I want a house along these lines, curved ones. House SH, by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects is just lovely. A pregnant looking facade is really seating in the interior. Why do most architects still think straight lines and ordered layouts are beautiful? I suppose its down to time. Buildings just take a lot longer to build so by the time architects get up to date, we're already looking for the next thing.
Here's some lovely biomorphic architecture by New York based Gage/Clemenceau Architects. They take the best technology has to offer and use it to create their remarkable pieces of work. Shown above is their competition design piece for the Tsunami Memorial in Thailand. Their website mainly shows various competition submissions and project proposals that show off their flair for the dramatic. Via Future Feeder.
Here's an architectural concept that's been going the rounds which whilst interesting is something that I'd expect already exists/existed/will very soon exist. Car Loft is German architects Manfred Dick's idea of parking your car at your apartment doorstep rather than in some dingy basement. They champion safety and convenience issues and obviously, I'd love it if my future apartment had something like that. In any case... here in land scarce Singapore, I don't suppose too many developments would actually do this. Even if they did, I'm still pretty certain that cost wise, its just not going to be widely available. Primarily because, its all about the space. If you can afford a balcony big enough for a car, the apartment, one would presume to be pretty big as well. The developer would also be hampered by being unable to build more apartments, having instead dedicating space for the car lifts and balconies, in turn passing on the cost.
Then there's the questions that popped up in my head. You still have to consider if a regular people lift is necessary and what if you have guests or house parties? Let's say two seperate groups of people decide to stop by your house unannounced. Is that gonna clog up the lift? Is there going to be more than one lift? What happens if another car is waiting downstairs? How will traffic flow through the system? Do the doors open from both sides? What if the lift breaks down? What if the lift is stuck? Will I have to wait longer if I live on the top floor or on the second? Won't everyone be jamming the buttons in the morning? How many cars can/should the lift accomodate to make the luxury become less of a hassle? Will SUVs sound off overweight alarms?
Land+Living suggested economies of scale might work to its favor if this becomes super popular. I see that happening in the near future although I don't think its popularity will ever reach HDB proportions. Above is the graphic from the website. I know its just a side elevation (which might not even be accurate) but it still suggests that you'll have to double the land space to have what I'd term a complicated luxury. The basic problem is it creates land space issues and the concept is generated from a what if I instead of a what if we point of view. It works terrifically if there were few people, each household with one car, all loaded with cash and all not wanting to live on the ground.
