Comments on: Sliding House

Sliding House

Knappster — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:34:13 -0800

"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

By: Knappster

Knappster — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:34:53 -0800

The YouTube version, if you prefer.

By: Lipstick Thespian

Lipstick Thespian — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:55:21 -0800

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!

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:16:24 -0800

Insipid Anglia more like.

By: game warden to the events rhino

game warden to the events rhino — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:17:48 -0800

This is excellent.

By: xod

xod — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:14:01 -0800

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?

By: Coaticass

Coaticass — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:16:19 -0800

How marvellous!

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:00:31 -0800

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?

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:44:24 -0800

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.

By: moonmilk

moonmilk — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:57:33 -0800

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.

By: doobiedoo

doobiedoo — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:20:41 -0800

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.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:17:10 -0800

"...some capital..." Yuh huh. I'll bet. Still, very cool.

By: mary8nne

mary8nne — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:03:41 -0800

odd but interesting.

By: Happy Dave

Happy Dave — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:04:27 -0800

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.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:52:08 -0800

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.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:00:36 -0800

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.