For many, the word “house” refers to rectangular structures with a roof, a front porch, or a landscaped gardens and a large garage, if you are lucky. However, many urban experts believe that this wouldn’t be the case if you fast forward things in a few hundred years. They say that after a century or more, things will be more different, with changing climates and geo-political shifts that can influence how houses will be built in the future.
The good news is that it wouldn’t take a century for us to see how these changes will be created. Here are two designs that will make you wish you were born a century ahead:
Tornado-Proof Home
A long time ago, houses were at the mercy of a tornado’s destructive force, and the only thing that people can do was to run and get out of a tornado’s way.
It seems that mother nature has rendered all human beings helpless..but not anymore.
Ted Givens, a partner of 10 Designs (Hong Kong) has created a prototype design that makes homes actually tornado-friendly. The house has hydraulic levers that pull the Kevlar-coated house into the ground when high-velocity winds pass by the structure. It also locks everything out, making it impossible for wind and water to enter the house.
A series of solar cells on the outer skin rotate and flex its body to receive maximum solar power. Photo catalytic coatings and carbon nano tubes are placed on the skin to clean and absorb pollution, turning it directly into fuel that can be used to power the hydraulics. What’s more, neighborhoods will be connected together through sensor networks, which interpret weather data, behaving as one organism when a tornado hits the area. This means that once the sensor detects the presence of a tornado, warning sirens will be heard, which will turn the sensors on and collapse the entire “tornado-proof” suburb onto the ground.
Given’s innovative design is kinetic architecture in action. This type of architecture learns from technological innovation and uses its mechanisms to custom-tailor a house.
Water Discus Underwater Hotel
Dubai has always been known to build the most outrageous and expensive things, bagging the recognition of having the world’s tallest building, the world’s most luxurious hotel, the world’s biggest indoor ski resort, and the largest man-made waterfront project in the world: the Palm Islands, Dubai’s luxurious artificial archipelago.
It doesn’t stop there, however. The Water Discus Hotel announced in May 2012 that they are creating an underwater disc located up to 10 meters below the surface. It has an underwater bar, a dive center, an upper-terrace swimming pool, a garden, restaurants, recreation areas and spas. Its main hotel will also include 21 rooms. These guest rooms are located in the underwater disc, showcasing floor-to-ceiling windows that give a beautiful view of life underwater.
Designed by Pawel Podwojewski, one of the designers of Deep Ocean Technology in Poland, the hotel’s concept consists of a partial underwater structure. It consists of two large, rotating disc-shaped structures, with the one above the water, and the other submerged below.
And here’s the good part: the 11,000 square foot underwater disc can actually be detached from the main base and used as a lifeboat, in case of emergencies. The hotel can also get to the surface for repairs or evacuate in anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours, depending on how it is programmed. It can even be transferred to a new location. Acccording to Podwojewski, the most expensive materials come from the windows made from acrylic glass, although they can be removed or added, depending on the hotel’s budget.
These houses are just some of the futuristic structures found in the world of architecture today. It wouldn’t be surprising to find more of them as the years pass by. As technology meets human minds primed for invention and innovation, people will find it much easier to embrace the future with wide, open arms.
