Swiss company The Wall AG has a perfect solution for third-world shanty towns, semi-permanent refugee camps and approximately 7.2% of adult Americans: paper houses!
This isn't mere papercraft—the Universal World House is a $5,000, 390 square foot modular home, outfitted with plumbing and boarding facilities to support up to eight (eight!) residents each. The secret of its construction is its "paper" shell; the resin-soaked cellulose, made from recycled paper, is shaped into honeycomb walls, which provide structural integrity and insulation to the houses.
Aside from having a convertible closed/open-air kitchen with table and benches, the Universal World House has a hidden killer feature:
It has been designed so that a family can slaughter an animal on the veranda, wash it in the shower and hang it, along with fish, on an integrated washing line.
Hooray!(?) Apparently a few countries have placed orders for the UWH, including Nigeria and Angola, but I could see how domestic aide organizations could benefit from something like this too. [BBC via Fark]
Crocs
I just saw this on Yahoo and decided to share it. I think this is the coolest thing I have seen in so long. In Fresno, they have a huge problem with homeless villages popping up. The city once tried to clean up the areas and threw away everything that was unattended. The homeless people took them to court and sued for throwing away their property. And won. So now the city is kind of at a stand still on what to do with the homeless. I think this would be awesome to build like at least 50-100 of these. They already have a designated site that they were going to allow the homeless to build their village. This would actually make it appealing and less intrusive on their neighbors!
1How does it stay intact when it rains? Also, it said semi-permanent...I'm wondering how long that means.
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Hope is what you offer people when you have nothing more substantial. - Lainetm
2"It has been designed so that a family can slaughter an animal on the veranda, wash it in the shower and hang it, along with fish, on an integrated washing line."
All I can say is, life does not get any better then that. I can't wait to get at least the veranda for my wife.
3Grandpa - You want to slaughter your wife ?? just kidding.
4No, but the opposite could be true at times.
5Haine, the homeless villages are popping up on land that belongs to... 'someone.' I seriously have a 'WTF' look on my face right now that won't go away....
Grandpa, I'm not even going there.
Also, WHERE'S DAVE???????
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have." Thomas Jefferson
i can see the NIMH popping up with the argument : "who wants to see their neighbor slaughter their dinner while showering?"
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"Enjoy life, it's ungrateful not to." - Ronald Reagan
Well, they usually pop up on public land here. Parks,freeway easements, etc. But the city actually purchased a lot in the industrial part of town. But the neighbors did not like the idea of having what looks like a mess. I thinks these would be nice and tell the people that anything outside of these is going to be thrown away.
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