The Futuro, the house of the future, is being rebuilt.
- Jump to topRead more
-
More about the Futuro
In 1998 Mika Taanila, a Finnish cultural anthropologist and filmmaker, made a documentary about the Futuro: Futuro – A New Stance for Tomorrow. In 2002, this documentary was published by Desura, together with a book by Marko Home called: Futuro. Tomorrow's House from Yesterday. The Book and film together offer a lot of facts and background information about Futuro and about its influence on contemporary art and design.
-
Cold War
After the oil crisis of 1973 the Soviet Union seemed to be the only market left for Futuro and the other pre-fab polyester models Polykem produced. In 1976, three Futuros were ordered and another thirty-five would have followed as part of the 1980 Olympic Village in Moscow. Because of the Russian invasion in Afghanistan in December 1979 though, the Olympics were boycotted by over 50 countries, amongst which Germany, Japan and the United States. Lacking sufficient foreign currency, the Russians cancelled their order.
-
Restoration
Lydia Beerkens is a well known Dutch restorer of modern art. In collaboration with Poly Products, she wrote a report on the technical condition of the Futuro as well as a proposal for restoration. To summarize the main points: the outside of the Futuro is pale and uneven in color, whereas the inside has some bright blue parts that may be the result of an earlier renovation. The construction of the parts is not fitting anymore because the house has been (de)constructed and transported several times. The foam between the inner and outer shell has deteriorated. Only permanent indoor installation will guarantee that the Futuro can be preserved another ten years and longer.
-
Literature
The book Plastics. Looking at the Future and Learning from the Past (V&A, Archetype, London, 2008) contains an article by the German restorer Tim Bechtold about Futuro no. 13 (private collection Berlin). The article is entitled: ‘Houston – We have a problem when flying saucers become brittle’, and deals with the effect of microbes on polyester.
Tools
save
Video marked successfully. You can go to your favorites now.
Twitter
Digg it
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Yahoo!
del.icio.us
Google
Gmail
Reddit
Windows LiveEmbed
Place code snippet beneath on the desired place in your webpage.
<div id="arttube-futuro-en"><!-- ArtTube Player--></div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://arttube.boijmans.nl/media/arttube/behaviour/swfobject/swfobject.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://arttube.boijmans.nl/media/arttube/behaviour/fab/boijmans/arttube/embedded-player.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
arttubePlayer({
containerId:'arttube-futuro-en',
sd:'mp4:FUTURO_LEO_kl.m4v',
hd:'mp4:FUTURO_LEO_gr.m4v',
bg:'/media/uploads/video_groot/SS_Futuro_2_gr.jpg',
width:520,
height:310
})
</script>
The Futuro, the house of the future, is being rebuilt.
In 1965, the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen was asked to design an ‘ski-cabin’ that could be quickly heated and easily placed on rough terrain. Three years later the prototype for Futuro – an elliptical shaped polyester house - was presented to the press and transported to a ski slope.
The design became instantly famous internationally. There seemed to be great possibilities for mass production. But the oil crisis of 1973 tripled the price of plastics. The Futuro became too expensive to build and its mass production was shelved.
Today there are around 50 Futuro’s owned mostly by private individuals. The prototype is in the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. However, it has aged and is damaged. To be able to restore is, it has to be rebuilt. It will be shown again to the public in 2011.
This film shows the first phase in this process - the re-assembling of the original prototype - before restoration begins
credits
Camera & Editing: Alexander Goekjian
The conservation project of the Futuro is sponsored by the Dutch BankGiro Loterij
