automotive firm, showcased a similar prototype
last year and plans to open its first apartment
block in Shanghai this year.
Given that the United Nations predicts that
two thirds of us will be living in cities by 2050,
Colombo’s far-fetched idea might not be as
improbable as it once seemed.LIVING ON THE MOVE
When your home is not a house
Doesourhomereallyneedtotakethephysical
form of a house? Notions of nomadic living that
have emerged over the past half century range
from Archigram’s fantastical 1970s Walking City- the vision of an entire metropolis contained
within a giant, four-legged, walking robot that
could move to find resources and other
3(^3) A1977conceptual
drawingofacolonyto
house 10,000 people,
built from ore mined
from the moon.
Magical, if perhaps
not sustainable.
(^4) Life on the road:
a‘Bungalowauto’
parked near the
Lincoln Memorial,
Washington DC,
in 1926.
(^5) This natty suitacse
houses a tent, six
chairs, cooking
facilities and crockery.
Eat your heart out,
Mary Poppins!
communities – to the story of a Danish man who
sold his house to buy Airbnb rental apartments
and now sleeps in a different hotel every night.
Although we are not living in walking robotic
cities and few of us actively relish the idea of
moving every day, we are increasingly nomadic.
The ‘vanlife’ hashtag charts a growing
community of people attempting to live full
time out on the road. Empowered by digital
technology, and temporary co-working and
co-living spaces, we can increasingly move
from place to place with (almost) everything
we need in a smart-phone and a carry-on
suitcase. Perhaps the house of tomorrow really
will be no house at all.
‘Home Futures’ is at the Design Museum,
London, until 24 March.
THINK (^) | HISTORY
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