Is The Blob The Future Of The Housing Market?

By Joelle Renstrom | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

ville savoyeOne of the ways technology will change our lives is by affecting where live. Whether it’s smart appliances or 3D printed houses or micro-houses, our dwellings will evolve with us as we head into the future. While all of the above examples are interesting and impressive, none are really paradigm-shifting, but that is definitely coming too. Case in point: a biogenetically inspired, 3D-printed blob house. I don’t really know how else to describe it. Eat your heart out, Gaudi.

ville savoyeDesigned by Gonzalo Vaillo Martinez, a post-graduate Urban Strategies student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, it’s easy to see why he won the “extraordinary final degree prize” in graduate school. He feels confined by the standard conventions of housing—even mansions and avant-garde houses still have the basics in common. So he set out to do what most designers ultimately desire—to create something so totally new that it doesn’t fit into any existing paradigm. He calls his structure the Ville Savoye, a play on Villa Savoye, a French Purist building that, in the late 1920s/early 1930s, redefined architecture. Looking at the photo and video below, I’d say he’s most definitely succeeded. You’ve never seen anything like this.

ville savoyeLike many others in his field, Vaillo found inspiration in nature, particularly biogenetics and microcellular systems. The house moves and evolves with the land and/or the people inside. The amorphous, blobby shape is rendered with 3-D modeling. The outer walls are comprised of panels that, for lack of a better term, breathe in air and light. It’s almost like a carnival exhibit or science project that expands and contracts, like a fun house without mirrors.

While the design allows for concrete and 3D-printed panels, Vaillo acknowledges that it would be a tough house to build, and says, “every single corner would be a challenge.” And while the design isn’t as random as it looks—it actually fools logical principles behind house design—the current market isn’t exactly prepared to put a house like this together, even though the necessary technology does exist.

ville savoyeA quick look at Pearltrees’ 3D printing architecture forum shows that Vaillo isn’t the only person dreaming big, and weird, when it comes to futuristic homes.