~TR.ATESA

0(!>1Pt TO 811EM WITH T"E

ClTV S TUDOR AND COLOmAL
Rt~fDH~Cr!> THROUG~

TOPlCAt.

SfHlStiC Fl0UR15><5

TOll' RIGHT Hf TIN FACAOE ANO

P~(UOO

DORIC COLUMNS ON

THIS "OUSE IN HOUSTON,

tfXA>. ARE CERTAI NLY O UT OF
! Ht OAOINARV BUT NOT NITES~A~ll \1

t: XTR(MF lN TER MS OF

FUNCTION OR SOCIAL IMPACT

IIOTTOM AIIC,.ITECTS AND

HOMEOWNERS ALIKE HAVE
MU(.:H 10 LEAR~ FR{)M THE

HUIBIUTV AND SPACE-S'IVWG

DESI GN CJF 'HE CONTAINERS
WI11Ck HOUSE TOOA' S
CONST11UCTION WOii~ER:S.
SUCH AS T"'fSE UNITS L'l
M V.. ICH GEPMANY, 2002.

we are curtous about what exactly constitutes

a house, or in fact a home, since a " house" is
all about an md1v1dual approach to shelter and
"housing" IS about dwelling on a mass scale.
ro us. hous1ng IS a blanket solut1on that treats
everyone the same. n is homogeneous and
ohen bonng. However, houses are unique and
allow for one person's perceptiOn of "homen
to be completely d tfferent from another's.
sensmg that there had to be more than one
pertect "house," we started to look at the rush
of act1v1ty m domestic design. what we discovered m1ght be descri bed as the leadmg edge of
res1dennal architecture, although 1t's certainly
not advertised-at least not yet-at real estate
off1ces or 1n the property pages
The homes presented herem are extreme
1n the sense that they are exceptional, radical,
and on the edge. certa1n examples may not
look excess1ve but that 1s because we have
concerned ourselves With content rather than
style. Each house has been chosen because 1t
poses a challenge to trad1t1onal methods or
attempts to solve a problem rhere are plenty
of homes out there that may look extreme. but
for the most part these are mere follies wh1ch
ennch the fabnc of the1r local communtties as
cunos1t1es All roo ohen they fa1l to make a
SOC1al1mpact when placed 1n a broader context

our choice of houses has been determined

by the1r relevance to today's global commu nity. The selection of homes that follows m this
book represents an exchange of 1deas from the
far ends of the mternational social spectrum .
Many would have passed away unheard of 1f
1t weren't for the rntemet's capab1l1ty to
communicate mformat1on from the ends of the
earth. The global commumcat1ons network
established by the First world has brought 1ts
1nnovat1ons-for better or worse- to bear on
l1festyle, lncludmg hous1ng, m the Third world,
and v1ce versa . In fact the Third world has
demonstrated t1me and agam that necessity
IS the mother of mvent1on when 1t comes to
home des1gn. In countries of l1m1ted resources,
tnd1v1duals, architects, and budders must look
beyond matenals and methods typically assoCiated With house construction, an approach
that 1s beg1nnmg to broaden the mmdset of
arch1tects m the west . westerners wou ld do
well to start lending as much credence and
attent1on to. say, the temporary shelters that
accommodate our construction workers, as to
the build1ngs the workers erect
rn certam cases, the houses we have
chosen literally occupy the fnnges of soc1ety,
wh1le 1n other cases they are completely
remote from It and located 1n extreme environ -

ments or extreme social situations . They also

respond to extraordinary conditions, 1ncluding
unprecedented mobility, natural disasters, war,
population shifts, and homelessness. The
homes selected almost always Introduce new
or forgotten technologies and matenals
appropnated from sources as d1verse as Middle
Eastern engineering to the film, automotive,
aerospace, and fashion mdustnes, resultmg 1n
forms that engender new ways of mteract1ng
w ith each other and our env1ronment.
An 1ssue that IS thoroughly 1nvest1gated is
homelessness, which takes on d1fferent guises
dependmg on context. rn western c1t1es, 1t 1s
ohen the result of misfortune, negligence, or
choice, wh1le m unsettled or unindustrtahzed
nat1ons 1t IS the result of abJect poverty, CIVIL war,
d1scnmmat1on, or governmental oppress1on.
Also looked at in detail is the impact of globalization and consumer culture on the housmg
industry. m some instances, 1t is westerners
who are lead1ng the way in affordable housing
for Third world countnes-whether through
the use of domes made of sandbags or the
manufacture of portable shelters-but thetr
des1gns are not always welcomed by those
who need them most, people who want
nothmg more than to live 1n western - style
bungalows w1th televisions . At the same t1me,

we Are All Architects. courten.y smith and sean TOpham

globaliZation has also opened the door for

imm igrati on and the world is an increasingly
m1 xed ethnic bag for it. This was always true 1n
urban cent ers, t he land tng place of foretgn
workers throughout t he nineteenth and twentiet h cen tu nes. eut now smaller c1t1es are
explod1 ng w1th cultural difference and destre.
rn t he u ntted st ates, th1s IS nowhere more
obv1ous t han the suburbs, where ethntc homeowners are steadily replacing, or dlsplactng,
the "wh1te b read" settlers of fifty years hence.
Never before have we bee n such a mob1le
soc1ety, able to comm untcate w1th fnends and
fam1 ly from any 1magmable locanon or to hop
on a fl1ght across the world at the drop of a
hat. Thts m1gratory 1mpulse, coupled With a
sh1ft tn tourism away from luxury spas and "
resorts to packaged vacations in " authentiC
locales-whether a Masai- owned lodge In
Kenya or a Russian gulag-has increa sed
westerners' understanding of how the other
half ltves and opened a p1peline for the
f
exchange of cultural ideas.
Admittedly there IS a preponderance o
"extreme" creativity to draw upon at the
moment, whether from architects. arw.ts
collectives, or tnd1viduals. what we pr~sent
herem IS a short list of what's our there a
samplmg that 1s by no means f 1mte Or e~clUSIVt'

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55, flLOt" O~'NAMITEO IN

1"1]2 PuBLIC DISSATISFA.CIION

U: C'\:8 '> WOU~D l

VEN~U

HOI"! '0

WITH ARCHITECT 05IGNEO

PUBLIC HOUSING BLOCkS
CONTINUES TO BE TliE CI\US: Of

THEIR DEMOLITION

.01T004 L.lln PROTO>P(Or Tl11

PltJil8RICMEO WICHITA"

BOTTO M RIGHT Mll S VAN OER

'tOU~l Ot!.IGNEO

ROHE rARN511"0RIIi HOUSl

fl> R

IJUC!\MlN!>T:11 fULI.EH 1<l47

PLANO,lli!NO!~. U.!> A

OIL ALUMIN\JM CHlNDCR NEXT

THE CLEAN, CLASSIC LINES AND

TO lH 1-<0U"-tlS A R~U~EABLF

TRANSI'ARlNl FA~ ADI ARE

CONTAINFR lN WHICH AIL OF

Hit PREFABRICATED

ElEMENT~

WERE' TO[!( SltlPPEO IHC

1949

PLEAS!Nu TO TH" (YL AUT WI HI

O!rFTCULT FOR THE CLI(NT

ro

LIVE WlTfi

!IOU'>( Wll!i AN IMMlNSFLY

....

POPULAR All (RNA I IV[ fO

CO'/VlNTIONAL SUBURBAN
TRACT

ttOM l~ .

stones of pre -ww1 Europe. For perhaps the

ftrst time 1n htstory, the ordinary house became
a focus of architectural theory and practtce AS
little as seventy years ago, the Moderntst credo
of pure form and "starttng from zero"!-wh1ch
we typ1cally associate with severe, undecorated corporate h1gh nses. art gallerres, or
school campuses-had already taken root tn
radical res1dent1al commtsstons. from Gernt
Rietveld's schroeder House (1924) in utrecht.
rhe Netherlands, to Le corbuster's VIlla savoye
11931) 1n POISSy, France. to Mles van der Rohe's
rarnswon.h House (1949) tn Plano, rllino1s. Thts
mzn1mal abstract style was transported into
worker housing tn Europe and eventually recycled as luxury apartments m the un1ted states.
e:ndemtc to all cases was that a theoretical
1mperattve had found tts expresston m the
fundamental un1t of any soctety-the homeSignaling that huge mtellectual shtfts could
JUSt as eastly take place on a small scale when
e.xplonng the homes m th1s book, it ts Important to keep tn m1nd that thetr "extreme" ideas
may already be well on the1r way to defmmg
our greater c.ultural and soc tal landscape.
POP culture's obsess1on with all things
retro over the last decade has delivered a
blurry eyed nostalga for the commerctally
manufactured dwetlmgs and mobile homes of

the 1950s and beyond, but nobody ts sheddmg

tears over the arch1tect-des1gned h1gh-nse
and htgh-density housing schemes of that
same era m the postwar reconstructton of
Europe, arch itects and urban planners 1mposed
their grand schemes onto a society that was
never properly consulted about how tt wanted
to l1ve . rhe common solution to housmg across
Europe was to build a box, place a family tn 1t,
and demand that they shape thetr ltfe around
tt. Is tt any wonder then that some tnhabltants
of these estates dectded to use the elevators
as to1lets? otssatlsfaction w 1th the dysfunctional machmes for ltving was vo1ced loudly
throughout the followmg decades, from grassroots organtzattons to rock bands, and ts most
poignantly summed up m the Lynes of rhe Jam:
"rhey were gomg to build commun1t1es rt wac;,
gomg to be pte In the sky. aut the ptssstenched hallways and broken down ltfts satd
the planner's dream went wrong." Thankfully
the architect's role In the prov1ston of homes
appears to have swttched from that ot dictator
to more of a facilttator. Archttects are
becorntng tatlors and the house a bespoke su tt
for livtng 111 . MaJor contnbuttng factors to th1s
shift are the recent advances In construction
technology and the unprecedented role of t he
tndivzdual in the destgn process.

computer- atded destgn and computer

numerically controlled production are makmg
our homes more expressive tf not more sculptural, and technical advances 1n industnes as
far afteld as the mov1es and aerospace are
ftndmg thetr way into the toolboxes of today's
res1denttal archttecrs. ArChitect ooug Garofalo
has found that work tng wtth Maya, an anima tton software, has enabled htm to design
house addtt1ons wtth radtcally free - flowmg
curves never before possible with a Jigsaw
ukewise, Greg Lynn FORM 1s able to tailor-ma ke
homes on a mass scale by worktng wtth
computers that communtcate d1rectly with the
machmes that g1ve phystcal form to the
stud to's designs. Mass productton and prefabncatton no longer mean bland untformtty, nor
are profess1onal archttects the sole benef1c1 aries of the new technologies. w ith computers
be1ng as mtegral to every household as a tetephone, potenttal homeowners can now
custom 1ze, order, and, tn some cases, even
download plans for their dream homes vta the
Internet Sites such as Etekt.com offer
everyday folks the chance to "co-create" their
home by browsmg a vanety of archttectural
f1rms and custom1zable homes for purchase.
After selecting a model from a ltbrary of home
destgns, buyers may use Parametrtc des 1gn

we Are All .vchltec:ts. courtenay smith and sean TOpham

software to add on rooms or change matenals

before settlin g on a final plan wht ch an architect then 1ssues-the entire process mediated
by the web
For probably the first time 1n recent archrtectural htstory the md111tdual ts playing a
leadtng rather than suppornng role tn how
houses come into betng. TO be sure, 1n the
years tollowmg ww2, pnvate tndtvrduats across
Europe and Amenca assumed a vartety or tunctlons, from cltent to end user to self-bUilder
but tn all cases at the subordtnatron of etther a
vi stonary arcl11tect or developer Throughout
the 1950s and 1960s pnvate chents bankrolled
the severe wh1te cubes 1mposed on them by
archrtects who knew better" and watclledtd
thetr ever yddy needs and possesswns rece e
qutte literally 1nto the background The
dtsputes between Edith Farnsworth and Mit>~
van der Rohe over her need for pmate areas In
hts otherwtse exposed .. art ga llery"de$rgn are
legendary. aut what she got out of the dNl
were two hidden bathrooms whtch dtdn t
e wht'nnn
Interrupt h1s plan. And thts, at a um
d
explos1on of ltterature on homl' styling an_
e ~one)
a profuston of furn1shmg., an d acl ~
bltn.9
(from dinnerware to wallpaper) \\ere ena
Amertcans to search for thetr ldt'nttttc:through product~

TOP RZOHT Ml\ IIIHtiUilAI

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LON(; l'>lANO, 1947 Tt<IS
VERNACULAR STHl CONTINUES
~ A~FOROA6LE. t.RCHI

URAL PlAN>llNG DOC\J

TO PREDOMINATE A~ AWSIRN
SMBOL OF rHOME""

,._[NTS tOR Nl\'1/ IIES:DENCIS

THE 'SHES tUSTOMlZEABLE

BOTTOM UNFORTUNATELV. THE

MODELS ARE ruN >,V AlTERNA

c 41'E COD W\SN'T SUI' <0 TO A

11V[!> TO " i [ lAf'[ COD OR

VARIETf or Llf fSTYL I NH.D<,

RMCH HQUSlS MANY OF US

AND THERHOf'E HAD 10 Ill

SIILL HIIN~ JF AS HOME.

P [Rl ODIC.ALLV UI'OAIHl Willi

EXTE.N<;IONS SUCII AS

HI E~~

on the suburban front, thtngs weren't

much better Developers ltked to matntatn the
tllu ston that end users were really cltenls betng
provtded the servtce of affordable, attractive
houstng. aut the realtty was that the cltent
was merely the "user" of what the developer
provtded. Although prefabrication allowed
vartous elements of the homes to be produced
off srte, tt also left ltnle room for changes
outstde manufacrurer-deftned lrmtts. rhe
typtcal tract home cons1sted of four rooms,
regordless of how large or dtverse a famtly
mtght be. In many cases, home Improvement
was needed before the house even htt the
ground, a developer-programmed "detatl."
whtch cost the user more money tn th~ end and
latd the foundatton for the DIY phenornenon
roday, homeowners have fewer knee-Jerk
reactions where archttects and developers are
concerned. rn today's global service economy,
the terms ''client," "end user," and "self
builder" have taken on new meantngs connoting
control and leadershtp not subservtence dw
buymg power of the consumer, good or bad,
can no longer be 1gnored. and for a "provtder"
to do so would be to ltmtt hts or her client base
to bankruptcy The term cltent now tmpltes that
people wttl pay only for what they commiSSIOn.
An r.nd user w1Ll bnng the product back to the

source tf 1t doesn't work or sutt hts needs. And

those who self-bUild are aktn to the new
VISionaries. striking out on the1r own, both
aestl1eltcally and technically.
The stngle prevatltng beltef expressed by
most of the archttects in thts book ts tn a
collaborattve approach to the destgn of the
home The architects we consulted have
afftrmed ttme and agatn that cooperatton
between destgner and end user is essenttal to
productng a successful bUtldtng. This collaborat1ve approach appears 1n as many dtfferent
guises as the homes themselves. rt can take
the form of workshops with homeless tndtvlduals. as practiced by stud to orta and Krzysztof
wodiczko, how-to semtnars such as those
offered by the Monol1thte Dome Instttute or
E.arthshtp Btotecture, hands-on, three-dimensional tools to commun1cate tdeas, as developed by coelacanth Et Assoc iates, or a studto
dynamic structured around the collis1on of
tdeas, as In the collecttves FAT, PO D, N55,
openotfice. and Atelter van Lieshout The
archttects seem in agreement that they arnve
at the best posstble solutton by worktng Wtth
the end user and tnvolving that person tn the
dectslon-maktng process.
Flextblllty ts another key factor the houses
here have rn common In the ntneteenth

century, a house was made up of rooms. each

with a preordained purpose. Although many
people still live in homes bu 1lt during that era,
the permanence of the structure tn these
dwelltngs renders them difficult to adaptation
and change. The people behtnd the homes tn
th1s book have adopted the bel1ef that the only
thtng we can be sure of JS change and mcorpo
rate future-proofing elements tnto thetr
designs. For some, thts means eltminating
rooms altogether to make way for an open.
flexible space with whtch the mhabttant does
as he or she pleases. as can be seen 111 shigeru
san's Naked House and ooug Jackson's casa
vertical. others, like Alles wtrd Gut and offtce
of MObtle Des 1gn, have adopted the foldaway
IngenUity of the swtss Army Knife and brought
the utility of the multtfunctlon toolmto the
home. rhen there are homes wtth a ftntte ltfe
span, such as those by La eaton Et vassal. rhese
h
are not t rowaway tn the same sense as was
1
h
popu ar tnt e 196os, but they are responstble
to the envtronment and have a low Impact
when tt comes to dtspostng of them.
auymg a house ts one ofthe biggest
expenses we ever incur, but need 1t be? one
area where costs can be reduced and IS undergot~g great expenmentatlon IS the domestic

we AreAllAI'dlltects. courteny smith nd Han,:,~~~:tton of butlding matenals usually

reserved for industry. Fewer of us work tn the

manufacturing mdustry than ever before and
the tndustrial era ts now tn vtslble decltne
Heavy industnal machinery that once seemed
threatening and even dehumantztng ts now
Looked upon with nostalgia rhe extenstve
search for new spaces to tnhabtt 1s partly
illustrated by the number of archttects w!lo are
maktng homes from d1sused fretght contatners
and shunting industnal consrructton technology mto the home. If the work of LOT/E!\
ooug Jackson, and Jones. Partners:
ArChitecture is anything to go by, then home
owners today are willmg to ltve amongs great
slices of heavy tndustry. LOft apartments '~ the
d1sused factones of New vork were an early
mdtcatton that dead tndustnal space could be
remolded tnto a domesttc dwelltng r11etr
success is a perfect example of how attttt..de'
to liVtng space can change drastlcully
rn contrast to thts, other projeCt" r~vlve
materials that have largely been torgon~.:n _
stnce the onset of the industrral re~olutton ~Y
bales as used tn sarah w lgglesworth s g :.CO
'
.
l
bli d
orchard street are cheap and srmp " to

ope
With and also have excellent tn ulauon P
ties other archttect<: have taken such tradt

v. th n~
ttonal techniques and updated them
matenals. Rural studiO and sh1geru san "

r
e
s

..
(b)

ay

(a)

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lhotrt o fltr ~oolutronc, we l!,we liiktrt the libert y
to '>Pt'rtk r~bot1l how ho1neo; .rre, or t ould be,
dt':tltjtlf'tl, frorn Ill!:' pornt of VIeW O! tWO peo ple
who ,1ft' " hou:.Pd "Al though both a t U<; .m:from W('!iiPrn, po'itllldustna l democ:rar1es, w e

we Are All Architects. courtenay amtth and aean TOpham

tlrt.tpolcJg<'lr cJlly rnlomwd by llw htghWrtY

r.ullllJP r11HI r>dCJt' r1ty .nrawl of IJtJild'l, '''XtiS,
wllh d ltrrdl rross ovror 11rto old world dPnStty
vt.r Mrtntrh, c.Prmdny c.~>an l()flh<~m', Ollliook
l 1.r. ~JN'Itlor rnPCI by flt<, l1le tn tlw rndtJ'itrrrJl
north of rnqlc~nd and now 1 onrlon, J rrdrc:ulously
t:xpcnsrvr> wy ac; far CJ<' the hou 1111J markr.tts
lOrH crnr:d rog.;thec WP draw on our expNr
enr.rs ciS travelers. be1nq ouro;p('J" produrtS
of tiH mcrectSIIlgly mobrle global economy
111" wuy th1s book ll.ts b)"n il revr.liHIOil of
o r tr <>llbconscious belif, 01 rP!:rqn.Jlton, that
Wt! would never own n horn'' wr> cann> to this
( OrtdlJ!.IOII tndept:"nrlCIIIIy cHid tlwn lO')Pttlf>f
bil l o1IW,1Y'i fOr tile

Sd iTif ' 1Pd'i011!>

riiSf, Wt' Clff!

c.,llnply too poor to own property. SP< and, and

IJIOI>oJbly btt riiJ'>e WC tlf (' poor, Wf'. demand
11101 P IJdnq lor our lmf k .rrrd '" t' rwt w1llrng
to urnrprurnt'it' 011 quclll l V
Prior to rl~'>t' cHc hrnc')thts book, the tdea
o f ltV IIl\.J out ou r ddy!-. rrt r~.:rrltJ(J tptrm nts tn
l1vcly urbi.ln centN<.. ~ecrned morr t!1un Just a
pmcllc al solu tion. but a gtvcn NOW each of us
rc: r orr~mhrrnCJ a lrttll! home tmprovernent of
utH own. A dome 111 tile country? An mtlat bl
sheltf:'r 1n the ct ty ? A fr rght contarncr tn tht:'
suburbs 7 1 he po">Stblltll s arf' rtr

....

Running the gamut from the idiosyncratic and expressionistic to the commercially _abetted, the
homes in this chapter demonstrate the wide range of currently available and evolving self-build
strategies in an equally wide range of contexts. There is still a frontier spirit of wanting t o strike
out on one's own, and in all of these scenarios the parties involved are dissatisfied with quickly
obsolete prefabs, boring floor plans, or the lack of affordable housing period. More and more
homeowners desire custom-made dwellings that suit eclectic tastes and needs.
on one end of the spectrum are individuals who, for varying reasons, are tak ing the
matter of housing into their own hands. In certain instances, the need for self-expression in a
market dominated by look-a-Like homes with thirty-year mortgages assum es precedence over
practical considerations or traditional materials, as in sculptor Robert sruno' s steel House and
.Jessica stockholder's proposal for Houses x Artists. In other cases, the desire to inhabit a home
that is crossbred with another function provides the impetus for experimentation, as in artist
vito Acconci' s House ofcars #2.
Related to this are the efforts of architects to bring housing back into a more
collaborative, open-ended dialogue with homeowners. often this means working closely with
individuals who lack technical know-how but desire a unique solution to their living situation.
This can take the form of fantasy additions such as Koeppel a: Martinez's schlafhaus or radical
extensions to existing homes as in ooug Garofalo's Markow and Manilowresidences. The
synergistic nature of these commissions paves the way for better communication and exchange
between client/builder and architect/provider and often results in new-fangled shapes,
proportions, and angles.
Architects themselves are also going it alone in order to arrive at the kind of
dwellings they themselves would like to inhabit. London-based sarah wigglesworth risked
financial and physical bankruptcy to try out the viability of sandbags and hay bales as alternative
building materials for her home/office at 9 stock orchard street in London. Likewise, the UK
collective FAT do not compromise when it comes to envisioning their ideal quarters. Their homes
are fantasy driven and indulge taste over space.
At the other end of the spectrum are self-builders in poorer countries for whom DIY

is not

luxury but
. .

necessity Aero th b
d

.

ss e oar , these 1nd1v1duals require immediate shelter and

se~k out bu1ldmg ~atenal~ that are readily available, durable, and cheap. xn Lesotho, south

A~nca, German engineer Michael Hoenes incorporates tin cans as the primary building block of
h1s one-room houses. while in .Jamaica, Richard .1. L. Martin, along with the not-for-profit Global
peace containers organization, is turning First world industrial leftovers-freight containersinto quick and safe homes f or locals. rypically, the people who need shelter the most don't have
the time to w ait f o r t heir homes to be built and therefore physically contribute to their
construction. This is nowhere more evident than in Amman, .Jordan, where residents of East
wahdatworktogetherto upgrade each other's shanties.
Between these two extremes are companies that provide the tools and supplies for
the layman in any context to house himself. Florida-based American Ingenuity holds classes and
publishes instructions on how to build geodesic domes, while the Monolithic nome Institute in
Texas has patented an inflatable balloon that enables any self-builder to design and construct
his own concrete shell. Both types of home are flexible, transportable, and strong enough to
function in environments ranging from beach fronts to fault lines. This is also true of the sriggs
port-A-Fold shelter system, whose incredibly sturdy modules can be conjoined endlessly and,
with a little imagination, transformed into tailor-made homes in war-torn nations or peaceful
backwaters.
starting from zero no longer means departing from someone else's point of
reference, although it does have different connotations depending on one's context. In_some
cultures, beginning at the beginning can result in the perfect house in the perfect locat~n. In
others, starting from scratch yields homes that many would never have dreamed of ownng.

NOUN In #Uidcney, a.ondon, mgland 2002

Al'lfl oed#pM HOUM, prototype

dweWng, 2000
~HOUM.ptcADtype

dweWng. 2000

N<

IDI N

IAI>DING GilES 'HE

IMPf!rS$10f.l UF ATI1f.AT!li(Al
tON~TIIU{TfON

SUCH 45 4

I(MPOF>Aitv MOVIC SCI OR

WO

LY ON SfAGl !.Cf,(RV

FAT (Fashion Architecture Taste>. London, England

RIGHT S/<I!I-OYSFUfiiCT!OfJAL
HOUSE TWO TYPICAL,

SEMIOETACHEO HOUSES O F THE

19 305 ARE RE STRUCTURED TO

fi<TTER SUTT THE NEEDS OF A
TYPICAl FA MILY IN THE YEAR

2000 FAMIU

I~ EMBERS

ARf

GIVENTHElR OWN PEF!SONALIZEO STP! POF"LIVI NG S PACE.

FAT urges us all to kill the Modernist within .

Anti o ed1pal House is armed with an acid1c w1t
that targets the Modern 1st tenet that form
should follow function. Anti oedipal House is
the result of form following dysfunction and is
des1gned to accommodate a married couple
and the1r teenage son, wh1le also satisfymg
each tnd1v1dua!'s respective fantasy. The
parents are able to fulfill their shallow lifestyle
asp1rat1ons by holdmg dinner part1es m the1r
pnsttne glass house Meanwhile, the son 1s free
to rndulge m his adolescent obsessions away
from h1s parents' repress1ve gaze 1n the
voluptuous, p1nk "mastabatonum." rna similar
proposal, sem1 - oysfunct10nal House, two
suburban, sem1detached houses are
remodeled to g1ve each fam1ly member his or
her own stnp of private livtng space. rhe family
has to come together only m the reception
area when a d1splay of un1ty is req uired to
please vls1t 1ng friends or relatives .
FAT (Fashion Architecture raste) believes
the house is not just a mach me for l1ving in but
a home bnmm1ng w1th sent1ment and a sense
of place. The inhabitant makes it hrs own by
decorat1ng 1t to reflect h1s personal taste rn
the bUilt proJect House in Hackney, the
architects take a swtpe at the Modernist
sensibility of "less IS more." Here the

ornamental detailing, which usually would be

stripped away by a Modernist architect stnving
for purity, IS given prrde of place in an all- out
assault on abstraction.
Artistic statements such as these, and the
group's proclamation that "taste not space 1s
the mechanrsm through which architecture rs
engaged by 1ts users," are of paramount
Importance to buddrng self- builders. FAT are
rescurng architecture from the grip of elitist
mtellectuals and encouraging everyone to
have a go.
rhe group take a cut and paste approach to
architecture by collaborating wtth
practitiOners of fine art, pop culture, and
commun1cat1on technology. rhrs serves to
blur the boundary between the different
visual discrpltnes and deliver archrtecture to a
broader audience. FAT's working methods are
inclus1ve and imply that co llaboration, rather
than the mandate of a creative genius, is the
key to propelling innovatron in architecture

rnstructions: cut out, fold along dotted lines, and glue tabs together

...

------

-- - - - -- -- -----

__J
mastabatorium

.-___-__ _
_ -r

.....

nIL --- n

1.,
1

~nbqucuod

Ul l

The parents occupy

the arch-modernist
glass house where
they fulfil their
neurotic passions for
dinner parties and
obsessive cleanliness.

The children
lounge and romp
in the voluptuous
mastabatorium
free from the
repressive
parental gaze.

D!
!!..-

FR CFBShion ArChitecture TaSte), London, England

--

chlchn

steel House, Ransom canyon, LUbbock,

TeXaS, USA, 1g]8-2002

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one of Lhe most rad1cr~l a!;pe( ts rJf Robert

aruno's !.elf-bu1lt home 1'> t~li1l 1t IS m,Jd(
entirely of stPel, a blunt anrJ phys1rrJIIy
demandtng matenr.ll more commonly
cJssowHed wtlh sculptur~> or the frames of
skyscrapers th<m the sk1n of a domPStiC home
In response ro a t10usmg Industry m1refl1n the
product1on of fl1m sy, clry -wc~ll~d squares.
aruno has taken the m<~tter or sllelter Into h1s
own hands, blettantly empnaSillfl9 funtriSY over
pruct1cal assembly
rreaung h1s marendl us thougllrt were a
r>lrdble sheet of paper, sruno s1ngle handedly
cut, folded. and welded tog,.ther more thc.tn
one twndred tons of steel pldW rnto em ed1f1ce
both organic. and orgrcJstlc. srnce steel does
not c orne 1n prefabrrcatPll elcm~rlls, the house
IICJ(, been quite lrterally molded rnto be1ng.
resultrng in a consr>lcuous liH:k of rrqlll ilngles.
unusu.Jlly shapE'd walls o1nd wrndows dhound,
evokrng 1mages from the n.11ural world CJS
d1vcrse as eyel1ds. repul1an scules. plan t sterns,
and arthropods. Althc Sdrne trrnc, soarrny rHCS

and vaults r~fPr to thr> rom ... ntlc, mon mad,.,

GOlh1c cathdrdiS 0f yore, l(:ndrnq thr> hornP a
sprrllualtsm nQt I YP" ally found 1n 1hr 'buri.Jr;
And wh1le organrc.1sm I> a tra1t aruno's homt>
shar.:os wl!h Greg Lynn's unbryolog1c House 'P
160) or ooug G<HOf(llo's Manti ow ReStdence {p
36). rn hrs vers10n, 1mag1ned shapes travPl from
m1nd to hand Without the rned1atron of a
computer software program
In a fascm;wng cross-pollrniJUOn of ~'-arly
rwentl!!th cen ury vrs1onary thrn~rng and
con emporary speCicJl effects. aruno conJUres
up 1mages of back to -thl' future u op1as as
much as the JOinted armor at Robocop HIS
horne IS a ciPar, uncornprom1sr:d ol terna11ve to
the two -car garage. bu1lt-m cabtne show
homes that develope>rs would hdve us th1nk
are nfe w1th C:Jestheuc and psyc.:llologJcal
experience vel, rroniCdlly for aruno, the dtsrre
to 1M~ apart mean1 mdkmg do w1th il
conventiOnal Ranch styl' home unltl h1s
dream world-constructed for one-th1rd of the
cost of a manufactured llome-was complete

oPPosrn rHe rRoNr GATE rs

AN UNUSUAL COMBINATION OF
MEDIEVAL AND tNo usnuAL
MATERIALS ABOVE IT STANDS

rHE ouurrow11LLOFTHE

~l'lcHTTEcT's OFFicE
TOPU!" THE INTERIOR OFTHE

L'BRAR~ roweR 1s uNEo wrTH

aoo"~HnvesANDTHE
STAIRCASE. VH!CHlEAOS TO A
SMALL RETREAT, ... ARBORS REST

sToPs MAR ED avrHe

occAsraNAL cusHION

ToPcDrTKRAHDIUGHT rHe

,......-..v.o.No v.rTcHrN

ARE

LOCATED BfHIND PROJECTING

snEL

nNs. wHICH PRovroEAN

AP.<A rJf

~~tAm

tN A GLAZED

WAlL Tt-IAT IS DESIGNED TO

MAY rtif Mosror 'IAruRAL

IGHT

standing at the threshold of 9 stock orchard

Street iS a gate fabrJCated With the UnUSUal
combmation ofw1llow and galvanized steel. It
establisheS a pattern fOr the WhOle building,
which is a mixture of medieval and industrial
technologies, or as wigglesworth herself
describes 1t, "the sl1ck and the hairy."
The prOJeCt iS aliVe With ideaS aS tO hOW
houses could be built Wigglesworth and her
team have ra1ded the techniques of other
diSCiplineS-many neVer before USed In an
Urban Setting-and dragged them tO the
attention ofthe architectural establishment.
The use of straw- bale walls 1s a revolutionary
techmque for an 1nner-c1ty building, a method
that the arch1tect IS developing for the selfbu1ld market. straw bales are s1mple to build
With and have high InSUlatiOn propertieS. They
are also sustamable, being made from a
surplus, mexpensive matenal. rhe interior of
the Straw-bale WalliS COated In [j me for
fireproofing but on the outside the straw is
protected from the elements by corrugated

sheeting. rn parts, thi s casi ng is made of

transparent polycarbonate to expose the
raggedness ofthe straw bales beneath .
wigglesworth intends 9 stock orchard
streetto develop and mature contin ua lly. rhe
sacks used 1n the building's sandbag wall are
filled with a m1xture of sand, cement, and lime.
rhe sack cloth w ill disintegrate with the
pass1ng of t1me and the contents will seep
out and harden to form what the architect
describes as "a nppl1ng wall of co ncrete."
9 stock orchard street 1s not only
provocative in its use of materials and
techmques, but also 1n the architectural styles
applied to the different domestic and working
quarters. The architect questions the common
assumption that an office has to be hard and
shmy by wrapping the stud1o space in a soft
and cush ioned fabric. This button- down quilt
serves to dampen the noise of passing tra ins
on the nearby railway lin e and adds another
rich texture to a remarkably tactile build ing.

sarah wigglesworth Architects, LOndon, angland

............

.............. WIGiho.IOIIthAflla,

TO,. I

H I /oN I

I I[Jftl 0

rc ~II

Nl' WI IIlii IOU fH[h

Ill"' <INfALLV" llfl Ill 1"1>1"1 ~
1\HI W ov(llll

ullill~

IN Ill

tl1lih' t1fWnlllQ !iequcnce ot 1am1e uys' 1981 film

rlu u,d, Mu'c 81:' <rdt\, ,, p1lot fly1ng over tile

Kdl,lhdll dt'Sl'l t CJfl'lt">"lY d1ops <l 1-0Cil-COl<l
butllt horn tl1e w1nrlow of lw, plane Retrieved by
a Jtlnl wast trll>eslllill1 the bottle ln!>tantly turns
h1s world up.,ldt down cl'> tilt: rncrnbers of his
lorm~rlv p~c1Cetull.un tv fight dmonq'>l
1h~mselv~s tor ownerstup ot thL '>leek c.ontamer
trOIIIC,llly, tw"ntYY~diS alter this lllltonal but
<:iltll10nary t 1le of western 1ncurs1on tnto mt,1c t
cultures, coca cola (along wth other brands of
SOUd)IS rn 1k111g a poSiliVt! clrChttectural
contrtbutton tn Alliea thanks to ts un can
pat I< ~g1nq and" II Hit Genmm t>ngtneermg
ll all Sl<Hted 111 191)1 when MIChclel Hoenes, ,1
tutt~art student ol ntectlaniCtll en9rntenng,
VISI!t \1 "Oillll Alil\.<1 rnsrmed by natrve ct11ldren's
toys III;Jtlr OIIWil>tecJ Wilt'. he dewloped il
llrrpltr.P. of un cans held tugettwr wnh wne to
t.tktll\1< k lo llHOJH' Wltllllllll ..ls Plf l nf IJt<,
Sltldrt~ Alit' I butldlllq thtlw.lr tit, rt hec arrk'
pp rtnt tl1a1 SlllOl and tab\<! wttrt' net~dt>d to
CflJIJY It, Willi 11 ht tllSo COilliliUClt?Cl f\Ut Cll C,ln$.
oon ru~tuhbor s bt!tlrlll cJSk1ng <tbout 5heltcr to
J>rOit l t ther watt hdoqs, qUick I\ bccornmq .wrd
I rns of t'rocrws tm um duqhouses 1n 1996
when WOilliln reqti('Sted a hut tor her guard,
~ot-nes cone pt took oft among the local:..
Michael Hoenes, lives nd works In south Afrlc

Although I he sl1ack measured only fifty square

feet enough for a un can bed the guard was
<;O pleac;ed Lhatlw expanded 1t and moved in hrs
rarntly of five
roday the biJsiC one room module IS easrly
produced clltd Jsscmbled by anyone. rhe cans
t~re cleaned, punctured. and then strung
together l10r1zontally and vertrcally wrth wrre,
lt>ndtnq the walls an elastrc quality that can
Withstand tensron and pressure once erected,
ttlc Inter 10r room rs lined wrth board panels.
whrth r11.1y be detorated tn any manner rhe
tlousE's <.1t on Simple pre('es of lhrpboard whrch
hnve bt'en mr1de w,11er ttqht and warm by
found<lllons ot cans ltxed with lement and
covert>d wrtll fotl
1n AfiiCJ, tiW IIIIISIWd homes are typttally
coa ted w1H1 deep r~d. arHit orro~1on pamt whose
lwe rs 1101 unlthe what nuqht be tound on a
HcliH hltoml' 011 tilt' west coa<;t ot Amerrca.
However, when<~ clu'.>ter ot the houses made
their debut Jl 1 \po ;ooo rn H<HlOVE'r Germanv,
tlw c..111s Wt're lt>llt'xpo.,ed to sullsty the
l'XPt't t.1t1on<. of .1 western ,1udence man
owr due tur n,1round lll err cumstances It was
l"tlrzens ot rhe west who eagerlv clamored
around to le<~rn from ~trange and shrny
cwr~1s1ttes from .liar.

TOP LEFT WORKERS ASSEMBLE

!NOIV!DUAL WALL SEGMENTS

INTO A FINISHED HOME

TOP RIGHT EACH HOME COSTS

ABOUT S800 TO CONSTRUCT, A

QUARTER Ot WHAT IT COSTS TO
THE BUILD A COMP'IRABLE BUT
LESS WELL-INSULATED HOME
MADE OF CONCRETE BLOCKS

BOTTOM A VILLAGE Of THE TIN-

CAN HOMES WAS CONSTRUCTED

IN THE AFRICA HALL AT EXPO
2000 IN HANOVER GERMANY.

sOTTOM pott<t nrt>,..,,..

(XAMPl ' t!F HOMfS Hl)ll I 1\
PART OF lHE EAST WAHOAT

UPGRADING PROGRAM, AMMAN

JOI'DAN

MarJetica Porrc ts an artist and archttect who

reinterprets designs of real workrng homes rn
the form of gallery rnstallattons. often these
homes are based on tndivrdual housrng
m1t1at1 1es tat<en from self-build schemes found
in shartytowns all over the world. Her work
looks at the farlures of town planning and
h1ghlrghts s1tuatrons where the members of an
tmprovtsed communtty have taken the development of thetr dtstrtct tnto thetr own hands.
shantytowns are a common development
around city fringes the world over. These
unregulated and 1mprovised settlements form a
large proportion of the world's housrng. rn an
tntervtew with Hans ulrich obrrst, Potrc states
that "TWenty years ago, shantytowns were not
even drawn 1nto ctty plans. The planners
thought that they could JUSt erase them and
relocate the populatron to public housrng.
Today, tt IS known that 1nhabrtants don't
necessarily want to move to such hous1ng.
shantytowns can be upgraded and be
functional communities." one example of this is
the cast wahdat upgradtng Program, wh1ch
Potrc recreated at the Museum Moderner Kunst,
v1enna, Austria.
ouring the 1g8os in Amman, Jordan, around

a quarter of all new housing took the form of

shanty dwellrngs. A typ1cal response to such a
situation would be to bulldoze the site and force
the squatter community to move elsewhere rn
Amman, however, the residents of East wahdat
were given the opportuntty to build the1r own
homes around a core untt supplyrng electnctty
and clean water. Each res1dent was g1ven a plot
of land whtle the urban Development
Department provided road access, electrictty,
water, and a sewage system. Netghbors helped
each other move thetr existmg shanty structures
to the corner of each lot and these were then
used as temporary shelters while the first room
of each home was built, and later moved into.
Potrc communicates the success ofthts
program by re-creattng examples ofthe selfbutlt homes tn the context of an art gallery. The
result of the program 1n East wahdat is a
refreshing alternative to the formaltty of
concrete tower blocks, where Similar fluctuattng
populatrons can somettmes be housed. The
homes are the tnhabrtants' own creatrons and
can be altered at w1ll This 1s tn stark contrast to
the usual mass housmg programs, whereby a
person far removed from the situatron of the
end user des1gns the homogeneous dwelltngs.

...............................
...,._CNOUMfara.plngL

''"'"''-''"' v

fiN

fJ

MMtll"f I ( ~MIJllil Jltot fiLW

l'l'lfllll

Willi II lUI 1111

Of(lriyrlo~llll( I [IJt ,tdjC(IVI'liltJI '>fJr1119'> 10

cJr ,rrtl!lrtlj t<tiUfJpll f1 MrHIIrw;'~
:.,t./Jfdf{J,I/1'., ,, lt<Jtnt 1/JIHI ,1cm f1f0J''I I I ha t
rornplufS l"fllll 1111 If< IHtiJfr,qy, I' ron,lfuttr(f
I

r.tr~>rnnlittl:d, dflf'n dfJfJCCtrdfl(;l 1,

llliftdWitt II

ld'(t>" rrtnrlt I Jlrplt~n, Hid look, lt~r

IJI~C,!tjllNf for ii fJctlf Of SpiHIISh <lrt1Sl5 WhO

ltVC anrl wor~ In dll olrlrltrdl rr11ll, c..ch(,lfhtJus IS

uro
1/tf rflfiCJtblr,
oJ

lt!IJrJrlrcf IJIIII rllriWt/1 f.IJIJ',IIl,

,r_/J/~If/Jdi/~ 1& d r ll}df ~hdfJPd pnd fO!JSI~llrl'iJ

or

" lrqlrtwctrJhl woodPn .kclct r111 wrPr>erl wrt h <J

fV11bl sk11r (Ill tl11s r<~'r>, 1 tJiton) wller~'tJS I he
IJ!rmp Wt~!> drsrqrwd lo l1' kepi dlolt,
sr.lt{ til IiiilS IS dtc ldtrlly 'JIOIIndr>rj by four SlfiPf
l~>ns anrl., hard r1111er ,J,ll AS wrth lr1y plofl"!.,

tl'r'' rllus1on pi fltqht I'J rnctrrlt.rrrtrd

liy !leveral

fOe~ I!> r1l lrctrr~llltrnt latrpttr, whrc II

h Hdtn and
SliJ!Jrlll(~ II II rJI her Wl~l' ''<tSrly drJirliHJI'f'f
rruJrniJr.urr . t. frn.ll C0ii l o f <ritlltiiiiiHrt Vclllll',l l
IJII;<.ks dcllrt<t{JIIIff UV lt~y, oillrl rpvr-,; Ilit hOIJSf' a

dll Of thr fiiOirlf-lrtl, tl', fJI'rtfldllf"Jr!l i.JC.. YOU

WrHil II C/lf.!IISIC)(t

or lhf"tr fJN~Orltd ltVtnq

,p.rr.P tr11r 10 Its n.HnP, IllS tt'ied prtnCipall'J for

r;lteptrHJ c~ttd r:onlclltiS only IWO l..lerlrooms, a

bullt, rHld an l'nl rywt~y

sep,Jr.rtr sleeprng qu;rrters are nothtng
rlf'W, e:;p 'C.I<Jtly rn Wctrrn rC!'JIOflS where
sc..reC!nl'd 111 pc1rdH:S or prtched lcnts prov1dr
rP(ref on st"'"'IY surnrner ruuhts HI thts
tnSirtrlC", Koeppel ft Mcrrttne1 htJVC updated thr
Opt lOllS Wtlh cllliSIIC lrnaglftiJIICifl and
ttfford,JIJIP :.1rttr.turnlrrrVt::rtl 10n

....

O PPO&ITI! AN UAMPlf Of ONE

fJI llVI II I 11 IV

,roc.~

FLOOR

fl 1\1~5 I llOM Wlltc H A OO Mr

HIJM! CAN Ill Cfll AHD

THIS PAGE

A' lo

~It

ti[ O<JM~ AfiRIV~ S

H I RIANGULIIR

I'ANUS IN HH FOIIM Or II
S! If ASSEMOLV KIT H
PANCLS 111'1( Mil DE FROM A

Mll!IIJRE ()F GOtiCREH AND

I! [ l rOR STIH.NCTii ANO

llUJlAOILil> IH( 'i.(AMS

tiT tWHN THE PANELS ARE

SALIOTOCOMPLCIC THE

TOUC,H C<JNCRLTE

~HEll,

WIIICH 15 fNT HC.Y H I IC.IENT

MID ltlW MA!NHNANCf

self-assembly homes are nothtng new what

d1st1ngutshes the Amencan mgenu1ty
co nstruction kll from others avatlable 1s that
1t's based on th e pnnc1ple of suckmmster
Fuller's geodesic dome, an approximate sphere
made wtth a framework of triangles and
hexagons.
Durtng the 1960s, numerous Amencan
counterculture groups embraced the geodestc
dome. rts dtstlnctrve form became a symbol for
those who reJected the square houses of
suburbta to establtsh htppy communes, often
tn the deserts of the western unrted states.
Perhaps the most fascrnattng aspect of
Amencan tngenuily rs how thts once radical
approach to dornest tc architecture has been
repackaged to su1t the regular m1dwestern
fam1ly w1th an appetite for DIY, JUSt the sort of
people the counterculture movement was
reacti ng aguinst
oropouts In the 1960s used the geodesic
dome to conduct an all out assault on the
typ1r al subut ban home. rna btzarre cross
fertilization of tdeas, those same revolutionary

bUtldtng t echn1ques are now betng sold as an

extension to the mas s1ve range of DIY products
available in any large home Improvement
store.
The geodesic structure ofthe American
rngenu1ty system IS self-supporting, energy
efflctent, and tnherently strong. The dome
bUilder IS able to crea te the home they want,
where they want tt, and how they want tt,
provtdtng it f1ts rnto the flextble pattern of the
geodesrc frame . However, thts approach
appears to be a little too left field for some of
the dome owners rhose who are not qutte
ready to fully embrace dome living can
d1sgUtse the unusual shape oftherr homes by
addtng elemen t s to make them Look more like
regular houses. such alterations to the dome's
facade also ensure tha t It w 1ll not upset any
co n servative neig hbors . How ever, sho uld a
hurnca ne hit their comm unity, t he dome
ow ners' homes wou ld stand firm while their
ne1ghbors' regular dwellings would be left in
dtre need of repa tr

American Ingenuity 1nc., Rockledge, Florida, usA

"-..J

SEal fiiD R.OOR PLUI

SPEaAL FEATURES:

FIA!RRooa

 KIT OPTIONS INCLUDED IN PLANS

\\1, iDOl\ DORMERS: - -- - - - - A Stngle 1st floor v.~ can be Installed in
almost any location utiliz.mg a wmdow dormer
You can place 2nd floor window dormers m
any ofS locatJons in the 2T. 34' 40' 4'' &
48' domes.
-'

SKYLIGHTS:
You may place skyhghts many full triangle paneL
Skyliglu panels are a\atlable tn clear. retlecti\e, or
low-E glass to su1t your clunate and directton of
orientation. Eacb kyhght comes mstalled in the
panel and provides over 8 square feet of glass

You may choose to mdude a cupola at the peak

of your dome . lt provides mdirect hght, excellent
\;entilation. and additional headroom for aloft.

Ill

ill

II

GARAGE ENTRVWA YS:

Overhead garage doors are placed in garage

entryways spanning 3 nser wall panels

HIGH PROFILE ENTRYWAYS:----'
Y00 ~gbt want a high profile enbyway for 8
dynar~uc entry ~ taller glass features. Spanning

the wtdth of 2 nser wall panels, they may be in

as many as S tint floor locations.
8' ENTRYWA YS:
Bring French doors. sliding glass doors
~ banks of windows into your home

WI~ entryways. Spanning the wtdth of

2 nser wall panels. they may be in as
many as S first floor locations

1ST FLOOR DOOR DORMERS:

Single doors can be installed in a Ist floor door
donner. They may replace almost any nser dll
panel on the ground floor. Ubhze them for
separate oucside entrance for a krtchcn. II!JidY
or guest room.

OPPOUTll TH( MULTIPURPOSE

Ill Ltl ~ h Of.SWNED I OR [AS~
IRAN'o f'O ~J,

HANDLI NG. AND

ASSE M!JlV I I 14AY Bf

u.w

OVF.R AND OVl R rOR OlfrE.RtN I

APPUCATIONS WHICH REOUCE:S

HtE INITI"L I NIIESTMlNI,

COMPARED 10

F'~fO

STAIJCf\JRESi

TOP lttt

SHE:l l(R SkiPS FLAT

BUT CAN BL POPPED lNTO

PLAC 8Vf01JR PI!Of'LE IN
APPilO)(lMATE~Y

MlNI.ITI!S

F'Jf lEL N

pop- up met al box assembled rn fifteen

mrnutes rs not what typr c. ally comes to mrnd
when speakrng of a "home" proper. sut,
mcreasmgly, shelters such as the Port- A- Fold
are home to th ousands of people who have
been drspl aced by war, natural disasters, or
over- popul atron.
eoastrng 'srmplrcrty rn desrgn," the Port- AFOldrs a collapsrble, hard - walled box- w1th a
burlt- rn door and wrndow whose polystyrene
panels are fa ced w1th preparnted, embossed
alum1 num or steel and edged wrth Pvc
channels A unrque hrnge system allows four
people to fold the one- prece structure into a
f1fteen -mch-high, flat rectangle for shipprng
and then expand it again once on s1te rhe
shelter IS so slrm and lrghtwe1ght that frfteen
units can easrly be transported rna standard
shrpping contarner at one time.
Already In use as drsaster relief enclosures,
refugee shelters, and f1eld clinics, the POrt-A rold's rndustrtal common sense and knowhow IS s1mply warting to be transported rnto
the realm of accepted domest1c architecture.
on a pract1callevel , the POrt-A-FOld's
standard equipment rs what most prospective
A

homeowners, as w ell as mort gage banks and

insurance companre s, seek out in potential
dwelling s: durable construction, frreproof and
watert1ght materials, and good 1nsulatron (not to
ment1on that the Port - A- Fold is stenle, easy to
clean, and made of recycled matenals whenever
possrble). Theoreti cally speakmg, archrtects and
designers have been appropriating concepts
from the commercial sector s1nce the early
twent1eth century. Without the balloon frame,
the Ranch - style house would never have
evolved wrthout the steel- f rame skyscraper,
h1gh - rise apartments would still be
hypothetical.
whrle the 1dea of growmg old 1n what appears
to be a stenle whrte box may be dauntmg to
some, the fact remains that most suburban
homes- and mobrle homes, too, for that
matter- are little more than conglomeratrons of
square, wh1te rooms w 1th doors and windows
1n need of a human touch. with a little
decoration and some penodrc home
Improvement-you can add on modules
endlessly-the Port- A- Fold could go a long
way in supply1ng people of all walks of l1fe wrth
smart, low - cost housmg.

~
h t. cks" took to the cou r
an e c dpr:

The maJonty of proJects featured an Move tot e 5 1

f
d
ountry as free rom no an s mell-tfrom the noise and smell of the city. NOt because th e c
.
. .
dr
1
from it- but because its remoteness offers freedom from the order of the c ~
ang " a n urban
. usually means conforming to a grad
. an d re tyang

on the state o r a uttl ty company far th ~

locataon
of energy and waste dasposal.

rth s h IP
and Monolithic o ome dwellers
provasaon
FOr Ea
. . ' the
services provided by the grid are far from satisfactory and rather than comp YWith It, they ~reject
-

II

it outright, choosing instead to fend for themselves.

. .
The natural environment provides a situation to try out new ways of ltvtng that would
not be possible in ordered, industrial cities. The homes presented in this chapt er explore
alternative solutions to finding a home in the country. These dwellings try their best to work in
harmony with their location and whether it's the desert, a forest~ or coral reef, the houses are
designed for minimal impact. some achieve this by either hoveri ~ng among the trees, as in
oawson arown Architecture's "Tree House'~ studio Pavilion, softroom's rree House, and Lacaton
ft vassal's Individual House or floating on water as in Jean-Michel oucanelle's Les Anthenea and
Herman Hertzberger's watervillaand semi-waterhouses.
Trying to build a home on a virgin, rural site, in the UK at least, is fraught with
complications. Rarely is permission granted to build on such sites and planning authorities seem
especially hostile to any building that is not in keeping with a traditional style. ~onathan sell,
writing in slueprint, remarks that "Neoclassicists, whatever their rank, rarely have to struggle
through the planning system, regardless of scale, grandeur, and competence."
In the same magazine, James Heartfield writes, "since the 1970s, the historic
population shift from country to town has been reversed." rt appears that the smell and noise of
the big city is proving too much for some urban dwellers, and the growing use of the Internet
means fewer people are restricted to living in a location dictated by their workplace.
what will happen when all these city folk descend upon the country? If thousands of
them opt for a rural existence then it will force house prices up by a ridiculous margin. on the
other hand, if thousands of new homes are built then there won't be any remaining countryside
for all the other city folk to come and look at on a sunday afternoon. clearly there is a problem.

,y fi nd me out in the
, .
~
.r i r
d n - n_one of th . ountry' ang a. Jolly cliff Richard i n 1966' but if
~

e ountry retreat 1n this chapter, he could not

te h
' ,
..
.

r Ul vartomattc House, for instance, can be

c moufla
. J J r nto any urrounding . The ystem employed relies on cladding the
hou e in a P tt rn
ultthe surrounding area, but other dwellings, like Earthships, are hidden
by be ng burl d In t he ground. owelling uch as Rural studio's corrugated construction, shigeru
aan' Nakecl HOU e, and La eaton ft vas at' Minimum House don't try to mask their existence, but
their tyle i I neon picuou and unobtru ive,. These examples acknowledge that the countryside,
e pecially In maller countries, is rarely an unspoiled rural idyll.lihe three homes resemble
agricultural outbuildings and respect the countryside as an industrious working environment.
Moving to the stick.s presents an opportunity to start afresh. The projects here

w -Y he found

Ka - 00

demonstrate that it is not just about a simple way of life away from the city but a provocative
exl tence that challenges the accepted norms of urban housing with real working alternative
dwellings.

.,,.,.,, ., r ltf~ft r hj I tWIHtt

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.Jean- Mtchel oucanelle, lives and works in France

H OUSE "1j

Tiff: COI(TI!. ICY

LNTC~ie?.

e~Er.

t.HO E;t71!1IO= SP.>CE

OPE' Ft.UlD SPACES

~E..COtiTl,

~I:LER

OUS 11001'

o'"'e o< the mos~ rema rkab,e aspects of sh geru

sar s NOrK s hrs rework f19 of the rradrtlonal
Jaoanese house With contemporary methods
a'"'d Ta<:er a s. Tne exter or of case swdy House
o s coated m translucent white s11eers of
pl aSLrc, v.,rh c., .satLrate o:he house Vv th l ght
d.Jr..,g :he oa 1 and cause It to glOw ltke a
la"':e~,... a"'e~ oar,. The house, howe .''. does
no~ -:'::"ude upon ti:S locanon becawse t s
car.ouftageo among the nee padd 1 & e<ds by
ItS simrl amy to a green house. msulat on IS
orovroed by an rnner memorane, ..-. h ch s made
:ro,.,... :"'e same nylon &aonc commonly used .n
t"e r12ru~acture of tents. ThiS skm-on-frame
stuct.Jre follows 1n a long tradmon of
domes: c architecture rn Japan and IS
'Ef"' rrscent of the wood ana paper
consr run1ons that date back hundreds of
yeas
..valls have never been regarded as a
necessary structural element 1n traditional
Japanese dwelltngs, as a strong wooden
framework was suffrc1ent to support the
buildrng. rhe introductton of movable screens

5higeru aan ArChitects. TOkyo .Japan

to act as interior walls made the homes more

flexrble wtth the except1on of the bathroom
there are no d1v1d1ng walls 1ns1de case srudy
House 10E. A series of portable box-like rooms
on wheels serve as the sleeping quarters and
update the movable part1tron screens. The
mobile rooms can be hooked up to air
conditioners or even pushed outside when the
Neather swarm. This mterchange between the
mteror and exterror follows yet another
Japanese tradition whereby the screen
d1v1d1ng the home and garden can be removed
to establish an open liv1ng space.
The Paper House is an outstanding example
of shrgeru san's com mit ment to expenmentanon
wrth different matenals. A lme of paper tubes,
sim1 ,ar to those used to roll carpets around
stand s1de by s1de 1n a loop1ng format1on on a
1,100-square- f oot floor. The arrangement of
the tubes creates a large crrcular space With a
freestandrng k1tchen unrt as the only
Incorporated fac1l1ty. ught filters mto this
space th rough narrow gaps between t he tubes
rhe tubes are protected from the elements b}

a seri es of movab.e. transparent screens that

surround the perrm eter ofthe house and open
out onto a terra ce overlooking a lake. Movable
closets and sl1 d 1ng part t1ons rend er t he sp ace
comp let ely flexible. and rre open terrace
removes the barrier betweer exterior and
interror livmg spaces.
rn h 1s earlier oroJeCts, san often used
fab rr c screen s as movable drv1crng 'liaus and It
was tre tubes on w hrch rhrs fabnc was
del1-.ered that 1nsp red h1s Paoer '-'OUse. whrle
v st ng a facto,.,. san discovered ;:ha;: -.:he
tubes are mexpensrve t o produce rn almos~: any
length and d1ameter and are made from
recycled paper. He co llabo rated With ;::rofessor
Gengo Matsur to expen ment further w1th ;:he
tubes as a srructura~ mare- a . rhe resul<:mg
technology was g1ven the name " papenube
structure (PTS)" and has appeared 1n m uch of
san's recent work. from the luxunous lakes1 de
Paper rtouse, where the Japanese Mlntstry of
construction f1rsr gave 1t their approva,, w the
basiC relief shelters used to house victims of
the Kobe earthquake.

TOP I "AWIN

S>I OWINv Til(

I lAN r n A AU

~ I'<A~El'l

I AIIHI5H/I' TIH II HI WI\I.L

M T5 AS ALlAIILR~

10

IIE .. lii AH Till ti()Ml

INT I RIOH If MPt f>lll UR( V[ A~

R(JlJNO

I.Ln

A..,

~RTk

N~tRUC'TION

HI P llNOtR

IN nn

l AND 01 CAROl 0 ST EEL

0 fiR ARE RAMM0
W

H J\AIH I

Ill (

ME THR[

H NOR 0 P OUND Ill " !'>

TAn O ONE ON

O I'I'OUT'I O MPL llll

At Earthship a1otecture, garbage-in the form

of tires and cans-Is the essential building
block of sustainable, orr grid private homes.
w1th roots In the anli establishment
1deolog1es of the 1960s and 1970s, these selfbuilt houses are 111creac;1ngly the preferred
dwell1ngs of those weary or susp1c1ous of
bemg dependent on the ut1l1ty systems
("gnds") of ex1sung Clues.
tor more than th1rty years, Earthshlp
founder and teacher, MIChael Reynolds, has
been toutmg the benef1ts ot do- lt-yourself,
recycled housmg. HIS EartiJShlps are
completely mdependent biospheres whose
east, west , and north l1vmg areas recede mto
the ground and are wrapped by a wall of used
steel- belted auto tires rammed w1th earth The
three-foot tl11ck buttress acts like a battery,
stormg rad1ant and solar heat, which 1t
releases at night and m Winter to keep the
Interior at a constant temperature year round
Without us1ng foss1l 01 nucll'ar fuels Each
carthsh1p prov1des 1ts own electnc1ty, v1a a
photovolta1c power system mounted on 1ts
roof, as well as ItS own water, wh1ch IS

collected from run - off, stored 1n Cisterns, and

fr ltered for use. Allmter1or non- Load bearing
walls are constructed of matenals most people
perce1ve as mere throwaways: alum1num ca ns
and glass bottles.
However, beauty rs m the eye and social
consc1ousness of the beholder. nue, rhe
homes aren't ava1lable m colon1al, Ranch, or
cape cod styles, but they do come m Hut or "u
shapes, soft forms wh1ch may be mregrated
mto the landscape rather than plopped down
on 1t. Plus the forms follow the function they
are Intended for : harnessmg and conservmg
energy.
A p1oneenng des1re to live m harmony With
nature by disconnecting, literally, from a
conventional, forced-air way of l1fe 1s what
bnngs all Earthshrp owners IntO fellowship
With one anotl1er rn bu1ld1ng and mamtammg
therr own, un1que homes, Earthsh1ppers buy
mt o and earn membership In a global
commun1ty of lrke minded bel1evers who
test1fy 1n an almost rel1g1ous way to the merits
of self-suff1ctency

Michael Reynolds, Earth ship alotecture, Taos, New Mexico, USA

softroom, LOndon, England

rf we cons1der the role t11at nature plays 1n

shapmg today's domest iC md1eu, It is usually
1mages of well man1cured lawns, flower beds,
spnnklers, and sw1mm1ng pools that spring to
mmd ol1ver salway, chnstopher sagot, and
oan1el Evans of London - based softroom offer
more rad1cal1deas about how nature m1ght
Intersect With culture.
Refusing to l1m1t the1r work to purely
practical appl1cauons, the f1rm produced a
senes of concepts for the des1gn magaz1ne
wallpaper. rree HOuse was one such
1mag1nattve exerc1se 111 how architecture and
nature m1ght mteract 111 relat1ve harmony w1th
only the words "tree house" as a gu1de, the
team developed a hypotheucal. l1ghtwe1ght
structure that blends mlo tl1e trees Allached
to a large trunk w 1th bolted collars, the rree
House's ultra-min1mal form suggests botl1 a
b1rd's nest and a h1p temporary base at wh1ch
to meet and eat before departing for other
parts of the forest when 1nhab1tants aren't
loungmg on the deck or d1nmg at a bUilHn
p1cn1c table, they may coast freely about the
treetops 1n a sleep1ng cradle, wh1ch IS winched
along lengths of cable to adJacent trees. Lest
anyone take the1r newfound an1mal freedom
too literally, elastiC webbng hangs below the
home's penmeter to catch any false steppers

softroom's Floattng Retreat on th~" other

hand (another concept for wallpaper), pushes
nature mto the realm of product. A tongue-mcheek simulacrum of a real beach, th~
1nflatable 1sland IS pure recreat1on eoth
stowable and towable, the streamlmed retrea
resembles a bl1mp on wheels or a 1950s
Airstream tra1lor once ItS top 1S popped d
generator mflares over a m1le of po yuretha "
Into any eJosnng body ot water, leavmg t.e
emptied hull to become a groovy float '19
beach house wnh all the accoutrements o tr.e
swmger: bedroom. bar. and hvmg area
sound system and fiberglass so as orce t e
party 1s over, bUilt 1n f1remen's hoses de ae
the g1ant a1rbag so that 1t may be stucd ba
mto the pod for transport to a new toe t
uke 1ts real l1fe doppelganger, t.' A"T e
(p. 6o), Floatmg Retreat's yet anotht>
luxunous way for the act1vt' 1e1,euer to
g
out for a few days en p/em at \\ltho l g
up CIVILization or comproi'HSIOQ n t

C'~M\IA TOTH

g,,nk. HliN,

rHONIIH I I'll 1\ 1\f\! II CAl' ,lflf

CONIATNTNI, !Ill WI AN() A
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fROM THl f LOA TlNl 11f HLAI

fRCf H

RJGHT

:.ooR

r IIIHICH
;Wl

SE,URln

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AN BE RnRAI; 1 0

IRE
R

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R[Cf;Wllt<IH[tltlf'd A

WIN( II 10 ~IA I Milf Till !>UN~

JN I< \

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we illtly li kt to .ldtlill . nature'" ,1

[OICl' t O IW l t'C KOIWd Wil /1 W/1C'Illl CO IIH'S l O

S<' 111 rHJ uJl hou ... c, e<.p<H 1r1lly 111 i/1 e Nclh e rlr1ncl<>

whtre lCJIId

1s ftHI'Vl' l bLInq tc:~k e n

awr1y by llw

Sl'J 1\ typlct~l tl''>POI1!.L' to 1 1 11~ crnliJriP<;

old

llll.l of Wrll w11h w.tt l't /w; bl'en the househo.1l.

il c;o!UIIOIIIhiltiS "too rllUth bOd l rJnd t OO lilllt'

houst" to1 Ht rmt~n Hcrllberqer m a radltcll

rrclnrnauon or dotlll!Sltc '>Pilce, he has
plOppPd down cl ptOIOlyJ')e, th ree <;tory,
detached hom! Ulll'Ctly 11110 the port o r
Mlddelbur!J
Ill cl prOC: f' SS ll'lcJlt>d lO the lnflktng Of ShtpS

tht W.11l'fVI/IrJIS C011StrUcted

prtfc~brrcclil!d Sltel skt>le ton Wilh i11ow

rl fld ydctll'>,

Of i:.l

IT1 dlr!l t'rlctrlCl 111L'ldtllc; <,kfrl dlld Sll' e l pl<Jle

roncrL I t> floor ril l' IJqhtwetqltt <; lructure re .. rs

on cl tn.nlqtJI.Jt IOitlld<tliOII of hallow, o ffsiHm.

<, f p('( PlfH ">, WltH.h l'llcdlk' It lO drilt i'lt Will
W III Hlllt I lie IOC klll(j tnOIIO i l nf n huil1. rn
(.O tlllrl,t to tlw I illtpu t lnll qltclt Lt>l' ..rnct
rlp plid11Ll"i Of Olf H'I hliOyrJn t dWt>l/ings, th e
hOII'iC' flri<,(IH l.Ctllt ,JIIcJ fl'tl Ol tl tOilVt'llllllfldl

tltL' l o IH' lnrlttdud. rile llldtr1 illl rc:Jctlon o ltiH

illl11ll' h lilrlill C:tlfl ll c1lll l''> 011 Will('r'c; llurd
ptOIWt l ll'!,. NOI Ui1 ly dOl" Weller act i.IS cl
roo linq .lCJl'lll to lltlp tPCJiildLL' Ll1 <: rn slt:.fe
ll'II1[Wttl ll11 (1, ll111 II 1.1(!.0 l'lt.lb[e<; li1 C /10mt lo
rot .lll' cJlrno'it ,, fttlln~rwt y dPS)rees wrt11 tlw

luq ol "wtrH 11, or tlw push o f a button,

r L''>tden t '> rnc1y lllOVl' tht llonH! rn whatever
drr ~ctron tiHy pll'tlt;L', tow.Hds the sun or lWilY
l ron1 tt c1 fll'Xtbrllty th<ll rtsults rn substan ual
L'ONlJY S,IVIriCJ<;, gr C<l[Pt pr!Vd( y, and better
Vll'WS
111 vpenburq, HL'r llberger lla ... qone even
lwthf.'r 111 rLrt.lltnrnq rnhc~brtable spilce from
ti lt' Wrltl'r by l'X I l'lldtny tlH' l.'XIt; llng land His

l'ICJI!t

"c'nll w,Jtetlltlll\t'~ rt'sl on

Jn art lire ld(

l,l.tnd ul tOIHtt'lt' 1r1 t lw ror rn ol ,, box, who<;t

sunkl'll hot l llill t(''>l'i Clll tlw t,f'rJbed Lo provldt
trn clrtt)IOt ll itl Pli l~ lltq . lll c opc rt ''top'' ts l1llcd
Wl111iht ho11<.e ~ lht'l lt st'lvL'!:., WI IO'ie <li .H)OIItll
liVIII<] llltl lll '> jliUV Idt 'iflt't
OC.('cl f1 .

ltlCUidr VIeW<; of I IlL'

one thr ouqh

111 bot 11 '..!I'll til IO'i, till' ilOIISL'S <ll L' pl"rtndllf'11tly
c OtHll't lNi lo llw '> i1 or!' and 111t1Y be ll'YIIdtu

tt t r t;t oc c lljl;lrl l c; n IelY l hoose f I 0 111 scvc>rell

flOOI plcH1S cllld tXtr'II OI fllltSfr es, tiS Well cl'>
clectdf' Otl Wft.rl k 111d Of ,Jild hOW mrHly I OOrrt!)

l' 11111T10Vdhlt PICljH>r ty, lcl C: tlltcHtng the

till 'JI'Ilt'IOtJS U'il' of 111turror wood

cHid r lll ll'll llle ~ Slit II d'> clrt cltrrurn nnd roof

cr Ci.l t 1011 ol t1 1nor t t]dtJt c1 clever iliHJ

bttttoi<HL' unclrutrlfll'd lllcthod of colorll!rnq
W.llt>t,

Archltectuurstudlo Herman Hertzberger. Amsterdam. The Netherlands

IN lUST A rew STEPS

!i!YU!

CAN BUIUI A DOME nun

EA.SV ON THE

Vl"'"-'A<r

LA rQiJND.t\l'l(tc

INr ..ATE THE ""TEh":1

AIRF"OR~

SUPPORT WITH P8A!1

SPRAV WITH CONtATE

TOP COMPUTER RENDERING OF

THECENTRALliVlNGAREAAND

STDF ELEVATION OF CLOUD

HIDDeN rN ASHEVILLE. NORTH

cAROLINA

If DaVid 8

SOUth haS htS Way, the WOrld Will

COnVert and find ItSelf happily at home in
domeS. AS founder and prestdent Of the
Monolithic Dome rnstitute, south envisions a
future tn which much of human ity will be
encapsulated tn global dome networks, the
prototype of whtch he calls Domevtlle, u.s.A.
rn fact, Monolithic oomes are so easy to
construct and so baste 1n structure that he JUst
mtght get hts way. Anyone equipped with MD's
patented Airform and tnstructiOn manual
(first-timers can also take classes at the
rnstttute) ts ready to set up house with a
handful of commonly manufactured building
matenals ltke concrete and rebar.
The method ts simple. find a spot, lay a
concrete foundatiOn, tnflate the fabric balloon,
support w1th rebar, and spray concrete into
place. one or more humps may be erect ed
virtually anywhere and are seemmgly at one
with the landscape-In fact, many are also
butlt underground--huggtng the earth in a
low-slung way that doesn't obscure the vtew
or dtsturb the surrounding plant and animal
ltfe. sut what endears homeowners most to
the dome's pnmal form ts how welltt protects
them from nature's forces, namely, tornadoes
and hurncanes. In the Midwest and southern
Monolithic oome 1nstitute, rtaly, TeXas, uSA

OPPOSITE (

united states, there ts no safer place to be

when annual twtsters and tropical storms
begin whipp ing through town. secause w1nd
passes around the dome's rounded body, it can
withstand gales of up to 150 mph and forces of
up to 400 psf, thus servtng as a sanctuary
rather than an emergency shelter after the
fact.
That ts exactly why Jim and Melante Kasltk
erected the sleek cloud Hidden in Asheville,
North caroltna, where the elements routinely
pose home matntenance problems. Resembltng
an alien craft, the house has large, curved
opentngs wh1ch allow wtnd to surge through
dunng a storm, preservtng the home's livtng
areas.
rhe big advantage of dome building 1s the
chance to be one's own archttect, so perhaps
MD's prom tse of quality lifestyle and free
expresston may gel into an earthy, everyman's
utopia. stnce south introduced his system in
1976, Monolithtc oomes have sprouted up in
forty-ftve American states and many other
countnes because they are safe, energy
effictent, and affordable alternatives to tract
homes. Most tmportantly, for dwellers l1ke the
Kasliks, they represent a realizable way of
thtnktng and living "outside the box."

~RV0 INTO A

FOR T'V fJV DEGREE SLD"t!l

MOUNTAIN, JIM 41<0 MEL~Ii!1

KASL!K'S Ct OVD H/DD11 SI"S
F!VF HUNDRED rEEl SOI'E -:
VALLEY Tt!E DOME lSA.>nSEGMf.Nl CATFRPI AR VOH 5
THREE.' L[\ILS HOUSE 5 jDO

SQUARE FEEl OF .IVIN.. S~

AS rtU !\ALJ"S POlIll OUT N.,.
OTHER T'IPE OF HOUS \,.,.

GIVE THEI-l' T"E IMT1!."0

SPAC.ES WIDE-oi'U. &Cro'

TO VIEWS AND A J"UU!<i

SECURllV 011 A ~loHP!
PRLC!f'lTOI.IS S:'L

FOLLOWING PAG5 J,R"l$T '

REND I N

WHAT I

Li:\0~ liKE 1r 'I'H[ COV;'TIIY~

Wt RE PCIF't.ILATED I '
COMM UNITJE~OF [lOME

OWHLCRS

Most of the projects presented under the heading "a ring vour own auilding" acknowledge
that the most attractive aspect of life on the move is not a sense of freedom, escape, and
adventure but the special moments when isolated travelers converge to ~orm a temporary
community-the occasions when a fellow nomad is invited to bring his or her own building and
gather round to form a new common space and social grouping.
It doesn't matter whether it's New Age travelers at an all-night rave or haulage
drivers taking coffee at a truck stop, there is a tremendous sense of camaraderie among
transient folk from all walks of life. This feeling is strengthened by the suspicious attit ude
mainstream society holds towards nomadic outsiders such as asylum seekers and t raveling
salespeople. Attitudes and phrases such as "trailer park trash" have certainly contributed to
giving life on the road a bad reputation. It may be too Late for the traveling salesman, but t he
ideas presented in this chapter attempt to improve the perception of transient liv ing for
individuals.
office of Mobile oesign's Portable House revisits the original objective of the mobile
trailer home, which was to provide high-quality, affordable housing, often for those in a period of
transition. The very term ''trailer park" reeks of negative connotations, but this type of portable
housing may well prove the ideal solution as western society becomes increasingly mobile.
curing a visit to a Florida trailer park, the journalist chiori santiago commented how
personalities literally spilled into the street ...anonymity is impossible." Her observations
highlight how privacy is abandoned to allow greater freedom for many oftoday's nomads. The
potential ramifications of performing private activities in the public domain are explored in
valeska Peschke's znstant Home and Atelier van Lieshout's sportopia, whereas the need for an
intimate and private space while traveling through unfamiliar territory is explored in the po.o's
Nomambule and iNSTANT eGo.
several other projects featured here demonstrate ingenuity born out of poverty.
sean Godsell's Future shack, studio orta's Refuge wear, and Krzysztofwodiczko's Homeless
vehicle are all very different approaches to the basic human need for shelter, particularly in the
extreme situations of war and natural disaster. Each aims to alleviate the suffering of refugees,
II

the homel
stay alive.

nd other displaced peo l

p e Who have been forced to take to the road in order to

nomadic existence is not solel the

s1mply a lifestyle choice. Alles wird t'

Y
preserve of the world spoor. For some it is

GU s Turnon-urba
h" .
.
eas1er fo r the young, upwardly mob 1.l
b
n sus 'un1ts are antended to make life
e ur an dweller who sk f
The super-wealthy have also long rec
. d
Ips rom town to town and job to job.
ognlze the. advantages of mo bl
. T he Jet-setting
.
1e rlYing.
millionaire avoids taxation and k
eeps a grip on h1s or herfortu b
t
l

country to country. offshore b k

ne Y cons ant Y mov1ng from
an accounts and the global communications network enable this
. .
act1v1ty and governments seem powerless to prevent it.
.

.
The ide~ of a nomadic lifestyle conjures up many contrasting images encompassing
everythmg from tra1l ~lazers to astronauts, hedonists at music festivals to their counterparts at
caravan or RV conventions, the Bedouin to the Gypsy, wealthy tax exiles to poverty-stricken
refugees, and the close-knit circus family to the loneliness of the long-distance trucker.
Mobility is a powerful weapon. sam Peckinpah's movie convoy(1978), inspired by the
c. w. Mccall song of the same name, demonstrates perfectly the inability of a static nation state
to deal with a mobile community. In the movie, hundreds of truckers simply take to the road and
form a massive convoy. The law enforcement authority's response to the truckers' provocation is
to curtail their freedom and retaliate with violence. In many real cases governments simply
ignore or outlaw the mobile way of life. NSS and Atelier van Lieshout demonstrate how mobility
raises important issues concerning personal freedom in western democracies and how moving
en mass presents real problems for those in charge.

o PPoSITE ... aAzs-6-oR6Mns

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B!

e .. o,..EoEotcArEo~o

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fOR PEGPLE

w1th ultra~soft p1llows and besrde 1t a mrn1bar

stocked w1th mood-enhancrng dnnk. rna
s1m1lar project commune aed (1gg8), AVL
produced a bed large enough to hold a full
scale orgy. Lining the sides ofthrs bed were
holsters carryrng a selection of pornographic
magaz1nes, an assortment of sex toys, plus an
array of drink and drugs to help cajole things
along.
compostop1a features a large bed with the
capac tty to sleep at least ten people, but here
the bed looks very utrlitanan and 1mpl1es rest
rather than recreatton. AS well as providrng
sleeptng quarters, the compostop1a
constru ction comprrses a small vegetable
patch, a makeshift gym, wash1ng facilities, and
a compost toilet, the produce of whrch can be
used to feed the garden. rn sportop1a, a
vanation of th1s assemblage, a cage was added
for the practice of sadomasochistic sex. Here
the effluent from the toilet can be recycled by
channeling 1t rnto the cage to sat1sfy any
visiting coprophrliacs. rhe bas1c structure is
made from scaffoldrng poles allowrng it to be
eas1ly erected at any locatron and 1n many
drfferent combrnat1ons
sportop1a embodies one of AVL's most
prom1nent themes of the good, the bad, and
the ugly: good in that 1t IS self-sufficient and
Atelier van Lieshout (AVL), Rotterdam, The Netherlands
All of Atelier van ueshout's burldrngs are free
offoundatrons. Mobrlrty IS a powerful weapon
rn AVL's explos1ve arsenal of w1Ly provocations
armed at the state. Governments often seem
threatened by nomads who live on the fringes
of socrety, and AVL are no except1on. Joep van
Ll eshout, AvL's foun der, and h1s collaborators,
manufacture portable bu1ldrngs to quest1on
state control of CIVIC fac1l1tres, such as the
prOVISIOn Of Water and San1tat10n.
Atelrer van ueshout create real working
alternat ves to the servrces usually provrded by
governments. rn the project AVL ~ ville, a mrnr~
state established in the port of Rotterdam, the
group challenged the outch authontres to plan
less and allow settlements to develop by
themselves. AvL~vllle was a vrct1m of rts own
success and was forced to close 1n November
2001. All the elementS Of AVL-Ville Were mobile,
includrng a farm, so the group were s1mply able
to pack rt all away and deliver the message
elsewhere .
The majOflty Of AVL'S buildingS are
designed from the 1ns1de-out, a method wh1ch
results rn unusual projections and bulges in
the exterror of each construction often the
bed provtdes the startrng point, as IS seen 1n
La aaJs-6-orome, a mob1le home ded1cated to
"lov1ng "At 1ts core IS a voluptuous bed l1ttered

promotes exercise bad n that It can be used

to perform dangerous sexuaL acts; and ugly in
that 1t 1s made w1th scaffold1ng poles. This
un1ficat1on of the good, bad and ugly 1n AVL's
work rs a reJection of utop1an ideals, a stance
confirmed by Jeep van ueshout: "r don't
believe 1n utopianrsm I'm only interested in
th1ngs 1 can realrze. utopran ideals rule out
violence and cnme and that's not realistic."

THIS PAGE THE INSTANT HOME

TRAVELS tN AstMPLe MoviNG
eoxANDTAKEs oN Lvrwo
MINUTES TO INFLATE INTO A

PITCHEo-RooFHouse
coMPtnewrrH FuiiNnuRe

o PPosrn: PescHKe HAS sn uP

TNSTA~ HOME IN LOCATIONS

TVPtcAttvcoNsroeReD
UNINHABITABLE, FROM CTTV

PARKWG tors. ro suBuRBAN

DRIVEWAYS, TO THE DESERTS OF
THE WESTERN UNTIED STATES

AS any homeleSS perSOn Of today knOWS,

lurktng about someone else's property offers
1mmed1ate lessons on the difference between
belonging l O the grOUp and being On the
outstde, personal freedom and public
vagrancy, pnvate nghts and trespassing on
pnvate property. vet as serlm-based artist
valeska Peschke demonstrates with her
tranSpOrtable InStant HOme, Squatting and
lottenng may also be mantpulated to merge
prtVate deSireS With publiC SpaCe.
Without a permanem home of her own,
PeSChke haS been traverSing the U.S. and
EUrOpe In a piCk-Up trUCk, Setttng Up "hOUSe"
whenever and wherever the urge se1zes her
Rather than put up a tem. however, Peschke
tnflates a 150-square-foot vtnyl parody of the
conventional, landlocked suburban dream
wtth all1ts amentttes. Ready to use 1n two
mtnules, her rnstant Home contams all the
comforts of a mtddle-class bungalow: a sofa,
lamp, coffee table. fireplace. and televtstonall ofwhtch are blown up. literally, tnto soft,
squtshy caricatures of thetr former selves. And
whtle overstuffed furntture has typtcally been a
stgntfter of adult. mtddle-class taste, here the
stereotype ts exaggerated to a ch1ldl1ke
extreme

That the home resembles a chtld's

playhouse 1s perhaps why Peschke has been
allowed Lo linger longer 1n the otherwtse off
ltmit spaces where :.he has dropped anchor,
from I he dnveways of suburban residences to
the parking lots of downtown offtce dtstncts.
Her house IS a nonaggresstve, fun place to
"hang out," a valued act1v1ty in western
cultures where frenetiC mobtlity ts tempered by
an emphas1s on letsure ttme.
even so. publtc ordtnances do not
necessanly keep pace wtth changes 111
contemporary ltfestyle, whtch 1s where
Peschke's proJect upsets the delicate balance
between mftntte freedom of movement and
soc1al decltne, hangmg out and droppmg out.
In thts respect, her proJect shares affin1t1es
wtth that of act1v1sts tn aerlm who squatted
empty bulldmgs througt1our the late 1970s and
early 1980s 1n protest of the city's lack of
adequate hou smg
Ltkewise, reschke approaches the tdea of
domestt<. space from the perspective of
intervention to open up some very
fundamental soctoeconomtc and architectural
tssues. what constitutes a house? what form
should It take 7 And, most importantly. why
should tl be "pnvate"7

valeska Peschke, lives and works in aerlin, Germany

--------------~------~----

TOP LEFT A SERIES OF

ELECTRoNrc:seNsoRS LocArEo
tNTHecocKPnoF tNsTANr

ec;oeNIIBLETHeseAreo PrLor
TOSTEERAPATHTHROUGHA
PROJECTED CYBERSPACE
LANDSCAPE.

TOPRIGKT THE OVERALL FORM

oF ovsTANrec;o IS GENERATED
FROM THE RELAnONSHIP
BETWEEN THE BOOYAND SPACE.

aorroM NsrANTeGots
e.cAPSULATED wnHrN AN
INFLATED MEMBRANE. THE
PATTERN oF wHrcH ReseMBLEs
A CHRYSAUS OR THE GOSSAMER
WINGs oF A DRAGONFLY

With INSTANT eGO and NOmambufe, PO.D have

created architecture-on-demand: buildings
that are there when you want and packed away
when you don't rhe two proposals give instant
gratifiCatiOn and bnng arChiteCtUre intO line
With SerViCeS SUCh aS pay-per-VIeW teleVISIOn
or pay-as-you-talk mobile telephones.
INSTANT eGoISm many ways a similar
prOJeCt tO NOmambU{e bUt OnCe the USer haS
entered the mner chamber of this dev1ce, he or
She IS plunged IntO the unknown and infinite
realm Of CyberSpaCe The dwelling attemptS
to answer how it feels to travel1nside your own
pocket rt starts out like a foldaway hood on a
ramcoat: vou unz1p the contraption from your
Jacket pocket and 1t expands to eventually
swallow you whole However, once you have
diSappeared InSide INSTANT eGO, itS COnfined
space is made 1nfinite via the endless realm of
virtual reality, wh ich IS projected onto its inner
skin. vou can then travel into this infin ite space
while remaming seated by a series of electronic
sensors that man1pulate the projected image
to follow your movements.
Nomambule IS a take-anywhere inflatable
structure that performs a function not
diSSimilar to that of the sony walkman. rhe
sony walkman provides its user With an anchor
to a fam1l1ar expenence when the listener plays

PO.D, Paris, ..ranee

back the1r own cho1ce of music while pass1ng

through an unknown location. what the sony
walkman channels aurally the Nomambule
gives spatially and at a moment's not1ce can be
pumped up to form a fam 1liar personal space
for 1ts user. PO.D describe Nomambule as an
"affectionate contamer of the self," and l1ken
its purpose to a child's teddy bear or security
blanket. Nomambule IS a protective bubble
intended to make 1ts user feel at home
wherever he or she m1ght be. rrwas conce1ved
1n response to the specific need for an 1nt1mate
and fam1l1ar space when traveling to new and
unusuallocat1ons. A nng of tnflated pillows
forms an 1nner chamber, ms1de wh1ch the user
IS able to relax 1n an a1r-cush1oned realm of
fam1l1ar space.
INSTANT eGo and Nomambule are both
Inflatable accessories to facilitate a nomadic
lifestyle. Po.o Identified that, in general., people
spend a significant amount of their time on the
move and consequently many hours are spent
m limbo, for example waittng for a train to
arrive or a plane to take off. INSTANT eGo and
Nomambu/e, were conceived to fill these
moments of lost t1me soth structures are
extens1ons of the body and materialize from
a backpack or pocket to prov1de an tnt1mate
space where once there was none.

TOP RIGHT POD ARE HEAVILY

INFLUENCED BY RADICAL
ARCHITECTURAL COLLECnVES
OF THE 196DS, SUCH AS HAUS ~
RUCKER-CO AND ARCHfGRAM
SEE ARCHIGRAM'S CUSHICLE
ON PAGE 11

LEFT THESE COMPUTER RENDERED DRAWINGS

DEMONSTRATE HOW THE
NOMAMBULE CAN BE CARRIED

IN A BACK PAC I> A'ID INFLATED

ON DEMAI'<D BV A CYLINDER OF
COMPRESSED AIR

~PAGEANDOP~

REFUGE WEAR CATERS FOP THE

NEEDS Cii'THE SOUTARV
NOMAD

I"'U.OWIHG PAGES MODULAR

AI!CI-fiTECruRC CREATES
P><VS!CAL-BONDS BETWEEI'I
l'JDllllDUAL~ AND ENCOURAGES

COlltCTIIIE ACllON

stud1o orta demolish the boundary between

architecture and fash1on. rheir nomadic
creat1ons can be def1ned as both "buildings to
wear" and ''clothes to l1ve 1n," underlining the
beltef of Lucy orta, the studio's founder, that
"clothes are fully entitled to become
architectural dwellings."
Refuge wear IS Similar to Krzysztof
wodiczko's Homeless vehtcle (p. 118) m that
it prov1des a surv1val system for people of no
fixed address. Refuge wear began m 1992 as
a senes of drawmgs m response to human
catastrophes that caused the displacement
of whole populations. These sketches were
fabncated mto a collect1on of bodysuits, wh~eh
rap1dly transform into tent-like shelters by a
system of Zip and velcro fasteners. rhe realized
art1cles represent the tdea of architecture as
an extension of the body and resemble the
bodysu1rs destgned to protect against
chem tcal weapons In lhe theater of war. The
pac-a-mac technology employed 1n Refuge
wearlater provided l1fe-sav1ng mob1le
accommodation 1n Situations as diverse as the
Kurdish refugee UISIS, the hornfic war 1n
Rwanda, and homelessness on the streets of
Pans.
MOdular ArChttecrure updates the system
used m Refuge wear, wh1ch essentrally caters
Lucy orta, studio orta, Paris, France

to the individual, to accommodate collective

act1v1ty. rhe system dev1sed for Modular
Architecture allows for its users to t ravel freely
as individuals, but should a group of two or
more nomads converge on a single location,
they can zip their bodysuits together to create
a warm and spacious temporary house.
solidanty and collective action are maJor
themes of stud1o orta's output. The early
project Refuge wear functtons as a survrval
toolm extreme cond1t1ons, but the person
weanng the outfit remains tsolated from fellow
users Modular Archttecture bridges th1s
Important gap by bUJldtng phystcal
connecttons between displaced people. This
lmk recogn1zes that soc1al bonds and shared
expenence are almost as essential to surv1v1ng
1n extreme sttuattons as food, water, and
med1cme.

TOPANooPPOsrn sTuTTGART

""'-'71

r.~RNYG Ror... .v..,o

sruoiEDuNDERNADEP KHALru
IN cALIFoPNrA euiLTTHe

ooMES oN rHese PAGEs usiNG

-..te suPERAooBnect-tNiaue.
EACH ooMr 1s MAoe oF LoNG

-rusES o 1-iATERIAL FILlED

WITH EARTH, WHICH ARE HELD

ToGeo'ieR w1rH BARBED wiRE

Slv<>Le wooDEN Foqr.s '"E"E

E"'-"Lo-vEo ro GivE e.c.cH

O~etm.!O A

ur,tOUE SHAPE

Gtven the choice between erecting a

making the technique quickly adaptable to
skyscraper and scraping rn the soil, Nader
populations on the move slowly but surely
Khalilt would gladly accept a day tn the dirt. rt
governments are getting the picture. Following
takes a lot of diggrng to construct his
the uan-rraq war, for example, forty
superadobe shelters, which consist of
superadobes were constructed in rran, and
sausage-skin-ltke coils of earth-filled
there IS talk of the concept being tmplemented
sandbags held together with barbed wtre.
in Afghanistan.
originally a designer of corporate htgh
The concept ts so fundamental and flexible
nses, uan1an-born Khaltll sold his practtces rn
that even NASA has cons1dered ways 1t could be
Tehran and LOS Angeles tn 1975 to embark on a
used to populate the moon. The bags would
motorcycle tour of rural Persia that would last
stay the same but would be f1lled w1th moon
five years what he redtscovered on that
dust and held 1n place w1th velcro tnstead of
homeward trek haS already led to InnOVatiVe
barbed Wire. 50 far It hasn't happened, bUt in
the meant1me Khalili 1sn't wasttng any t1me.
and safe temporary houstng for the world's
one btllJOn homeless and may soon determine
This year he obtatned permiSSIOn to construct
whether, and how, humans might live on the
a model lunar colony 1n Hespena, fifty m1les
moon.
north of Los Angeles.
m uan Khalili aga1n encountered the agese1ng a modular system, the potential
old method of mud-bnck building, whtch he
exists for superadobes to multiply across the
updated and simplified for what he foresaw as
planet, forming neighborhoods, even c1t1es.
1ts broader global applicatiOns: refugee,
And this is no coincidence. uke other
emergency, and rel1ef houstng sack 1n the u.s., vis1onanes before h1m, from Le corbus1er to
Khal1l1 transformed elements of war and
LeVItt, Khal1l1 sees a bigger p1cture tn which
contatnment-sandbags and w1re-rnto places whole communities of h1s ecological, organic
of refuge and peace. capable of withstandtng
domes will spnng up-wh1ch explatns the
earthquakes, the domes are cost-effective
construction of a coiled, three-bedroom,
alternat1ves to shant1es cobbled together from two-car garage compound alongstde the lunar
prototypes.
plywood, ttn. or plastiC sheets Plus. the bags
can be dropped at or earned to any locatton,
Nader KhaUU, cal-Earth (california mstitute of urth Art ftArchitecture), Hesperia, california, USA

TOP TH E METAL NOSE CONE

OPERATES AS AN EMERGENn
EX!T, A CONTAINER FOR THE
WASH BASIN AND TOOLS AND,
WHEN OPENED, CAN BE USED
AS A SINK FOR WASHING OR AS

A BARBECUE FOR COOKING

SN OW

CO~.E

CAR TS USE GLASS

ON TOP, AND FOR \'OU FOR VOUR

~AFETV, FOR 'I OU TO SLEEP "

K " v ou RE SAYING ITS BETTER
l f V OU RE VISIBLE SO PEOPLE
KN0;'\1 YOU liRE THERE, RO.THER
T11AN >il00 EN 7"
A

VES W HAT ABOUT IF

SOM(ONE GET!". MAD OR

SOMETHING? AT LEASTTHn
1

CO UL 0 SEE THAT SOMEBOOY S

An affordable, archttect-destgned ltve/work

that mtght help Alvtn, "A," oscar, and vtctor to
space in the center of New vork is ltkely to be
travel eas1ly from one place to another, wh1 Le
also providing a place t o sleep and carry
an attractive propositiOn for any upwardly
securely their personal belongings and their
mobtle professtonal seeking accommodatton
in that crowded ctty. This was certainly the case haul of bottles and cans. wodiczko developed a
for Alvin, " A," oscar, and vtctor, four members of prototype verst on of the vehtcle tn collaboration
Newvork's homeless scavengtng community.
with the four bottle men. m a series of
Krzysztof wodtczko conceived the
discusstons, the group determined that the ir
Homeless vehicle PrOJect in response to the
new live/work space be safely and eas1ly
specific needs of this small congregation of
maneuverable, include sleeptng, washing, and
cooktng fac1l1ties, and have plenty of storage
homeless tndtvtduals. who allltve outside New
vork's dormitory shelter program. The four
space for the collected bonles and cans rhe
tndiv1duals earn money as bonle men They walk prototype was then tested on the streets by
the streets collecting recyclable bottles and
the four men and modtficattOns were made tn
cans in return for a small cash depostt. m a c1ty
accordance wtth each of thetr suggestions.
wodtczko believes firmly that this
where uniformed off1cers are deployed to keep
the publtc parks and plazas free of homeless
collaborative process ts essent1al to the
people, mobtltty has become an essential
project's success He states, "only through
such cooperatton can the vehtcle funct1on
survival tactic for the scavengtng communtty.
usefully otrect parttctpatton of users in the
A need was 1dentifted to destgn a vehtcle

IN HtERE

Krzysztofwodiczko, Uves and works In aoston, Massachusetts, usA

construction of the vehtcle IS the key to

develop1ng a vehicle that belongs to tts users,
rather than merely betng approprtat ed by
them.''
The working veh1cles resemble street
vendor's carts or street cleaner's trolle)'s, and
therefore conform to the util1tanan nature of
other port able strue1ures seen on the
Sidewalks of New vork. Moreover by mak1ng
t he act1vit 1es of the bottle men v1s' ble, the
Homeless vehicle takes an act ve part tn
altenng t he public's percept1on of homeless
tnd lvrduals. Alvtn, "A," oscar, ard ctor a'ld
others smce, can no longer be Ignored or
walked away from. Th e nomadic bottle men
stake a legitimate c .a1m to th ei r Citizenship of
Nev. vork city by performtng a useful funct1on
withi n that soctety.

___ , .......

-~J

- -.. =- - - --- ; .
-~-

...

;:

--~

THU PAGI! PORTABLE A ND

I CONOMitAL , EACH A Z LIVING
IJN1TI5 MOOf.lr DON A
STEA MER TRUNK AND, WH EN
UNFOLOf O, I S MEANT TO

fU NC T!ON AND IH USEFUL IN

E:V(fl 'f'DAV LifE, AS OPPOSED TO
BEWG A MERE DESIG N OBJECl

"EvtN THOUGH OUR l.liES ARE

INCREASlN GLV TRANSIE NT," AS

AlAS STATES, " THE N!lEO FOR A

Stt. SE OT HOM!l RMAHIS AND

OUR RCOUlREMCtiTS FOR

PRDTECTION, CO MFOR T, MlO

ltiDI'IIDUAUTY ENDUI'!E "

~U'B

:r

TWOVHI SIOtiS

or

A - 4' FSCAPL VEHICLES,

A CO~I~E M PORAR I WA'I f O FIND

I> f.

rtiGE

mr r 1 H N T TUHNED

t t 'IEHI CU ltiT Q A PIHtJr e s s

JK 0Ut4GE Y/t UL[ /N O IHH<
PPlffJIA0 A M ORE SCtiOLAR LV
li

PlAT

operating 1n the gap betwe en art and

s1m1larly A -Z Escape vehtcles are factoryarchitecture, Andrea Zittel create s mhab1table
built, recre ational enclosures wa1t1ng for a
personal touch. currently customized example s
sculptures and mstallat1ons which she
incl ude a Joseph cornellesque study with
advertises and sells through a mock company,
A- z Adm inistrative serv1ces. rna parody ofthe
wnt1ng desk and a cinderella - like carriage
w1th wet bar. Th e possib ilities are endless and
automotrve Industry, Adm1n1strat1ve serv1ces
routinely releases new lmes of furniture,
no matter what the own er chooses to do
homes, and vehi cles for today's tran s1ent
mside, absolute priva cy IS ensured by a lockmg
consumer. wh1 le many o f AZAS's products are
hatch. uke the tra1lor park homes on wh1ch
mnovat1ve examples of tran sportable domestiC they are ba sed, the capsules may be hauled to
architecture, 1t IS not nece ssanly freed om of
new locat1ons and parked for long penods, but
movement that 1nforms their des1gn Rat her,
fundamentally they are about a secret inner
their cozy forms cater to consumers seek1ng
world "[where you] won 't have to answer to
secunty and the 1llus1on of home when on the
anybody else' s laws, rule s, standards, or
move. Even so. AZAS Simply prov1des the form .
expectations."
vou must supply the content
The somewhat earl1er A z Livmg units offer
md- user 1nput IS essent1al to the proper
a more conventional take on personal liberty.
functioning of the A- z cellular compartment
Modeled on a steamer trunk, each unit unfolds
units. Each home 1s a network of chamber- like
into a forty- four- square - foot module equipped
boxes which may be stacked or moved around
w1th necessities such as a kitchen, bedroom,
l1ke toy blocks The down - to - earth cub1cles
or van1ty. ro counteract the somewhat
resemble the1r plastic versions 1n playgrounds
1mpersonal s1de of Its industnal manufacture,
the world over and have rounded crawlspaces
each m1n1 flat must be retrofitted, modif1ed,
whtch lead occupants through multiple
and 1mbued w1th gesture and content by its
carpeted compartments and da1ly tasks, from
occupant rhe result IS an instant home
sleep1ng and eatmg to worktng and work1ng
authored as much by the end user as the
out. aut aga1n, AZAS merely bu1lds the shells.
des1gner
How bas 1c or decadent they are ent1rely
wtth over ten product lmes to choose from,
depends on the personality of the owner
there IS a format and funct1on to su1t any taste
Andrea zittel, A-Z Administrative services, arooklyn, New vork, and .loshua Tree, california, usA

The most d1ff1cult part of l 1v1ng on the loo se IS

dec1d1ng on what mod el, make, and accessones
su1t your nee ds. sut by logg ing onto AzAs's
web Site and perus mg the poss1b1ltties, the
co nven ience and purchase of a personally
defined un1verse IS just a mouse click away.

OPPOsrn!AN D LEFT ZITTELS

A-Z CEllULAR COMPARTMENT

UNITS Al-LOW EIIERV NEED.

TASK. OR DESIRE TO HAVE ITS
OWN SPACE AND TIME.
lNOIVYDUAL BOXES MAV BE
CUSTOMIZED AND llNKED
TOGETHER TO fORM A ttlGHlY
PERSONAl COMPOUND.

TOP RIGHT IN DEVELOPING

THE UNITS, UTTEL TRJED TO

I M AGINE WHAT IT WOULD FEEL

L.IkE TO FUNCTION lN SMALL,

STACKING ROOMS. MOVING
THROUGH A SERIES OF THESE
SPACES tS SIM ILAR TO WHAT
PETS MUST EXPERIENCE IN
THE TUNNELS AND NESTS Of
HABITRAILS.

IUGHT srLHouErrEs o
TURI>i-ONS IN ALL THEIR

DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS

oPPoUTE A sERrEs oF
REvoLviNG MoouLrs-uKE
GrANT HAMSTER wHEeLScoNTAIN

~<LLuvtNG

PROGRAMs THERE 1s No
o1snNcnor; ANYMORE

eErwew wAu, LooR, oR

coLrNG-Jusr oNE

TRANSITIONAL sP;.ce .ALL[N

oue,ALLAT'Tt1HAMEn~e
~ovrtiLE coo,..rNG, THE coucH
sEcoME::. THE ceiLING, THE

omrr.G TABLE A wAu

rHE

INTERIOR SPACE CHAIIGES

CONSTANTL't' NITH THE ENDLESS

Pf'r!.mor~s oF rAc.H

fliNG-A

"rwn111 evERv oAv''-ALtes

wtRDGIJT

ufe ts a senes of ctrcular mottons, so why not

go With the flOW When It COmeS tO hOUSing?
The adVantageS Of Spinning 360 degreeS are
many, whtch Is why AWG_Alles wird GUt, a fivemember design collaborative working in
vienna, propose that we all ltve in wheels.
The concept behtnd their turnon-urban
sushi unit is that multtple l1vmg functions can
be compressed 1nto a ten-foot-htgh wheel and
accessed at w1ll by stmply rollmg 1n place. AS
evidenced by the prototype, which rests on a
steel frame and floats on magnettc ratls, a
qu1ck push will take res1dents from the couch
in one arc to a table and two cha1rs 1n another
to a chatse longue in a th1rd. Every surface can
be ltved 1n and on. when different modules are
Jotned together, the result is a giant tube of
endleSS lifestyle pOSSibilitieS.
What haS InfOrmed awg'S deSign more than
anything else is the automobrle industry,
where advances 1n prefabrrcatron, massproduction, and accessonzing have reached a
level of sophrsticatiOn unequaled tn the
engmeerrng of housmg. AS the European
smart'.. car has demonstrated. autos may be
qutckly and rnfrnttely upgraded or changed
with clip-on parts 1n d1sttnctrve colors to suit
any taste. ukewise, turnons are available tn
a wtde vanety of matenals (metal, wood,

awg_.Alles wlrd out, vienna, Austria

fiberglass, or rubber), functtons, and styles to

mtx and match, as evidenced by the "spice,"
"carefree," and "Avant-garde" series. The most
popular module at the moment is the "wet
cell," which incorporates bathroom and
kitchen into one rotation. All of the opttons
are detarled 1n a catalogue which reads like a
contemporary car ad: "restnct10ns van1sh,
dreams come true."
of course not many people live in the1r
cars, so who would be willing to occupy a
wheel? According to awg, the target customers
are young urban singles who move around a lot
and don't spend much time at home. rndeed,
the wheelts an opt1mal way to tncrease the
amount of ltvtng space 1n a cramped inner-ctty
flat After all, 1t was the need for small an1mals
to have a change of scenery and to get enough
exercise wrthtn confined quarters that led to
th e inventton of the hamster wheel.

TETRIS.SETUP

ntllllf e

TRIPOD

IBIIIII e

HYGIENIC

-
BUBBLE

PCOOK

II 11111 8

-
WORKoSI.EP

I IIIII

(~. ,
...

aaaa

FENG-6HUJ

awg_.Alles wird Gut, vienna, Austria

oi'POsrn rHerNTERroR oPHe

sNAIL sHELl rs LINED wiTH

mAM mRAooeo coMFORT AND

tNsULAnoN THE LAsHINGs oN
THE eouiPMENr soXENsuRe
THAT ALL rHe roots ARE HELD
tN PLAcewmerHe uNn 1s IN

MonoN

TOI'IuoHPHe sNAILsneu

s.~ 'E~t.s DEsiGNee rose

rAKEN

ANvwHERe, eveN oN

w.r.reR oR uNDERGRouro~o.
ltO'I'TOMIUGHT rwo

'A'E~P!,

RusseP.

c.AP TRACt<SArD

MANF.uVERABturvwHEN THE

sNArL SHELL

1s ROLLED FRoM

PLACE: ro PLAce

snail shell system IS a roll around, rnhabitable

conta1ner constructed from an inexpensive,
polyethylene cylinder. rt enables its user to
change h1s whereabouts and live in different
environments, includmg on water and
underground. rhe compact system measures
JUSt over thirty nme mches in height and sixty
inches in diameter and takes up very little
space wherever 1t IS placed. rhe material used
is non-tox1c, low in we1ght, and sturdy to allow
for the umt to be partly buned where the
ground permits or to be floated on water. snail
shell system can also be used as a comfortable
space or extra room ins1de an ex1st1ng bu1lding.
rhe technology beh1nd the device rs clever
yet practiCal EVery COmponent haS at least tWO
functions in order to max1mize the limited
space. rhe cyl1ndrrcal contamer can be rolle d
easrly from place to place. Maneuverability 1s
further enhanced by two detachable caterpillar
t racks that are made from rubber doormat s
and protect the shell ofthe container f rom
damage whrle in mot1on. rhe unit also floats on
water, and in this s1tuat1on the caterpillar
tracks funct1on as protective fenders when it is
moored. ro move the vessel on water one can
erther row 1t with a paddle, use a k1te to act like
a sail. or hook 1t up to a motorboat for towrng.
snail shell system comes complete with its

N55,copenhagen,oenrnank

own equrpment box, which contains a bilge

pump that doubles up as a vacuum cleaner and
a shower, hoses for the pump, kitchen pan,
kettle, and alcohol burner, and foldable water
containers that can be used for ballast as well
as the shower. rn addition to this, the
equipment box 1tself can be emptied, lined
with a plastic bag, and used as a toilet.
All k1nds of extensrons can be added to the
vessel dependrng on the s1tuat1on rt 1s placed
into. oynamos or solar panels can be added so
the snatl shell system has 1ts own power
source. unks can also be attached to combrne
several units, but because polyethylene cannot
be successfully glued to other matenals, any
add-ons must be connected by bolt1ng or
lash1ng.
N55 have developed a system combining
the suit case on wheels w ith the mobile home.
rt is a useful trave lin g compan ion and
affordable motel in a srn gle, attract ive pod.

The homes in this chapter offer both playful and aggressive solutions to the ong 1"9 problem
of finding and keeping residential space in crowded cities. since the Industrial Revol ution, the
options have tended to polarize around making do with cramped, noisy, and oft n unsanitaryflats
in town orfleeingtothe surrounding countrysidefor f resh air and room to roam. In t he nineteenth
century, this meant living in a tenement or commuting to a garden city; in the twentieth century, it
was the choice between a high rise or the suburbs. with the onset ofthetwenty-first century, the
preponderance of edge cities in the u.s. and elsewhere has demonstrated that in-between
alternatives are greatly desired, ifnotyet ideal or satisfactory.
It used to bethatthe inner citywasthe unfortunate domain ofthe industrial worker
who could notaffordto escape to nature. Nowthatwe inhabit a postindustrial landscape, urban
hubs are cleaner, safer, and more attractive to the middle and upper classes, w ho deserted themfor
lawns and gardens. People are returning to the center in droves, pushing rents up and lower-income
residents out, and increasing the need for in-town housingthatfulfillsthe needs of people from
varying socioeconomic brackets. The homes herein represent a yeasty cross section ofwhat' s
currently on the market-or coming soon.
Architects, collectives, artists, and individuals have responded to the problem of less
space for more money with highlyfunctional city homes that range from the wittytothe parasitic.
In many instances, skills that children acquire early on-stacking and hanging objects, inserting
blocks into slots, or blowing up balloons-have allowed homeowners and designers alike to
approach spatial problems from the liberating perspective of play.
In Germany, for example, artist stefan Eberstadt is experimenting with homes that
hang by straps. His Rucksack Houses are intended to dangle gleefullyfromthe chimneys of existing
apartment buildings to provide extra living spaceforthe students and guestworkerswho inhabit
Munich's numerous one-room studios. In .Japan, coelacanth ItAssociates have t raded the blueprint
forthree-dimensional cubes, which they encourage their clients to rearrange into combinations
that suittheir needs. The final configurations become prefabricated homes, called space slacks,
whichmakethemostoftheowner'spersonalfancyaswellasthelimitationsofanysnugsite.Piercy
conner Architects' Microfl.at proposal for London is an exercise in placing rectangles into t he right-

siz
wh
fro t

thE
shi
re ~

Mi~

of
ho

wl
wl
di'
k
be
fo

SL

Sl
f1J

ke r
~)a n

m for

sized hole s . Each Micro tlatis an el

when several u its are stacked o otngated box intended to ho
n .op ofo neanother, theymayb
use oneworki
l . .
from parki n g lots o roo ftops .c110
.
_ng-c assndvdual.
, rm1ng an
e Inserted 1nto un d b
theupperend ofthe economicscale .
lnstant,adhoccommunityALongth
use . ur an gaps,
.
.
,ISLOT/EK's

esame l1nes but on

shippmg contamers which have been stacked o:::man Penthouse, a private home made ~f
In all of these cases pla .
pofafactoryloftinManhattan
b l b
,
y IS not to be equated "th ~
.
respons1 1 1ty ut with achieving pers
l"
WI 1ooling around or shirking
ona lndependen
h" .
Michael Rakowitz's inflatable parasiTE h
l
ce. T IS IS nowhere more apparent than in
.
. .
ome ess shelters wh h tt h
of public bu1ld1ngs. Their squishy memb
, IC a ac to the exhaust systems
ranes and funky shapes sh
ffi t
.
however, each pod is a private and inter"
L

are a 1n1 1es w1th beach toys;

lm a ternat1veto l1v1ng 1n a church basementorthevMcA

Th e su b urb s h ave not been

.
.
.
Immune to overcrowding either, particularly in Japan,
where land IS scarce. ushlda Findlay Architects have responded with their Truss wall House
whose free-flowing curves open up an otherwise rigid, square site. The situation is somewhat
different in the united states, where tracts of inhabitable land-those islands of grass commonly
known as front and back yards-are routinely wasted in the service of keeping the neighbors at
bay. california-based ~ones, partners: Architecture is aggressively reclaiming the extra square
footage with their Protcon Package Homes which spread across every available inch of standard
suburban lots. ooug ~ackson, on the other hand, has left the yard intact but capitalized on the
space above. His casa vertical soars three stories above its tiny lot and is accessed by a hydraulic
floor plate, minimizing the building's area.
.
.
Innovative solutions may also be found in the variety offlex1ble and ~ob1le border

.
.

here These include N55's spaceframe, a latt1ced structure

dwellings wh1ch fit 1n anyt1me, anyw

.
f
ll car and Martin Ruiz de
.
. .
ll
l 0 cation for the pnce o a sma
,
Which may be erected 1n v1rtua Yany
.
ly a gust of wind to inflate its four walls.
'*
f b
be that requ1res on
AZua s sasic House, a Simple a nc cu
dlgltallydesigned to fit the most unusual of
b
l 0 gic House IS
Likewise, Greg Lynn FORM s Em ryo
h
needs no fixed foundation other than the
fflcels N EWPAD
, h
sites and openoffice Et copehageno
..... claim life among the masses doesn t ave
.
nywaystosta~ea
'
box in which it is packed. w1th soma
to be an either/or scenario.
1

TM.

There 1s no segment of today's populat1on

more mob1le than the homeless. who by
cho1ce, 1llness, or wcumstance fmd
themselves constantly on the move and 1n
desperate need of housmg and who are
d1scnm1nated agarnst Simply because they
have none. Artist Michael RakowltZ has
responded w1th temporary 1nflalable shelters,
called parasiTES, wh1ch he d1stnbutes free of
charge. Made of plastiC bags and tape, on a
budget of $5 per unit, the shelters are
conspicuous v1sible protests agamst the
condrt1on of homelessness and help to prolong
the l1ves of those affected by 1t
rn a manner s1m1lar to b1ologrcal paras1tes,
Rakowitz's shelters glom onto the HVAC outtake
ducts of publ1c bu1ldmgs, "suckmg" 1n
otherwrse unused urban a1r. 1nsp1red by tents
rn sedourn encampments, whrch are
constructed rn consrderat10n of wind pntterns,
the shelters have double membranes. wh1ch
harness the warm exhaust to Inflate and heat
therr livrng spaces.
All of the shelters are custom-bUill, With
herght and shape be1ng the d1rect result of
pnvate consultations w1th rnd1v1duals The f1rst
prototype, constructed 10 cambndge.
Massachusetts. out of black trash bags. was
1n1tially rejected by Bills . a homeless man who

d1d not want to sleep m a completely opaque

shelter for fear of bemg anacked As he
po1nted out. "homeless people do not have
pnvacy 1ssues, but rather secunty 1ssues ...WP
want to see and be seen "
rn New vork c1ty, the structure was
redes1gned for Michael M. 1n d1rect response to
then-Mayor Rudolph G1ul1an1's ant1- homeless
laws under GIUl1an1's mandate, any s;.ructure
hrgher than three and a half feet was
consrdered a tenr and therefore an acto;
1llegal camp1ng. Mrchael M 's shelter
Circumvented Grul1an1's ordmance by oemg
lower to the ground l1ke a sleepmg bag
Although he was ticketed tw1ce for usrng tt>e
enclosure, 1n both InStances the court threw
out the charges, agreerng w1th hrs argtJmert
that the structure was a "body extensron
For Rakow1tz, whose work rs "shaped by
[hls] rnteractron as a c1trzen and art st W1th
those who l1ve on the street," only a cornp ete
redes1gn of sacral programs and mumc pd
serv1ces combined w1th 1nnovat ons n
affordable housrng would beorn to ~owe the
problem of homelessne~s ror the mea t ~
h1s vrsrbly parasrt1C dev1ces ensure that t ose
affected wrll always be m the pub c.
se a
"seen" rs hall wa~ to bt:'rno equa1

roP
If

I I

1/Jr It I I fl
/~tilt

I I

II fA

I I fl(j

llt 1/1 ~~

fI

~.

Hllf IAL lfl

/<rjl

All

Hf114
~II

I II

liCifTOM A N O OPP05lTI!O

II

Jfltl f!

M 1<1
t~[!I)J

I I

I'

MMIJf/1 A I

fiiAII

ill

All I I U AI !0

Rill ~HH f< Ml~ 1<1 MillO!. fll(

PA
ttl

IR

I!VIliAlill

lilt

IlL

Michael Rakow ltz. llves and w o rks in Newvo rk . u s A

~paceft a me ft Fioatmg Platform,

copenhagen, oenmark 1999 ft ongoing

N55, copenhagen, oenmark

TOP r1E $PACEFRA.,..E IS A

"'-A CvST UGHnvEIGHT

CONSTRUCTION FOR THREE TO
FOU~ PEOPLE
~DO: nON

o=

WITt-< THE
"-FlOATING

PlA11'01H' !T MAY BE MOORED

l!HVATIR -'"0 EASlLV Tv!NEO 81
B:IA! TO A ~EW lOCATION

s CO\'EPED WITH

lot lS!URE-:.t;.SORBING

PLASTER >lBERBOARD PL#,TES

IVHEN TliE W~LLS ARE
PERLV liiiSUlAi0 THERE IS

!4

tlEED 10 rlE.Ao THE. ROOM, AS

tGHl AND NOR MOIL ACTIVITIES

PROVIDE SUfFICIE T V.>\P Mil-1

T~ r~ lS MADE OF BlP.C.;
lr.

000 THE 'IUDOWS A>W

I 11~ ARE lAAOE' OF

P1l

APB(;N4E ... NO THE

S.APU-r F

Accordmg to the members of the Rotterdambased art collecttve NS5. "concentrations of

power" such as the government and the
butldtng mdustry have as much a beanng on
the form and function oftoday's homes as
architectural pract1ce. rhe group refutes the
commonly held notton that home ownership
represents success, secunty, and stab1l1ty. on
the contrary, they suggest it represents the
repress1on and control of tnd1v1duals by
greater powers whose imerests are best
served by a monopoly of standardized hghpnced houstng.
man effort to sk1rt the schemes of
developers and keep the means of production
ftrmly tn the hands of the people, mgv1l
Aarbakke, Jon s0rvin, Rikke Luther, and cec1lla
wendt have designed, constructed, and now
1nhab1t the spaceframe-a pon:able, low-cost,
mamtenance-free house that can be bu1lt
dismantled relocated, and enlarged numerous

t1mes by any layman-which costs as much as

a small car.
rrue to 1ts name, the spaceframe 1s a
lattice-based structure whose strength and
integnty depend not on gravity but on rad1cal
geometry, wh1ch IS typ1cally reserved for
satellites and space platforms. N55 have
brought this technology our imo the open
compnstng two tetrahedra and one
octahedron. wh1ch form the basic frame the1r
house 1s faced with plates of ac1d-res1stant
stainless steel and lined w1th mo stureabsorbtng f1berboard. when nor n use the
house breaks down IntO neat stacks, wh1ch can
be easily stored beneath a fnend's sofa or 1n a
box ThiS lends the home a flex1b1l1ty and
mobility not possible w1th conventtonal
housmg and allows it to fit 1n virtually
anywhere: behtnd an eXISting home In an alley,
or on a rooftop. With the additton of a buoyant
Floating Platform rhe home may even be

moored tn a pond lake reservo1r, or harbor

How b1g the home is, where 1t IS located, and
for how long are entirely up to Its owner
uke 1ts commerc1al contemporares. such
as The Monolith c oome rnsmute (P. 8.1)
Amencan rngenwty (p 44), and Earthshrp
BIOtecture p. 70) N55 prov1des complete
rechn1cal specrficatrons ana nst~ucr,ons :or
construct ng the spacee-'ame and ~oa~ '19
pfattorm in manuals located on the1r web Site.
aut because tl-te groJp be. eves n shanng
knowledge and Know-ho'A the; re\ler charge
for the tnforrnatron They even re:use :o patent
their work, preferr ng 1nstead ro acnvely
public1ze 1t so that the1r product' rema1ns free
and available to everyone. unLke other nomes
on the market the spacefrane IS 01ot for sale,
so if you want to l1ve 1n one you must literally
take rhe matter mto your own hands.

NMc HOUH, prototype dweUJng,

no fixed addNa, manufactured
by fi8TTfllo, 1998

TOP IUOHT THf BA!i/C HOUSE

CAN Ill

,CRIINCHtO UP SMALL

ENOIJ[,H 10 ffT IN "fOUR

POC!<. I

W~ltN

Rl OUIREU VOU

JUS I UNRAVfl II, INfLATE IT,

AND tHROW IT ON LIKE A
!iW!AT[R

aOTTo"' IUGHT bASIC HOUSC

t

~I

II' r CvATWG

Wl T.t GOLD ON ON SIDE ArJO

SILV >I ON THE OTttER -GOUt

TO INSULATE AGAINS.TTH!: COLO
AND SllVER TO REflECT TH(

HEAT

OPPO&JTW" AZUA 15 INS.PIPEO BV

I

,.,.

HtAIMAINTA!NA

MOR lllf!LC I PI LATtON'>Hff'

If you have ever wondered exactly how difficult

1t 1s to f1ght your way out of a paper bag then a
sparring sess1on 1ns1de Martin RUIZ de Azua's
Basic House m1ght g1ve some 1nd1cation. Basic
House, as the name suggests, strips the very
fabnc ofthe house to 1ts most fundamehtal
elements. It IS simply a self contamed, cub1c
room that obviates the need for any structural
components other than a1r
Measuring only seventeen cub1c feet when
fully Inflated, eas1c House w1ll fit 1nto the
smallest of spaces. rn order to erect the
dwellmg, one Simply unravels the revers1ble
polyester fabric from 1ts pocket and dec1des
wh1ch of the two fln1shes best su1ts the current
cl1mate. one s1de 1s f1n1shed 1n gold to insulate
f rom the cold and the other SliVer to sh1eld
aga1nst heat A sl1ght breeze IS all1t takes to
mflate the house and render it 1nhab1tab le.

WllH THHl fNIIJI<'JNMfNT ANQ

HA~ PAll[ !1 UCJIIJN /iA~fC HOUSE

'";:) JN lllr:Jf (>lilt Tllr.

(~5tlll"l Cl(MENT'i OF

Martin Ruiz de AZua, urcelona, spain

ouring the daylime the house remains inflated

by the action of body and solar heat, whereas
at n1ght it slowly deflates to form a protective
blanket.
The swollen cube of metallic fo 1l, with 1ts
myriad reflections in the cnnkled surface, 1s
s1mple and bedut1ful The metallic fabric has a
fin1sh s1m1lar to that of the mater1al used to
protect satel11tes from the extreme cond1t10ns
of space rndeed, aas1c House has an extraterrestnal presence due to tts loommg,
floattng form and 1t bemg tn constant mot1on.
With BaSIC HOUSe, Martin RUIZ de AZUa
urges us all to reconsider the amount of clutter
we fill our homes w1th. He quest1ons the need
for so many cumbersome possess1ons and
suggests 1nstead "a l1fe of trans1t without
matenaltles. HaVIng it all wh1le hardly having
anything "

.,bryolog/c HOUse~ '",

prototype dwelling, 1998

TOP THERE. APE" ENDLESS

POSSIBILITlES FOI!Tt-iE t.AVOUT
OF EACI-i HOUSE THE
INDIVIDUALLY SHAPED INNER
ci"iAMBEI!s ARE sHowN HERE IN
A VARIETY OF ARRANGEMENTS

BOTTOM A MODEL sHOWING

THE HOUSE SITED IN A

LANDSCAPED GARDEN THE
COMPLH SHREDDED WINDOWS
ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY
ROBOTic I"ILUNG

" Blobular" IS probably the beSt term tO

deSCribe the b10m0rph1C Shape Of Greg Lynn
FORM'S EmbryolOgiC HOUSe. ThiS digitally
deSigned and manufaCtUred dwelling iS
extremely flex1ble and can be sculpted to fit
even the mOSt UnUSUal Of SiteS.
Greg Lynn FORM used computer numerically
controlled (CNC) machines to manufacture a
prOtOtype VerSIOn Of EmbryologiC HOUSe fOr the
Venice Blennale Of ArChiteCtUre, 2000. ThiS
model WaS CarVed OUt Of a SOlid blOCk Of foam
USing a robOtiC m1ll that allOWS for total
prec1s1on and custom manufacture. The
production process employed 1n th1s prototype
marks a radical change 1n the way homes are
commiSSioned, designed and bu1lt. Greg Lynn
FORM pushes the boundanes of construction
technology to demonstrate how homes can be
prefabncated on a mass scale yet st1ll reta1n a
tatlor-made mdtv1dual1ty that means no two

Greg Lynn FORM, venice, california, usA

houses are the same.

The dynamic of the Greg Lynn FORM
practtce IS structured around a collaborative
approach draw1ng on pools of expert1se from
different dtsc1plmes. The stud to belteves this
approach to be the most appropnate model
for contmued success tn the future. rh1s
represents a preva1l1ng attttude and ts in
accord wtth other contemporary practtces,
includtng FAT (p. 22), PO.D (p.110) and AVL (p g6}.
The free-flowmg form of the Embryologtc
House ts a departure from the nght-angled
boxes most of us thtnk of as home. The curvy
dwelltng wtth tts system of shredded wtndows
would have been prohtbttlvely expenstve to
produce even as recent as a decade ago. Thts
made-to-measure productton process sweeps
as1de the notton that prefabncat1on equals
homogenetty and has a real potential to
revoluttOnt ze the wh ole co nstruction tndustry.

TrUss wall HOUH, nurukawa. Machida-city

.Japan, 1991-93

TOP MAKING THE MOST OF A

rtNV P!ECC OF LAND, USHIDA
FINDLAY CONSTRUCTED A TWOSTORY HOME THAT RESEMBLES
AN ORGANIC SCULPTURE.

OPP OsrrE CURVING WALLS, AN

OPCN STAJRWELL, AND A HOST
Of BUJLT IN , CUSTOr_,
FURNISHINGS GIVE THE
IMPRESSIO:J THAT THE HOME 1S
MUCH LARGER TtiAN IT
ACTUAUV IS THE STAIRS LEAD

DOWN TO A BEDROOM AND, ON

THE MAIN FlOOR , A LONG WALL
lEADS TO A KITCHEN AND A
ROUNDFD SEATING AREA
BENF.ATH A DOMED CETUNG

'OU.OWIN G PAGE GLASS

D lOPS OPLN ON fO AN
11.-.IMATE COURTYARD WITH

Tl 5 MADE fROM COLORED

MOI<"IAR p,$1' IN BALlOONS

one way of maktng space IS to carve it out, a

concept that mforms the design of this house
on a zero - lot-line property in suburban Japan.
Like other commute r "bed towns" outside
Tokyo, the suburb is a rather unattractive mash
of mundane, detached fam1ly homes crammed
onto tiny slices of land. However, by thinking
sculpturally, ush1da Ftndlay ArChitects have
transformed a small plot of land into a
remarkably tact1le and emot1ve env1ronment
which enables 1ts occupants to tune out the
visual and audible noise of the chaotic c1ty and
tune 1n to a tranqUil pnvate realm.
constructed for a young fam1ly, the home is
a revolutionary departure from the cookiecutter houses In the surroundmg
neighborhood whose facades face the busy
streets. The house prov1des an enormous
amount of seclusion by foldmg 1n on 1tself
around a centra l courtyard. uke a sculpture, it
tw1sts and turns, prov1d1ng an Interior
landscape of peace and seren1ty and
enveloping and 1mmun1Z1ng the residents from
the s1ghts and sounds of the nearby elevated
commuter l1ne 1n many respects, the house
looks as 1f 1t could have been rhrown on a
potter's wheel, however, 1t IS the hand of
computer-aided des1gn (CAD) and cementtil ted, w1re mesh walls supported by trusses
ushida Findlay Architects, Tokyo, .1apan

that account for the home's precisely planned,

free-flowmg curves and abstract forms.
For all1ts openings and voids, the home
contains a surpnsing amount of living space
within its 1,100 square feet. Part of this is the
result of super effic1ent space planning and
custom-designed furniture, such as a curved
sofa which hugs the rounded wall in the l1v1ng
area and a cantilevered d1n1ng table. sy far 1t IS
the opt1cal arrangement of space that
accounts for the feeling of openness in such
tight quarters. Dynamic curves lead 1n and
out, back and forth, from the ground-level
bedrooms to the f1rst-floor l1vmg area and
kitchen, out tnto a pnvate courtyard, and along
a curvmg staircase up to a grassy roof garden.
Simultaneously econom1c and sensuous, the
rruss wall House demonstrates that it is
possible to achieve both individual identity
and personal space within the modern anthill.

CHAPTER 1
SELF- CONSTRUCT

u tu

CHAPTER 2
MOVE TO THE STICKS
"East

''Archiprlx International."
Architectural Rev1ew. London,
Amman, Jordan "Aga Khan
september 2001
oevelopment Network,
erizzi Marco, "Kas oosterhu1s. rllato
www.akdn org, 1990.
selvagg10 dell'archttettura."

rant LUcy, Pedro Gadanho space

Arch'lt, www.archttettura.
mvaders. London The arittsh
supereva it, rtaly.
counctl. 2001.
"case study House 1oe" Archrecord2,
m ro tmstt. "Livtn g on the
www archrecord.com, January
Frtnges." Metropolis Magazme,
2002.
New vork, August september 2001. Ibelings Hans, ed. o1e gebaute
o
Peter. "The sl1ck and the
Landschaft. MUnich: Prestel verlag,
Hatry." ArChitectural Rev1ew,
2000.
London, January 2002
Migayrou, FrederiC and Marte-Ange
y earbara M. Expand.ng the
erayer, eds. Archdab Radical
Amencan oream: euildmg and
Expenments m Global
Rebwldmg Levirtown. Albany:
ArChitecture London: Thames and
SUNY, 1993,
Hudson, 2001.
gw Edward, Karen Marta
Niesewand Nonte "Architecture Ct:
Modern oreams: The Rise and Fall
Imagtng: softroom." wallpaper
of Pop. New vork: The clocktower
Magazme, New vork, september!
Gallery, PS1, 1998
october 1997.
Kevm. "sarah wigglesworth
Nuttgens Patnck. rhe story of
Archttects "Archrecord2,
ArChitecture London: Phaidon,
www.archrecord com, January
1997
2002.
Parker Freda. "ufe Above the
Potrc Maqettca. East wahdat:
rreetops at cloud Hidden."
upgrad1ng Program,
www.monol1th1cdome comt
www.potrc.org, 1999.
gallery thomes/kaslik
r Jamte, Manuel Gausa. single
Richardson Phyllis, Lucas oietrich,
Family Housmg: The Private
ed. xs: Big Ideas, small BUildings.
oomam Barcelona Actar, 1999.
New vork: umverse, 2001.
ag
rsmail, ed. The
Ailey Terence. rhe un-Pnvate House.
Architecture of Empowerment
New vork: Museum of Modern Art,
People, shelter, and uveable
1999
ewes. London: Academy, 1997.
steiner otetmar "Lacaton Et vassal."
oeyan. "The straw sale
oomus, 1ssue 803, Mtlan, April,
HOuse." oomus, tssue 843, Mtlan,
1998.
oecember 2001.
T
Jeremy. sarah w1gglesworth. 9110
stor..k orchard street-A GUide
Book London: The sank of Ideas,

wahdat upgradmg Programme.

2001

Kann, ed VtCO ACCOnCJ: The City

rns1de us vtenna: MAK, 1993

CHAPTER 3
BRING YOUR
OWN BUILD I NG
Allen Jennifer 'The New sarbanans."
Ateiter van ueshout at camden
Arts centre London camden Arts
ce ntre, 2002
ll~ 11 Jennifer ''vtenna Mealtime."
Atelier van ueshout, schwarzes
und Graues wasser vtenna BAWAG
Foundation, 2001.
Art 11 Alltson "we oream of
Prefabs .... " owe/1, san Franc1sco,
Aprt[2001.
Benjamin Manna. "sags of
Potent tal." rhe mdependent on
sunday, London, Apnl 9, 2000.
c11 HyoungJin, Remt Feghalt, and
Adrten RaOUl. "INSTANT eGo."
www.geocities.comtinstantego,
2000.
crosllng John. "aody Architecture."
ArChitectural Review Australia,
sydney, spnng 1998.
rcrreira Anton. "sandbag Homes May
ee shelter Breakthrough."
www.reuters.com, July 30, 2001.
o hAnlualn oatthi. "rry LIVing tn the
wheel world." w1red News,
www.w1red.com, February 18, 2002.
Heng whooKtat, Lotft stdtrahal.
"Nomambule." www.geocities.
comttnstantegotnomambule1,
2000.
Lerner Kevin. "The New Nomadism."
Archrecord2, www.archrecord.
com, october 2001.
van Li~shout Joep. Illustrated Talk,
camden Arts centre, London, Apnl
25, 2002.

Luria Rudolph, Krzysztof wod tczko.

"Homeless conversations.''
Homeless vehicle proJect, New
vork, 1988.
Mestre Marte-E:ve, stephane Magnm,
chnstoph ooswald, caroltne
Maniaque, Laurence Flazon, and
vves renret . Alr-Atr: celebrating
mflatables. Monaco: Le 27e
stratageme, rnflate untt Research
and Gnmaldt Forum, 2001.

CHAPTER 4
SPACE INVADERS
Mills Ktndon. "Holiday Ramblings."
Ten by Ten. volume 1 tssue 2,
chicago, Falltwtnter 2000.
r.:r Lucy "project summanes "
http://stud 1oorta.free.fr, 2002
s.n.:J, Mark "Lucy orta." Blueprint
Magazme, London. May 1998.
sar
, ch1on. " House Trailers."
sm1thsonian, June 1998.
-o""l.,.._.>ini Mana crtsttna "corporal
Architecture, surv1val clothes."
oomus. tssue 824, Mtlan, March
2000.
BIJal P. "otrt oomes:
Breakthrough in Emergency
Housmg?" news nationalgeographtc.com, Aprtl3, 2002.
,.;rmo Paul. "urban Armour,'' Refuge
wear. Parts: Edtttons Jean-Mtchel
Place, 1996.

..- ='

www.elltpsls.comtgudes,tojlyo
buildings/ tokyo.truss.html
JOel Edge c1ty ufe on the
New Frontier New vork
Doubleday, 1991.
Ptlar " shelter.'' sectton F3,
House Ct: Home, rhe New vork
Times, February 14, 2002.
Ha
christopher. "rhe
Lodtown on Lottek." Meuopol1s
Magazme, New vork, August 2002
.Jc
wes "rewards a Loose
MOdularity " PraXIS, ISSUe 3,
cambndge. Massachusens, pp
16-27.
Greg. Animate Form. New vork:
Pn nceton, 1999
"' Eva. "Michael Rakowttz."
www.mindspnng.com, New vork,
2001.
oavid. "Future shock "
North aay aohem1an, February
14-20, 2002.
John. Modern House. London.
Phaidon, 1995
Antonta "sutte oreams."
nme out, London, Apnll]-24,
2002.

AVcmt

A AP
t
r

Garde curdled by r<Mgo

" sho ~-:uro~awa, dod oenn. sharp,

h 'e ~ 'eGa lery, London, England,
9-November 18, 2001
ma d FOrum MOnaco,

sep,mber 2ooo
A en forme MU oac, Lausanne, swltz,.rland,
Apn -1uly 2000
ACelter ViJn LJeshauc. Cdmdf!n r.rts centrr,
London, England, Apnl 26 JUnr:: 16, 700?.
Hausschau, oas Haus m der Kunst (I'IOuse show.
rhe House m Ml) cur(fted by zdenek flw,
oetchtorhallen Har:1ourg, Hamburg, vermany.
May 12-sepember 17, 2000
LeSS AeStheltCS, MOre EthiCS curated by
Mass mlltdno FU~sas, The 7th mternatJonat

Arch tecture e:r.-;tb.tton, ventce, naly, June

18-octobef 29, 2ooo.

uv1rtg m Movon curated by Mdthras schwartzc auss. vt ra oes1gr. r.wseum, wetl am Rhcm,

Germany, summer 2002.

sc1ence Fatr cuated by sally o'Aetlly. camden
Arts cente r ,...con, E.tlglcsnd, :JUne 15, 7007
space mvader' cJrated by L.lJCY eullrvant and
Pedro Gadanro. -'"!e :entJsh c.ouncrl.
tJOr. tou' opened at c.at!:na central
l.ejO-IIIUSeU

de

e..<hrbr-

Ele~trtCidadt:. LISIJ!.In,

portugal. september :woe

rhe way w.e uvf:. PJBA ~orthrtec:wrr- uall(;!ry,

London, tnglafi d. June 2'1-30, 700/
rhe un-Prr.late House c.u'at!:d by~ere~c.e Rrley,
Muse Jm of Mode-n t~t, t.ew vorti', U.:>A, ~999

~<lies wtrd

GUt www altesvwdgut cc

Arnerccan Jnge:nUity www ardomes com

Martin Rurz de Azua mrazuaa,teiPIJne es
shrgeru Ban ArChitects. Nww dnp co Jp
rmggs Port-t:-~=old shelters ltd.
www uwvrs1on.com

oawson arovm t.rrhtt~cture

dboGKarolinecas~y corn,;w
ROt.H:rt aruno: rober bruno1oyahoQ.COrn
c:al Earth. wvvw.calf:'artll.org
coetacanur q_ tSsoc1ates www.c- ;md a.cu.Jp
copenhagenoff~ee: w ..v N cop,.nhag,noffru dk
Earthshlp arotecture www earthsh1p org
stefan berstadt
stefan Eber"-tadt~adbv mhn de
FAT

www.fat co ul-

Garofato Arc.hrtecrs uww garofalo.a-nod~>.nnt

Global Peace c.ontatners: www.gbs-gpc com
sean Godsetl Mc.hllects.
godsellnetspac.e .net .au
Mc.hrt<>ctuurswdro Herman Herttberger

wv:w her~berger.nl
Michael itoen~s: www.tesotho-tourl. de
ooug Jac\tson, liRGE LA_RG~)hotmarl.c.orn
Jones, P<~rtne:rs. Arc.tutecture
www Jonespartnert> c.orn
~:oeppPI Et Marttnez
www.koepp.elmartlnf:z com
tacatr;n Ct: vass;;:JI Ideat on var.sal@'.vanadoo.fr
L"S Arlthenea: www watr:rventtH' ~ com
Atelier van ueshout www avl v1Ur <:orr
LOTIU WWVJ.lOt-ek.com
oreg Lynn FORM' w Nw.glform com
MonolithiC oome tnStltu e.
WW'IJ monoltthtC.dome

rom
055 d?
oosterhurs.nl www oosterhuts nl.

r.155

s udro orta www stud1o orta c..orn

Jalesf.a Pesc:hl-e: Jale!.ap~>wgm' net

conner Mthrtec.ts
w "''"' thernrcroflatc.ompany wrrr

PICfcy

0. II N N r;eoG.tteS CCJJri/Hl!itarl!eCJO
t"af J"'W>3 Potrc 'IIWW IJ0t.rc.: or g
MIChael r{akr;miZ
WWN.pr~c..s b ~u r;pra t:OIIt/rrll~e
Rural !>ludro
PO

NWW corrugatrdC.fJOStrUC:IIOrl Wrrl

J' nnrfe; scgal. www.de~rgnrnobr(l

com

rnfo~u:;htd.,fmdlc~y corn
Safdn Wtggi"SWOrth MChrtr-c!S

Arldre,a

zntel www ZJtt"'l O!g

p 1 ~. wllecton 0f stefan E'berstadt (to~

LOuts POSl-Dtspalh !top nght),

left),

courtesy,

The :.tate of~ euvmtn!>tPr ruHer (bottom

Left)
p.15 courtesy, .c.shley scha;e, PraxiS (top ~>ft)
r-:assau cou'lty Museum collectHm, LOng
Island stud es InStitute, Hempstead New
'fOrk ('op rrgrrt)

PP n-75. fAT
pp 76 29: RIJbet aruno
DP 30-5 3 sarah 111199 eswortn
pp ~4- n. ooug Gi.lrofalo
pp 38-jg r~~tchanl rlOenec;
pp 40-41. wunesy MarJetrca POtiC eMatrya
p;;vlov~c ({eft 1, ~Jos(: P.Odrtguez (c:enten
pp 4 ,- 4 3. I'Oeppel Q. M<Httnel
pp. 44 47: r.mencan mgenurty
p, 48: arrggs POrt-A mid Ltd

p 4 g. 1arws w1nrow
pp 50-51 openoffrce
PD s1 -?~ RIChard J. L Martrn
pp 54 _55 sarbara Giadstone Gallery

PP 6o-6 ~:water ventures, callforntts

PP 64 _ 67 co.:rres-1 shrgeru ean Mthrt~'cts
Hlrat

PP 68-6g courtesy ROI:iert erown

I'P 70 _7, courtesy eptcscottand, QASh ey

www vanom~nc nl
opPnofftce www.open-offrce.net

w nw '>tlrJrdctt co LJ~odtczko'...mtl
vrzy- ztof wo CLYO

p ~ connrt;; smrth (trJv lt>ft), Jurgr:n rP~<.h (top

right), stefan rb,.rstadt (b'.)t1orn)
p HJ" ::.tefan Eberstadt (top left), ~-~rrn,gram
Arc.l'uves (top ngtt. b!Jttorn left)

st

~du

coombe.s, ATOM HOP left!. earths~up

erotec.wre {.all others!

pp 77-75. s0firoom
76 77 Herman Hertzbetge,.
70 _79 . Kas oosterhurs
80-83- courter;y Li.ICdtOn Ct va'iSill
CJP11t[tppe R<;ault
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uornrJwtJtutP (all others)
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120

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PP 134 55 Ov!Jg Jat~S(Jr

r rontrsprE:,P.: sofuoorn

CIHitOYUI.I

NIIIW

s~ftroom www.softroorn com

uf.hrda Ftndl~y .t-rchtecr~

'II reasonable efforts hate be~>n made to

obtatn Wp~rrgnt p~>rmtsston for thr tmages
thts boov If tve have cornrnmed an OVN'irght,
w~> mU be pl~asecl to rec. trfy rt rn a subsequem
edrtron

cmmothy Hursley

PP c;G 99 courtrosy Atelter van lle'ihout

~l beeldrecht
PP 100 Oj sea"' c;odsell
PP 104 0 7 va eska Peschke
DP 10g 09 Jennfer stegat
pp uo n PO o
pp 112..-,s srud1o orta

PP 136 ;3 '"OJrresy coel<ttann ~

r-~sr;crat<>s, esatos!'t A~ilfiJVJa

pp 140-4f MtChi1"1Ra~owrtz
fJP 144 45

~'IP.rcy c.onnor

Acr. tects

PP 14&-47 cautesy r.oc~.et Gal~>y, Qndor

cstelan Eb<>rstad

pp 148-49 courtesy LOT/EK

PP 150-s U55

PP 15i-53

Marti~ IW

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PP 154-57 w~s Jones

pp '58 -sg. courtesy op,.noff ce,oM:leas
Pauly

pp.15o-6 ueg Lyrn

pp

167 65. Allt'i.ages cov~~>sy us" da

rwd~y t.'chttects. c~c:~tsur

rda ;qda,
c.shr:ll-<:nch..-u. and c;;re:nJ i"..!Joayasht

TH. COMPUTIIR AG., NVJRONMIINTAL CONCERNS, OVERPOPULATION, SUBURBAN SPRAWL, AND ECONOMIC BOOM AND BUST HAVE AU CONSPIRED
TO IIIUNG AaOUT IINORMOUS CHANGIIIN OUR EVERYDAY LIVIIS, AND P ERHAPS NOWHERE MORE SO THAN IN OUR HOMES. THIS COLLECTION OF
PHOTOGRAPHS, DRAWINGS, PLANS, AND ESSAYS FEATURES EXCITING, NEWLY DESIGNED AND BUILT D~ELUNG SPACES BY ARCHITECTS, ARnSTS,
COU.~S, AND INDIVJDUALS THAT RESPOND TO OUR INCREASING AWARENESS OF ARCHITECTURE S ABIUTVTO SHAPE THE WAY WE LIVE.
WHaTHIt THIIV ARII s LP- CONSTRUCTED, SEA-WORTHY, PORTABLE, INFLATABLE, O R WEARABLE, THESE HOMES PUSH THE ENVELOPE OF WHAT' 5
CONSIDItD "NORMAL" IN DOM.S'nC ARCHITECTURII. YET EACH WAS DESIGNED IN RESP ONSE TO A VERY REAL AND IMMEDIATE CONCERN, BE IT
KONOMIC. S PATIAL, ltU OUitC.- It.LAnD, OR AESTHETIC. INNOVATIVE, BOLD, AND S O METIMES SHOCKING, THESE HOMES SIGNAL A NEW WAY OF
THINICINCI AaOUTWHATOUit HOM.S CAN 1111. THEY WILL NO DOUBT SET THE STANDARD FOR WHERE AND HOW WE LIVE, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE.
PIIA'I'UitiNCI DW.LUNGS IIV:

wtth the ttunstraum NQnche.n In Munch eermany she was formerly Associate curator at the un versity of
Art and has written about ~rary art and design tor a variety of publlcattons ncluding ARTfltlWS, mForm
.wd as fot the book 1cons of oes1gn (PreStet

~ smari- ...um

,_.,nN u

tor on architecture and destgft whose rec~tnt profects mclude slowup Inflatable Art. ArCh tecture and oes g

.,.uy Gr p a documentary on Attion Min He l ves

n London england