The Futuro House

• Location | Die Neue Sammlung, Barer Str. 40, 80333 München, Germany
• Lat/Long | 48°8'50.94"N 11°34'18.33"E
• Previous Location | Ruhrstraße 110, 58452 Witten, Germany & Hollwieser Straße 7 32602 Vlotho, Germany
• Previous Lat/Long | 51°25'41.06"N 7°20'7.81"E & 52°8'14.43"N 8°49'51.80"E
• Image By Marko Home | 072317
• Google Maps | 032219
• Latest Confirmation | 040224

This video, posted to Facebook by Bernd Mayer, includes great views of both the exterior and interior of this Futuro as well as footage of the opening/closing of the door. It also includes an interview with Curator and Restorer Tim Bechthold.

The interview is in German so we have very little idea what was said. If any of you over in Germany happen to watch the video we would appreciate if you let us know if there was anything new or noteworthy in the interview.

This video, titled "Futuro Spaceflight", was created by artist Konstantin Landuris in conjunction with the Pinakothek der Moderne and Protolabs. The Futuro House seen in the video is of course this one; the Futuro model was created by Protolabs.

We came across this photo recently; it was posted to Instagram 011118 by cagri.akay. Though it had the hashtag #pinakothekdermoderne the location did not look correct to us (and frankly still does not - most notably in respect of the structure to the left of the photo) but when we inquired cagri.akay did confirm the location was the Pinakothek der Moderne so we have to assume the photo is taken from an unusual angle and it is that that causes the location to look "off".

This photo with its great fall coloring was posted on Instagram 102917 by andi_206.

On 072317 one of the "supporting events" being put on over the course of the year this Futuro will be on display in Munich took place; a series of talks by Futuro experts. One of these was given by Marko Home, Futuro historian and co-editor of "Futuro: Tomorrow's House from Yesterday".

In correspondence with Marko following his visit to Munich he let us know an interesting fact about the restoration. While the Futuro was restored without interior fittings the work did include the addition of one modern upgrade; the door can be raised and lowered electronically at the press of a button. Marko also sent us this rather nice shot of the Futuro taken with the door in a partially open position while it was being opened electronically.

We came across a couple of videos of this Futuro recently. The first has some nice footage of the Futuro and was posted to Youtube by ganz-muenchen.de on 061017. The second is a short video of the "unveiling" of this Futuro on 060117; the original post can be found on the Facebook page ISAR BLOG.

For all of the photos that have surfaced of this Futuro since its move to Munich very few have been interior shots. There are however a few around and, as can be seen in the shots below, the interior of the Futuro has been finished very simply with a bench seating around the interior. The originals can all be found on Instagram; they are by (top to bottom, left to right) style_deco_munich (two photos), heikemayermuenchen and lal.nej.

We particularly liked the first of style_deco_munich's two photos; perhaps due to the perfect symmetry of the shot.

The restoration of this Futuro is now complete and the unit is "officially" on exhibit at Die Neue Sammlung following an opening ceremony June 1st. The Futuro will be installed through 060318 with the Futuro being open Thursdays 3-8 and Saturdays and Sundays 3-6.

Of course now that the Futuro exhibit is open the internet is absolutely awash with photos; particularly on Instagram. We have added a few of our favorites below and for those of you so inclined a few simple web searches will turn up many more.

We particularly enjoyed the last photo; put us in mind of a quiet, relaxing summer afternoon in times gone past.

The photos below all happen to be from Instagram and they are by (top to bottom, left to right):

• dieneuesammlung (first 4 photos)
• yaymie
• sahrazoe
• blind_27
• yokomooon

As work on the Futuro nears completion with the official opening in about 3 weeks on 060117 (the Futuro will be on display 060217 through 060318) Die Neue Sammlung has announced the first of a series of events that will take place to accompany the display of the Futuro in Munich.

"Alles, was Sie schon immer über das FUTURO wissen wollten" or, according to Google Translate, "Everything you ever wanted to know about the FUTURO", a series of 4 lectures on Futuro will take place 072317. The talks will be given by Dr. Elke Genzel and Dr. Pamela Voigt, experts in plastic architecture, Cora Geißler, owner of the Berlin Futuro, Marko Home, Futuro historian and co-editor of "Futuro: Tomorrow's House from Yesterday" and Tim Bechthold of Die Neue Sammlung. We imagine that it will be a very interesting day for those who can get there.

Also Die Neue Sammlung continues to add photos to its Instagram Feed as the work on the Futuro nears completion including the first 4 photos below that were posted to Instagram 050817. In addition Pamela Voigt has also been posting photos and the final two photos below were posted to her Facebook page 050217 and 050817 respectively.

Die Neue Sammlung has been adding photos to their Instagram Feed as work on this Futuro progresses. The photos below were posted during the period 040517 - 041317 (they are displayed top to bottom, left to right in chronological order).

Restoration of this Futuro and preparations for its display at Die Neue Sammlung are now well underway. Sections of the Futuro packed and ready for transport to Munich can be seen in this photo posted to Facebook by Pamela Voigt 040417.

The following three photos, also posted to Facebook by Pamela Voigt (040817) show the Futuro, with a white exterior and orange interior, being reassembled.

Websites for both the Pinakothek der Moderne and Die Neue Sammlung now indicate, at least as best we can tell using Google Translate, that this Futuro will be on display outside on the grounds of Die Neue Sammlung from 053117 through 053118.

We have updated this page to reference this as the new location for this Futuro.

This Futuro is no longer located in Witten. An April 2016 article on the website derwesten.de reports that the Futuro has been purchased by "Die Neue Sammlung - The Design Museum" (The New Collection - The Design Museum), one of four state-owned houses belonging to Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne.

A search on the Design Museum's website for "Futuro" returns a single result; there is basically no information on the page that is returned by that search other than the one line "Futuro. Conservation Department". A reasonable assumption based on that would be that the plan is to restore/conserve the Futuro and, since a web page exists perhaps in due course that process may be documented somehow on that page.

The derwesten.de article was published 042016 and it suggests the Futuro would be removed by truck 042116. The photo below, displayed courtesy of derwesten.de, accompanied the article and shows the Futuro nearing the end of the disassembly process. Google Earth satellite imagery dated 071916 confirms the Futuro has been removed from the site.

Until recently neither Google Maps or Bing Maps actually had imagery which showed this Futuro on site. However updated imagery is now available in Bing Maps and the Futuro is now clearly visible. The date of this imagery is unknown, at least to us, as we have never figured out how to date imagery in Bing Maps.

We had never noticed before that during the refurbishment of this Futuro the exterior color was changed from white to a light blue. Looking back at the video added to this page way back on 101813 we can now see this but the photos below, taken 082712 by Frank Vincentz (posted to Wikipedia and reproduced here under CC BY-SA 3.0 license), very clearly illustrate this change.

We came across the video below the other day. The video could be characterized as being a little bizarre and is almost certainly designed to reflect Wilp's character and interest in the Futuro and space but it does feature some nice footage of the Futuro.

The September 2011 issue of Cranes Today Magazine includes an article on the 2010 transport of the Futuro from Vlotho to its current location.

The Futuro was moved by the German Firm August Alborn who received an award from ESTA (the European Association of Abnormal Road Transport and Mobile Cranes) for the move. After considering and subsequently discounting disassembly for road transport and air transport the company settled on moving the Futuro by road in a fully assembled state.

The Charles Wilp Exhibition in Witten opened 091512. Marko Home kindly sent us links to two recent articles from the Essen based newspaper derwesten.de that provide some detail.

In an article from 082212 (Google Translation to English here) we see a photo of the Futuro part way through the restoration process. There is some commentary about the restoration process and we learn that the planned 091512 opening will be for invited guests only (apparently the required permits for full public operation had not yet been obtained).

A second article published 091612 (Google Translation to English here) reports on the actual opening on 091512.

The opening of the Witten exhibit brings the number of Futuro's on public display (at least for part of the year) to three; the other two are at the WeeGee Exhibition Center, Espoo, Finland (as of 091612 closed for the Winter but reopening summer 2013) and at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The current imagery used in Google Maps does not show the Futuro at this location; the imagery is dated 040104 and the Futuro did not arrive from Vlotho until 2010. We do see however the concrete pad upon which the Futuro now sits. This image; a screen shot grabbed from Bing Maps "Bird's Eye" view, shows this even more clearly.

Google Earth, which allows you to go back through whatever earlier imagery is available actually shows the concrete pad as having been there since at least as early as 062902.

It can only be speculation of course but, to us at least, that would seem to indicate that either the presence of a concrete pad the right shape and size for a Futuro was just a happy (and incredible) coincidence or the current owners had actually been looking to purchase a Futuro for a long time.

This Futuro was located in Vlotho, Germany for some 40 years prior to being moved to Witten; it was owned by ASV Stübbe and served as the company boardroom. The Futuro was moved by road in 2010; a trip that did not go off without incident. This video is a German TV News piece about a truck that crashed while attempting to pass the Futuro on the road. The audio is in German so we have no idea what is being said but perhaps the truck driver was a little distracted at seeing a UFO travelling down the freeway! The video does include a couple of shots of the Futuro on the flatbed.

The Futuro was brought to Witten to feature at the Charles Wilp Module, an exhibition and museum dedicated to the life and work of the artist, designer and photographer. A larger than life character Charles Wilp was an early owner of a Futuro which he had placed on the roof of his home in Dusseldorf where it saw many auspicious visitors including, among others, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys and Rudolf Nebel. That Futuro, according to Wikipedia "now serves as a chill out to researchers in the Arctic" though we can find no evidence of that. The purchase of the Vlotho Futuro for inclusion in the Charles Wilp Module somehow seems very fitting given Wilp's involvement with the Futuro early in his life.

The photo below, dating from 052810, is from Wikipedia (displayed under CC 3.0).

Additional images of this Futuro can be found by following these links:

• By futurohouse - 1, 2, 3, 4 | Images Dated 061911
• By Nilfisk - 1, 2, 3 | Images Dated 112810
• By Travelswiss1 | Image Date 060310

futurohouse also includes in his set of images of this Futuro a couple of shots of a brochure or pamphlet (in French) entitled "France Futuro Fabrication - conception generale" (1, 2) which translates to "France Futuro Manufacturing - General Design" in English. We assume that this pamphlet was on display either inside the Futuro or inside the building; there is no commentary with the images indicating this is so but they carry the same tags so that is our assumption.

Though the images do not particularly show evidence of restoration work it is clear that at least in terms of support some work has been done with the earlier Wikipedia and Travelswiss1 images showing the Futuro resting on pallets and the later images from futurohouse and Nilfisk showing the pallets gone and the Futuro seated in its steel cradle.

• andi_206
• ASV Stübbe Company
• Bernd Mayer
• blind_27
• cagri.akay
• The Charles Wilp Module
• Cranes Today Magazine - September 2011 Issue
• Die Neue Sammlung
• Die Neue Sammlung Instagram Feed
• derwesten.de
• ganz-muenchen.de
• heikemayermuenchen
• ISAR BLOG
• Konstantin Landuris
• lal.nej
• Marko Home
• Pamela Voigt
• Protolabs
• sahrazoe
• style_deco_munich
• Wikipedia - German [English translation here]
• yaymie
• yokomooon
• Yves Buysse

• Cranes Today Magazine - September 2011 Issue | Pages 293-294
• Sammler Journal | October 2017 Issue | Pages 32-39
• De Standaard Magazine - 012521 Issue | Page 45
• The 500 Hidden Secrets Of Munich | Cover

This photograph by lolaytoon posted 040224.

The original photograph can be seen on Instagram here.