Florida's Tomorrow's House From Yesterday
Posted by: 
chstress53
N 30° 20.460 W 087° 06.182
16R E 490096 N 3356576
Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed this UFO shaped dwelling in 1968, initially for use as a ski-cabin or holiday home. The idea behind the design reflects the optimism of the sixties. At the time people believed technology could solve all problems for the human race. The ideal was of a new era, a space-age, where everybody would have more leisure time to spend on holidays away from home. The Futuro house was completely furnished and could accommodate 8 people.http://www.futuro-house.ne
Waymark Code: WM3AY
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 11/03/2005
Views: 93
This house has been a part of the local landscape for as long as I can remember. Sitting on Highway 98, commonly called Via De Luna here, is a white metal UFO, complete with a ramp going up to the doors which sit about 12 feet off the ground. This is an actual residence! At Halloween each year a large orange parachute, probably on loan from the nearby Pensacola Naval Air Station, transforms the UFO into a giant toothy pumpkin. When riding by, notice the ETs looking out the window at you. Quite a sight on sleepy Pensacola beach..
It was constructed entirely out of reinforced plastic, a new, light and inexpensive material back then. The plan was to mass-produce it, so it would be cheap enough to house all people around the earth. Because it was so light-weight, it was easily transportable by helicopter. Mobile living was the new possibility for the future. People could now take their moveable home with them, to wherever they went, and live like modern nomads.
Unfortunately the 1973 oil crisis spoiled all these plans. Prices of plastic raised production costs too high to be profitable. Only 96 Futuro houses were ever built.
