Architecture

Transforming house turns inside out for summer, has 8 configurations

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Thick insulating walls that make ideal facades in the winter months change places with the glazed panels during the summer (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
Thick insulating walls that make ideal facades in the winter months change places with the glazed panels during the summer (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
The D*Haus is designed to be reconfigured into eight different layouts (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/d-dhaus-d-dynamic-4.pngIt appears that a full-scale working D*Dynamic is yet to be built (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
It appears that a full-scale working D*Dynamic is yet to be built (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
The design is based on the Haberdasher's Puzzle, discovered by English mathematician Henry Dudeney (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
The design's adaptability makes it ideally suited to extreme climates, D*Haus claims (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
The design is based on the Haberdasher's Puzzle, discovered by English mathematician Henry Dudeney (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
The transformation is enabled by tracks embedded into the ground (Image: The D*Haus Comapny)
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Architectural outfit The D*Haus Company has unveiled a design for a remarkable transforming house, the D*Dynamic, which, taking cues from a mathematical problem posed at the turn of the 20th century, can fold itself into eight different configurations. The design's adaptability makes it ideally suited to extreme climates, D*Haus claims.

The design is based on the Haberdasher's Puzzle, discovered by English mathematician Henry Dudeney, which allows an equilateral triangle cut into four parts to be folded into a square while all pieces remain in contact with at least one other. The puzzle has formed the basis for much of D*Haus's work, including furniture and lighting fixture designs.

Transfer the puzzle to the footprint of a house, though, and you arrive at a home that not only changes shape, but is apparently well poised to adapt to the changing of the seasons over the course of a year. Thick insulating walls that make ideal facades in the winter months change places with the glazed panels during the summer, the house effectively turning itself inside out, and upping the exposed surface area.

But the in-built dynamism is useful over the course of a day too, D*Haus explains on its website. "In the summer plan, bedroom one faces East and watches the sun rise as you wake up. One can rotate the house so that the user is constantly in sunlight, while the house generates energy through its solar panels."

The source or quantity of energy for the house's transforming mechanism hasn't yet been spelled out, but the transformation is enabled by tracks embedded into the ground, and, obviously, the hinges that connected the various sections of the house.

The video below gives a sense of D*Dynamic in motion. The status of the project is a little misty, but it appears that a full-scale working D*Dynamic is yet to be built.

An exhibition of D*Haus's work is currently on display at the Anise Gallery in London.

Source: The D*Haus Company, via Architizer

View gallery - 8 images
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5 comments
Slowburn
I can't believe that the transforming mechanism would be reliable nor do I thing that the weather seals will be tight enough to make the house more efficient than isolating windows would in winter.
Janet Bratter
For the sake of believability instead of an animated display of the working mechanism we should see the real deal. Watching water flow past the real house is no substitute for a demonstration of the movement of the house.
Quach Binh
Just an ideal, i don't think it practical. what about electricity, drainage, water supply ect.
kellory
My background is in construction. All of the sewer, plumbing, and utilities could attach through the one section that did not move. Though this part could be problematic."One can rotate the house so that the user is constantly in sunlight, while the house generates energy through its solar panels." However, if so it will have a center mass point for hook-ups though it would be complicated. Seals can be replaced if they fail, but all those angles waste so much space. Also, anyone who builds so close to water level of ANY running water is a fool. Heavy rain WILL cause rivers to rise, Water has tremendous power, and that house does not have a chance of surviving the first flood. It will be ripped off and foundation, or track, split apart and flooded at every joint, and washed downstream as storm wrack. And lastly, any home or building, touting renewable resources, such as Solar, should also be using that free power source (running water) right next to it. There are at least a dozen ways to use the power of the river for mechanical or electrical power.
Airsoft-World Scotland
Great way to crush your kids or the next door neighbours dog if they cause you problems. Other than that, a fairly useless idea.
You would also need quite a sophisticated robo-mower to cut the grass around all those tracks. It's way too complicated to circumvent with a normal mower!
So, to be practical it would need to be on concrete or tarmac with a safety fence around it. No thank you but nice idea :)
Steve