The Walking House

What is 10' tall, has six hydraulic legs, and is powered by the wind and solar panels? The prototype pod house built by art collective N55 in Copenhagen, Denmark. With the help of MIT, N55 built the pod over a two-year period at a cost of £30,000. Designers say it provides a solution to the problem of rising water levels as the house can simply walk away from floods. One of the designers says, "This house is not just for travellers but also for anyone interested in a more general way of nomadic living." It won't be long now until the Japanese make Howl's Moving Castle.

Comments

Re:blah the emporer has his new clothes on again.

[phantomfive]

Don't know about that, a motorhome typically costs over $100,000. This thing only cost about $50,000 (current exchange rate). It is solar and wind powered, and can go over any terrain. I could totally see it used as a cabin off in the mountains somewhere. When you get tired of one place, walk off to the next. Great place to become a philosopher. The Thoreau of the mechanical age.

Re:blah the emporer has his new clothes on again.

[timmarhy]

yeah, but this thing is so slow it's almost useless and it's a lot smaller with less features. it's just a gimic, despite what you think you know from star wars, mechanical legs on everything is a really really bad idea when compared to wheels or tracks.

Re:Maybe a dorm room...

[polar red]

How about we stop building houses on the lowest parts of alluvial flood plains?

We've been building there because it is a great place to build harbours, and these places are usually also very fertile. It also makes us very vulnerable to rising sea-levels.

Re:blah the emporer has his new clothes on again.

[capnkr]

My sailboat - made of FRP, 40 years old, a classic with a sound hull and rig - cost less than $5K to buy, and I will have less than $15K in her when she is completely fixed up, including replacement of all wiring, subsystems, etc... She uses solar and wind, and is just fine living off the grid. For ease of access, though, it costs less than $300/month to stay tied up to a marina dock. Mechanical propulsion, when needed, is provided by a small outboard which consumes only 1/4 gallon/hour at full speed. She is capable and able to go nearly anywhere in the world that there is a water depth of 3.5 feet or more. Floods only give her more places to go. ;)
 
There are many many hundreds if not thousands of older boats - power and sail - out there which get destroyed or sink due to neglect every year. With some due diligence, anyone can find a very sound vessel to start with, "recycling" in a sense, and living a lifestyle which has a very small 'footprint' of consumables. Why pay $50K for a home as small as a small boat, that can only traverse land (and that, slowly...), and which is absolutely dependent upon the grid?
 
Of special note is the fact that few marinas will have a true geek/nerd/IT pro in residence. Yet nearly all of them now have office computers, websites, and wireless networks - all things which can benefit from knowledgeable attention. Your skills and knowledge can make the cost of marina living a trivial sum, reducing your "existence tax" even more... ;)