The Futuro House was conceived by Matti Suuronen in 1968 as a "portable" ski chalet. It is an iconic piece of architecture and this site is devoted to documenting the history of the Futuro and the current status and whereabouts of the remaining examples.
The video below, titled "The Futuro house - the most AMAZING space age home ever!", was recently posted to Youtube by Scandinavian Design 101. The footage gives us a nice look at this Futuro both inside and out as well as a few shots taken during its restoration along with a little (not new) history.
Update 123022
The Swedish Air Force museum published a great article 112422 about their Futuro. The article was interesting though it did not add anything new but what was really cool was the awesome aerial shot of the Futuro seen below that accompanied the article. The photo is displayed here under CC License and is by David Brohede/Air Force Museum.
Update 111321
This photo was recently posted to the Swedish Air Force Museum Instagram account. The photo does not show us anything new about the Futuro or its location and in many ways it is unremarkable and similar to other photos of this unit so you may find yourself asking "why are we adding it here?"
The honest answer; we are not too sure. Perhaps the lighting on the Futuro or the coloring of the sky or both caught our eye; or maybe it's because "we just plain like it"!
Update 090121
As noted in the 052221 update to this page following completion of its restoration of this Futuro was moved to a location just outside a hanger at the Swedish Air Force museum in May 2021.
To mark the occasion the museum streamed a presentation about the Futuro and other topics; since that was in Swedish we did not add the footage to this page at that time.
However on 090121 the museum added a copy of that presentation with English subtitles to Youtube and that version can be found below.
The first half of the presentation is about the Futuro, both general history and the specific history of the Swedish Air Force units as well as some discussion of the process of moving the units to new locations following their removal from their original sites in 2016. Unfortunately, with one exception, there is no new information and what there is confirms all of the information already documented on this site.
The one exception was a statement that the Swedish Air Force Futuros "might" have been #'s 008, 009 and 010. The statement is not definitive and we have never seen any of the plaques mounted on the entry steps that typically indicated a units # so this does not seem to be something that can actually be confirmed one way or the other.
The second half of the presentation talks mostly about the work of the bombing ranges from the perspective both of those that worked the ranges and those that piloted the aircraft; though interesting this part of the presentation is not really Futuro related.
Update 052221
As previously noted on this page the Swedish Air Force Museum planned to install their Futuro in its permanent location in May 2021 and it seems they were able to meet that goal.
The video footage below was posted to the Swedish Air Force Museum Instagram account story (@flygvapenmuseum) 052021 and it shows the Futuro in the process of being moved to that final location.
In addition the Flygvapenmuseum was kind enough to send us these photos (thanks so much Cecilia! We really appreciate it!).
Update 121020
The Swedish Air Force Museum website recently added an update on the status of their Futuro. Restoration work continues and the completed Futuro will be placed in front of the museum for the inauguration of Leklanda (described as a new flight-inspired play environment) in May 2021.
The update is accompanied by these two photos. The notation on the first translates (according to Google) to "Secret of utmost importance for the kingdom's curiosity" but, as is often the case with the Scandinavian languages, Google struggled a little; we are told the translation actually reads "Unsecret of utmost importance for the kingdom's curiosity" which appears to be a play on words since "unsecret" is actually not a word in either English or Swedish. Our thanks to Magnus Fromreide for the "human" translation.
The museum also provided this view of the current state of the interior in via an Instagram story 121020. The question translates (again according to Google) as "Can you guess where we are now?"
It will be fascinating to see this Futuro "converted" to a more conventional format with the standard entryway rather than its original entry through the base of the unit but still having the double size windows it was originally fitted with. The restoration also looks like it will be of extremely high quality; these photos certainly showcase the impeccable exterior finish that the unit has been given.
Update 030120
We recently received an email from Lukas Andersson who works at the Swedish Air Force Museum with an update on the progress of the restoration of this Futuro (thanks Lukas).
Progress paused for quite some time while the body segment with the aperture for the door was fabricated; the original units configured for the Swedish Air Force were accessed through the bottom and there was no body section containing a door). That section has now been received as can be seen in the photos below. The next stage will be to assemble the upper body sections and fit the windows (yet to be received at the museum).
The second photo below provides a nice look at the fabrication of the structure that will support the floor.
Looking forward to more updates as this project moves forward again after a prolonged pause.
Update 020219
Looks like work on refurbishing this Futuro is now well underway; ronnyvld shared a couple of photos of the work in progress on Instagram recently and was kind enough to send a couple more to us via email. We are thinking she will be truly awesome once the work is complete.
Update 050518
This is the first photo we have come across showing progress/work on this Futuro. It was posted to Instagram 050318 by ronnyvld.
On 091216 one of two Futuros previously located on a Swedish Air Force bombing range in Stråtjära arrived at the Flygvapenmuseum, the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping where it will be restored and then used as a conference room.
The Futuros at Stråtjära were two of three purchased by the Swedish Air Force from Polykem in the 1970's; the third is located on Satenas Air Force Base. These units were heavily modified; in particular they had 7 oversize windows instead of the standard 16 around the circumference of the structure and the means of entry was by ladder directly through the center of the base of the unit instead of the normal door/step unit.
The two Futuros were removed from the 14 meter tall towers upon which they were mounted on 042116 and began a multi-stage journey by both road and water to new locations. That journey saw a road trip from Stråtjära to the Port of Norrsundet on 060216, a trip by barge to Norrköping on 062016 and then a second road trip to the Norrköping-Bråvalla Airfield on 070616.
This Futuro then made its final road trip to Linköping on 091216. This stage of the journey was documented by Niklas Luks in a nyhetswebben.se article published on 091216. The article was accompanied by the great set of photos seen below copyright Niklas Luks.
The second Futuro currently remains on the Norrköping-Bråvalla Airfield pending a public auction scheduled to start taking online bids 100316.
Information, history and photographs relating to this Futuro prior to its arrival in Linköping can be found here.