Sliding House

March 2, 2009 12:34 PM

"The brief was simple: to build a house to retire to in order to grow food, entertain and enjoy the East Anglia landscape. The outcome was as unconventional as they come. A structure that has the ability to vary or connect the overall building's composition and character according to season, weather or simply a desire to delight. Wallpaper* took a trip to the site to capture the physical phenomenon in the only medium that serves it justice - film." via
posted by Knappster (15 comments total)

The YouTube version, if you prefer.
posted by Knappster at 12:34 PM on March 2

I'm curious about how loud the roof is when it's in transition. Is it quiet or is it like sliding a metal storefront gate down?

Intrepid Anglia!
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 12:55 PM on March 2

Insipid Anglia more like.
posted by Keith Talent at 1:16 PM on March 2

This is excellent.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 1:17 PM on March 2

I wonder how flexible it actually is. Wouldn't drapes and blinds simply out-perform this system?

I looked for operable windows and spotted two. Would it be better to have a properly oriented and roofed glass wing attached to a conventionally clad house? Is it simply a solarium with an extraordinary, not to say kitsch, shading system?
posted by xod at 2:14 PM on March 2

How marvellous!
posted by Coaticass at 3:16 PM on March 2

God damn is that Wallpaper link irritating. Completely obtuse, overbusy, and unhelpful in the visuals. Just like the magazine, actually. They just need to insert 4 ads for every 2 seconds of video and the experience will be complete.

How long til the engine burns out, or the tracks and bearings get filled with leaves and grit?
posted by leotrotsky at 4:00 PM on March 2

leotrotsky, about as long as any other manmade moving apparatus: somewhere between one hour and two hundred years. But since the maker lives in the house, repairs are going to be much easier (during his residency there, anyway) than if you or I bought it.

Yeah, it may not be perfect, but at least he has created something more beautiful, and more useful, than a snark.
posted by IAmBroom at 4:44 PM on March 2

My del.icio.us shall never mark
A thing more useful than a snark

But I love that house. It's like a toy made real. The red detailing in the cutouts of the shell is a nice detail. And I like how nerdily pleased they are about the little tiny motors that move the entire thing.
posted by moonmilk at 4:57 PM on March 2 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm surprised at how cheesy this project is, since one of the architect's more famous houses has a pretty tight aesthetic, apparently the client "...wanted it to look like a hotel in Monopoly" so maybe that explains it.
posted by doobiedoo at 5:20 PM on March 2

"...some capital..." Yuh huh. I'll bet. Still, very cool.
posted by katillathehun at 6:17 PM on March 2

odd but interesting.
posted by mary8nne at 4:03 AM on March 3

Read about this last week - awesome idea. I think you'd become a bit of a 'house-bore' if you lived in it though, you'd always be jumping up at parties to move the house, finding excuses to do it all the time.

Still, I love unusual homes like this.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:04 AM on March 3

Really love the idea, but seconding the hate of the video. Save the beautiful art shots for after you've shown what's actually going on.
posted by DU at 5:52 AM on March 3

The wording of the FPP left me expecting more than a glass shell with an outer shell that moves to cover. There is only one change exhibited, and that, as DU just said, was too busy being arty to be very informative.
posted by Goofyy at 6:00 AM on March 3