Hanging Home is a house born of the spectacle of the great outdoors. Drawing inspiration from sky urbanism - from gondolas, hot air balloons, zeppelins and aircraft cabins, as well as exploration of unconventional topography through mountaineering, bridging, and via ferrata - Hanging Home brings together the best of high-tech fabrication and low-tech functionality to provide a dwelling in the air.
Tethered on four high-tensile suspension cables, Hanging Home does not occupy a footprint in the conventional sense - redefining what it means to be off the grid. Incorporating lightweight materials such as 3D printed fiber-reinforced foamcrete, lightweight aluminum substructure, and a range of passive mechanisms, it not only exemplifies a commitment to sustainable living, but also occupies a unique space that frames the surrounding landscape.
Fig. 1: 3D printing fiber-reinforced foamcrete, an eco-friendly and lightweight material.
Fig. 2: Gondola cable cars, one of the rare examples of inhabitable structures that do not occupy a footprint on the ground.
Fig. 3: Climbers resting on the side of a mountain, enjoying a space that very few can.
Although depicted in the canyons of the American West, Hanging Home relies less on a specific site; instead, it has two prerequisites that allow it to inhabit a variety of conditions: 1. two adjacent tall surface elements, that are 2. able to carry the load of ~13,000 lbs. In some cases, cantilevering or bridging elements can also carry this building below.
The plan is organized into 4 separate spaces - living, resting, toilet and the solarium. These spaces are each given different proportions of the 12-piece radial grid, further subdivided to increase the usability of each room.
The central solarium sits on a revolving track, giving inhabitants the ability to change the spatial composition of the plan by plugging it into either the resting or living spaces, both, or neither for maximum privacy.
0°: Closed condition; Solarium exists as it’s own space.
120°: Solarium attaches to resting space.
180°: Solarium attaches to both resting and living space, creating an opened condition.
240°: Solarium attaches to living space.
Users can access the home through the swing elevator, deployable balcony or the operable skylight - depending on the condition in which the home resides in. Inside, the domed geometry provides tall ceiling heights in the rooms, each offering integrated fixtures and unique window profiles.
Hanging Home is divided into three major body parts, with a structural chassis embedded within. The body contains the major inhabitable spaces. The hollow core acts as the hearth, ventilating and flooding the building with light, while being able to revolve to re-configure the body’s different spaces. The cap rounds out the structure with rainwater collection and photovoltaics, and connects the high-tensile suspension cables directly to the chassis within.
The home’s form capitalizes on the central solarium for ventilation, water capture and filtration, as well as sun capture.
“How much does your building weigh?” - Buckminster Fuller