Imagine a home that builds itself. Not only that, when brought to a site as a packed container, it is capable of unpacking itself without any power source, using a combination of gravity and levers.
Surely this is the cozy pipedream of science fiction addicts, snuggled down with an imaginary future in which self-constructing aerobarns unfold to house the gymnastics of flying pigs.
But the possible ‘future’ of the headline is not some rainbow-end fantasy rooted in some misty utopian future. The ‘future’ it involves may be only months, or a few years away.
See it on the BBC: Will our future homes build themselves?
The BBC video suggests possible housing applications. You can imagine your own, but we’d like to suggest at least one affordable housing application.
Transitional housing for homeless people is often considered a step on the path to permanent housing.
But neighbourhoods faced with transitional housing tend to fiercely resist the change in character of their neighbourhoods.
Self-erecting, self-collapsing houses might provide a perfect blend of temporary and permanent, allowing a responsible neighbourhood to support transitional housing for a time, not necessarily the ‘forever’ of more conventional building techniques.
For a modular construction technique that is already supporting this kind of transitional ‘impermanent permanence’, try: Kamloops Can Dodge NIMBY With Temporarily Permanent Transitional Housing For The Homeless
