Tuesday, December 9, 2008

image_hydra house


Jennifer Siegal and her offfice, Office of Mobile Architecture, proposed the "Hydra House." In her brief, the project is described as "a mass-customized mobile modular structure that is responsive to environmental issues of global warming and water desalination and recycling."

"The structural stalks are separated into chassis (providing internal structure, power, communication, mechanical, and a self-sufficient energy collecting system), and mass-customized elements (for interior build-outs, exterior and interior skins, electronics, and communications)..."

The structures are embedded with intelligence. As described,
"1. Water: rain water with stretched bladder and desalination (97% of the planet’s water is salt water in the seas and oceans) and treated waste water. Each tube either pulls sea water upward (see bottom skin punctures drawing directly from the ocean) or distributes desalinized water downward to provide potable and washing water.
2. Power: photovoltaics, salt crystalization, and thermocouple energy conductors
3. Communication + Mechanical: global knowledge and plumbing

Pneumatic Exterior Skin: 2 layers of inflated neoprene

Liquefied Connections: suction-like tentacles attach to each independent housing unit, forming colonies and allowing for external passage.

Floating Garden: each independent housing unit has an attached self-sufficient floating garden. These Lily pads stem from Hydra House’s structural stalks, using an umbilical cord to provide fresh water and nutrients gives life and feeds the floating garden."

For more information, click here, and scroll down to the second project.

(Thanks, Joy!)

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