Futuro House by Matti Suuronen

Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed this UFO shaped dwelling in 1968, initially for use as a ski-cabin or holiday home. This kind of shape and materials was very popular at the 60s and 70s, as we can see in the House of the Future in Disneyland by Monsanto or the abandoned Sanzhi Pod Houses in Taiwan.

The Futuro house was completely furnished and could accommodate 8 people. It was constructed entirely out of reinforced plastic, at these times a new, light and inexpensive material. The plan was designed to be mass-produced, so it would be cheap enough to house all people around the earth. Because it was so light-weight, it was easily transportable by helicopter.

As Constant’s ideas for the New babylon, where he describes a nomad city, where people can move their homes and freely live wherever thay want in different moments, this kind of mobile living was the new possibility for the future. People could now take their moveable home with them. We can read at the wikipedia that Architecture D’Aujourd’Hui describes “Futuro” in it’s issue from February 1970 like this:

“The first model in a series of holiday homes to be licensed in 50 countries, already mass-produced in the United States, Australia and Belgium. The segments of the elliptic envelope are assembled on the site using a metal footing. Through its shape and materials used, the house can be erected in very cold mountains or even by the sea. The area is 50 sq m, the volume 140 cubic m, divided by adaptable partitions.”

Unfortunately the 1973 oil crisis spoiled all these plans. Prices of plastic raised production costs too high to be profitable. Only 96 Futuro houses were ever built. Besides the 48 made in Finland, also at least 48 were manufactured abroad on license.

If you live close to Dunedin, Otago in New Zealand, you can rent a Futuro House here.