ISSUE 01: Mobile Structures
→ What if buildings were designed to be fully mobile?
→ What if you could easily move your house to a new country?
→ What if entire communities could pop-up or be easily relocated when need be?
→ What if cities were giant campsites?
At one point in time, one could argue, we were all pretty mobile. That’s because if you far enough back into time our ancestors all belonged in some form or another to a nomadic tribe. Times have obviously changed, but our nomadic roots remain strong within many of us. Whether we’re only traveling to the grocery store or continuously zipping around the world, our world has been adapted for mobility and travel. The twenty-first century is a world that moves a mile a minute and is always on the go. What keeps us grounded are our social networks and our homes, but could this soon change? Is the day nearing when our homes might become more mobile, and our social networks easier to maintain from anywhere? Could we soon see nomadic cities?
A
What Was
Let’s begin by taking a brief look at the history of moving structures. It goes without saying that there are numerous examples of mobile homes and living arrangements that can be found through out history. Our goal is not to list all of them but rather paint a broader picture of past and current solutions.
Various forms of transportation have played home to some throughout the years - think of boats, trains, wagons, automobiles. Similarly, mobile structures like tents, tipis, yurts, and other flexible styled lodgings have been used throughout civilizations to support a community that’s on the move. We can even look to pop-up structures, emergency buildings, and temporary housing as other forms of mobile buildings that appear when and where they’re needed.
For this research project we’re most interested in investigating the potential futures of fully mobile physical structures that don’t require tear-down or installation at each site. Items like mobile homes, boats, and horse drawn wagons are the closest historical comparisons we can find.
B
What Is
The original players of the contemporary mobile housing scene have got to be motorhomes and recreational vehicles. Epitomizing comfort and travel, they range in style from extravagant and elegant to thrifty and minimalist. Some mobile homes have a built-in motor while others need to be hitched to a vehicle. Regardless of how they’re moved, mobile homes have evolved with the times to provide excellent pieds-a-terre for those with a nomadic inkling.
As their use continues, communities and social groups are formed. Perhaps because many RV owners find themselves sharing campsites with strangers, a strong sense of community is built amongst fellow travellers. Sharing of tips and trick, resources, preferred destinations and routes, as well as storytelling and camaraderie are all part of the nomadic experience.
Next, we also have the tiny home movement which are structures very similar to camping trailers, but they’re not meant to be hitting the road all the time. They’re just mobile enough to be moved to a new location every once in a while, but they’re certainly not the most aerodynamic trailers available for long distance travellers. Even with these restrictions in place, tiny homes have been seeing a rise in interest from nomadic individuals and those looking for an alternative to the traditional (often unaffordable) housing market.
In terms of fully mobile homes we can reference the trailer park home. Typically found in North America, the trailer homes share their dimensions with that of a trucking bed, allowing them to be relocated from plot to plot. In America, they are often viewed as lower income settlements and carry a semi-negative stigma despite their ability to offer flexible living arrangements.
Next on our list are prefabricated homes. These are homes that are built and shipped in pieces, then assembled on site. They don’t fit the bill as fully mobile structures, but we’ve included them regardless because they are gaining in popularity due to their lower cost and quick, high quality builds.
Some prefabricated homes are built using the common shipping container as their foundation, which allows these structures to be more easily shipped to their destination. However, once assembled, the structures tend to become permanent buildings. There are however a few companies looking to create a more mobile network of pre-fab container structures. Usually made of a single container to eliminate the need for onsite assembly.
One such company is MoLiving which offers container-based hotel solutions. This means that hotel rooms can be ordered to a site, installed, used, and when no longer needed, picked-up and redeployed elsewhere. This on-demand boutique hotel experience is in essence mobile temporary homes for travellers, and is already available today.
Finally we have temporarily mobile structures in the form of structural relocation services. Structure relocation involves being able to lift a building from its foundations, place it on a trailer bed and haul it to a new location before carefully laying it back down onto a new foundation. This is often done for relocating heritage buildings or other structures of importance, but it does give perspective as to what it might look like for a structure to be built on a platform of wheels.
If you’re keen, you may enjoy this video of a building in China “walking” to its new home. Now, it isn’t truly walking but a series of synchronized hydraulic legs help it crawl slowly across the landscape.
C
What Next
If we want to know what’s next for mobile structures we can take inspiration from a project that appeared back in 2010. Back then, architects Jagnefalt Milton created a proposal for a city built on railways. Imagine it - little huts rolling along pristine natural corridors, offering new vistas to its inhabitants each and every day. Well that’s what we personally imagined but what the architects had created was much more rational. It was a proposal for the city of Åndalsnes in Norway to creatively put to use their city’s existing rail system in order to physically move buildings around as needed.
In the proposal, public buildings like concert venues, public washrooms, and pools could be rolled around the city as needed. The little buildings could also be rearranged according to seasonal needs, perhaps moving to more shaded areas during the summer, or creating little cluster villages in the wintertime.
This architectural proposal isn’t the only one to have explored this idea. Over 2005-2006, a group of students built Little Houses on the Black River. This project explored temporary housing over an abandoned industrial railway bridge. Several small structures sit on tracks over the bridge and could be rolled around on the tracks, rearranged as needed by sliding past one another.
Every now and then we have architects playing around with the idea of more mobile communities, although for many projects there are important technical, mechanical, and structural challenges to be solved. To date, there haven’t been any ‘railway’ communities built and we must assume it may be quite a while before we see any houses walking down the street. But one can dream, right?
D
What If
For this section, we take a look at future speculations for mobile structures. Letting our imagination run wild to cast into various futures for glimpses of innovation, disruption, or inspiration.
Houses on the move
Imagine a future where homes have built in mobility, allowing one to pick it up and move it to a new location. Moving to a new city? No worries, you don’t have to look for another home, just tell your current house to head to its new destination, or tell a delivery service to come pick up your house and ship it to its new location.
In such a future there might exist specific corridors (roads?) for buildings on the move, potentially allowing them to be continuously on the move. Can you imagine a future where a string of railway houses are dragged around the countryside as part of a semi-annual relocation event? Perhaps communities are moved around according to seasonal demands or as part of a visiting schedule.
As a mobile home owner, you could attach your small home to others thus forming a mobile train-like community that travels the landscape together. Kansas today, California next week. In an extreme (likely fantastical) future, entire towns could relocate as needed, with identity being more tied to the community you travel with than to the specific location in which you find yourself.
We’ve got to admit, there’s something whimsical about being comfy in a moving room with a view but of course there are significant environmental and structural considerations that need to be taken into consideration (to avoid it becoming a scene from Snowpiercer). Moving architecture around a landscape is definitely not the most energy-efficient solution in a future where responsible energy use is top of mind, and having no steady home base might be too much to handle for the many who crave routine. Plus, having your room continuously rattle from the movement may just end up driving you crazy!
However, offering a mobile architectural experience may nonetheless become a luxury experience only accessible to the wealthy or embraced by the wild at heart. It may become a new way of experiencing an entire country in extreme comfort. Future hotels designed as mobile rooms on railways make their way across a country and dock into various city railways to allow its guests to explore the city for the day. It’s kind of like a river cruise except instead of the vessel being mobile, the individual rooms are. We can take inspiration from MoLiving, a company that offers on-demand (shared and mobile) hotel pods that can be deployed as needed across the landscape.
Plug-in cities
Another thing to imagine are entire cities made up of mobile “plug-and-live” containers. Your living container (apartment or home) is your home, at least until you decide to sell it and upgrade to a newer model. In this world, your house is not itself mobile (i.e. it doesn’t have legs or wheels or any propulsion device) but is designed to be mobile. In other words, it’s designed like a modern shipping container that can be attached to a vehicle or placed on a vessel.
If you choose to relocate somewhere, a moving service comes by and unplugs your home from its base, moves it to its new destination, and plugs it back into the scaffold of the new city. With this service, all of your belongings and décor moves with you. No more having to pack and unpack all of your things. If you live in the heart of a city, tall scaffold-like towers act as bases for containers to slide in and out of. Somewhere more suburban or rural and empty plots of lands with amenity hook ups are available. Just imagine cities as giant campsites with bookable plots. Want to try living from a different community for a couple weeks? No problem - just book a plot and test it out.
Grand Tour 2.0
In the 17th through early 19th century, young upper-class Europeans would undertake a spectacular voyage across Europe to immerse themselves in the culture and the arts. They called this the Grand Tour and though it had no official itinerary, many chose to follow similar routes through popular cities and sights. Those with means would leave for a year or two to undertake their educational pilgrimage across Europe and come home more educated, dignified, and cultured.
Taking inspiration from this tour, what if your home could be programmed to slowly take you on a trip around the world. You could experience the wonders of the world, all without leaving the comfort of your own home. Perhaps this type of socially accepted travel becomes part of the educational curriculum, helping shape more worldly citizens.
E
So What
To round it off, we need to take time to explore the implications of our speculations. Sure, many are unlikely to manifest but it’s still important to ask what aspects of these futures we would want to carry forth and which we would certainly want to mitigate. Put on your thinking cap, your critical eye is needed in this section!
Positives
Energy adaptive
With buildings being able to move or position themselves, they could potentially angle themselves to maximize shade, wind, and energy use. Depending on their energy source, they may be able to save or optimize on energy demands.
Responsive demand
If more structures (like washrooms, hotel rooms, or hospital rooms) are needed, they can autonomously relocate to where they’re requested. Whatever’s needed somewhere gets sent there because structures can be shared.
Shared structures
Buildings can be shared amongst communities, neighborhoods, countries, or even across borders. This would be practical when it comes to amenities and venues that are needed on an in-demand or surge-based capacity (think washrooms, theatres, rooms).
Negatives
Where's the coffee shop?
Structures that are constantly on the move would create confusion on the streetscape, requiring some type of live way finding system for residents… because the local landmarks simply aren’t where they’re supposed to be anymore. Meet me at the coffee shop? Yea well, the coffee shop ain’t where it was last week.
Rattle fatigue
Being constantly on the move isn’t the most comfortable of feelings, especially as your house starts to jiggle apart and your furnishings rattle about. Fragile elements would be more likely for break and mechanical or structural fatigue could set in.
Energy intensive
Moving large, heavy structures around the world requires a lot of energy. It’s a lot more energy efficient to leave them where they are!
Flight risk
Mobile structures like trailer parks are often more likely to be severely damaged by storms like hurricanes or tornadoes. Their lightweight structure which is often resting on piles make them more likely to take off with the wind.
Other considerations
Building theft
Assuming there are mobility systems installed into a structure, it wouldn’t be impossible for a thief to hack into a building and program it to move without the owner’s consent. Want to keep your cute apartment? Better keep an eye on it so it’s not compromised.
Flexible support grid
Structures that are on the move would impact the various supporting grids. Think energy, utilities, and waste management to name a few. There would need to be a scalable flexible support systems for powering, providing utilities, and services to mobile units. This system would need to handle unpredictable demands and surge demands.
Where am I from?
In terms of a community, how would someone choose to identify their origins if they’re constantly on the move? Their place of birth becomes a lot less meaningful in a life lived on the go. Do you tell others you’re Parisian if that’s where you were born but you’ve only spent a couple months of your early life there? What do you say you are if you’ve only spent a couple weeks/months everywhere?
We hope you enjoyed our futures exploration into the theme of mobile structures. If there’s anything you think we missed mentioning send us a mail. We’re always keen to broaden our research. In the meanwhile, perhaps try out an RV and let us know how it goes!