The Futuro House

ACCA's (Australian Center For Contemporary Art) 2018 lecture series "Uncommon knowledge: artists on their special interests" included a lecture by artist Ronnie Van Hout titled "Ronnie van Hout on UFOs and amateurism".

The lecture can be found on this webpage which also includes the photo seen to the left. Our thanks go to Yves Buysse, a very regular contributor to these pages, who found this and sent us the link.

Though our initial reaction was that this was likely a "new' and unknown location in Australia this turned out not to be the case. We managed to contact Ronnie who told us that, to the best of his childhood recollection, the Futuro had been located somewhere near the Christchurch International Airport before the 1974 Commonwealth Games. So, technically this is not an "unknown location" or at least not totally unknown but neither is it a specific location so for now we have added it here.

We believe it is highly likely (though we cannot be 100% certain of course) that this is one of the two Futuros that were located outside the main stadium at the 1974 Commonwealth Games; more information on those Futuros can be found here.

If you happen to be able to give us any more specific information about where this photo was taken and/or provide any more information about this Futuro or where it might have ended up please let us know.

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This photo was recently sent to us by Christine Shine (thanks so much Christine!) who told us she:

"found the ... photo at the San Diego Swap Meet this weekend of a Blue Futuro taken in 1971. Date stamp on the back is July 20 1971. I don't know where it was taken."

That the photo turned up in San Diego may or may not be indicative of the actual location of the Futuro. That said the only Futuro we are currently aware of that spent time in San Diego was the one currently in Idyllwild and that was never blue; its original color was Harvest Gold which was changed to green at some point and then later it was returned to its original color by its current owner. Bottom line is we have no idea where this photo was taken.

If you are able to identify this location and/or provide any more information about it or where it might have ended up please let us know.

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We are always somewhat reticent to categorize a photo as showing an "unknown location" since often times the photo turns out to be simply an unusual or different angle on a location we ought to readily recognize but do not; if that is the case here feel free to remind us how faulty our memory is and let us know what we are missing.

That said, in the case of this photo, posted to Instagram 112918 by Pierre Bachelot, we are also wondering if the photo has been touched up or edited in some way making the location more difficult to recognize. We cannot quite put our finger on why but to us the photo just "looks wrong"; the Futuro looks to be normal and "as photographed" and it does resemble several units but the location itself does not look right for any of those units, at least not based on any photos we can recall right now.

If you are able to identify this location and/or provide any more information please let us know.

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In a recent Facebook message Norton Cooper sent us a link to a Facebook post by Ina.fr; the post was a of video titled "La pollution plastique - 1973" which includes footage (very brief - only about 2 seconds at 10 seconds into the video) of a Futuro at a location that we do not recall seeing previously.

Given the language and title of the video it seems to us that the Futuro shown was most likely located somewhere in France in 1973 but that is just an assumption; of course it could actually be pretty much anywhere.

If you are able to identify this location and/or provide any more information please let us know.

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The 2007 Christie's Paris Auction "Arts Décoratifs Du XXème Siècle Et Design" which was held on 112707 included the auction of a Futuro House (now located in Limni, Corfu).

The catalog for this auction included several photos including this one which was identified as being from the 1968 Finnfocus Export Fair.

However this photo shows a Futuro located inside somewhere and not located on the deck of the ferry Finnpartner. The Futuro at the Finnfocus Export Fair was never moved from the deck of the FinnPartner ferry and so this photo is clearly misidentified. Christie's is obviously an extremely reputable company but where "Futuro" is concerned photographs are often misidentified and errors such as this are not unusual.

All of that said we have no idea where this photo was taken hence its addition here. If you are able to identify this location and/or provide any more information please let us know.

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The Tallahassee Democrat published 011782 included an article titled "Wanted: Homes For The Homeless". The article begins:

"Technology put a man on the moon, but it cannot build low-cost, mass-produced homes to meet the world's housing needs. Why?"

and goes on to report on the research of a man named Oktay Ural and his dedication to finding an answer to this problem.

The Futuro House is briefly mentioned (though not by name) as one of over 100 existing building systems already in use worldwide; it is described this way:

"... Some are exotic. A fiberglass-reinforced, polyester-plastic developed by a Finnish company (Oy Polykem Ab) turns out dome-shaped homes, retail shops, even drive-in banks that can be assembled like Tinker-Toy parts."

Over and above the somewhat colorful description the most interesting thing about this article, to us at least, is the photo of a Futuro that accompanies it. The photo shows a Futuro with an entry configuration that we have not seen before that appears to us to be unique.

This entrance is very reminiscent of that seen in the Rockland Futuro but it is not exactly the same. Both show an "extended" entrance which runs up to, and merges with, one of the window "cut outs" but with Rockland we see an entrance that is exactly as wide as the window, in the Tallahassee Democrat photo the entrance is ever so slightly narrower and we see the edges of the window "cut out" start to curve back towards center a little before "meeting" the entrance. The image to the left illustrates (Rockland is on the right).

The appearance of this article in a US newspaper along with the entrance being "centered" on a window suggests a US manufactured Futuro (those manufactured in Europe and elsewhere typically had the entry set mid way between two windows) and thus a US location but for us this is at the least an "unknown" location and almost certainly a previously unseen Futuro.

If you are able to add any more specific information about this location please let us know.

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A while back we added a photo grabbed from an episode of The One Show, a magazine show that runs on the British TV channel BBC1. The photo shows a pair of Futuros in what appears to be an exhibition setting in the UK from the 1970's.

This week we came across this photo in an AOL Photo Gallery titled "Depictions of UFOs and alien activity". It is accompanied by this description:

"Described as a leisure home of the 1970s, this flying saucer-shaped house - called the 'Futuro' - is made up of 16 pre-moulded segments of fibreglass. Designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, it is being made under license from Oy Polykem of Helsinki by a Lancashire firm (Waterside Plastics Ltd, of Todmorden) and is described as the leisure home of today and tomorrow."

The photos appear to have been taken at different locations but, like the first, this photo looks like it might be from an exhibition setting. Perhaps the differences between the photos might be explained by one or other being taken at different stages of set up in the same exhibition setting or perhaps Waterside Plastics exhibited a pair of Futuros at multiple exhibitions as part of their marketing strategy. As with much of the early history of the Futuro it is difficult to be certain but for now we are listing this as a second and different "unknown location" in the UK dating from the 1970's.

If you are able to add any more specific information about this location please let us know.

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This photo was posted to Instagram recently by ipalehti; the location was not identified.

The landscape and in particular the ground below the Futuro is hard to make out but the reflections in the windows look like the area is snow covered. Top right of the photo it looks like there may be mountains in the background. Those two factors to me are suggestive of Dombai. The color of the Futuro and the appearance of the roof vents is also reminiscent of Dombai; compare this photo of the Dombai Futuro.

That said with the exception of the mountains in the background top right of the photo, and we am not certain that is what we are seeing, the remaining factors, snow, color and roof vents could also match Futuro #000 when it was located in Turenki; this photo illustrates.

On balance we think this is most likely a photo of Dombai but we certainly cannot be sure. If anyone is able to positively confirm this location please let us know.

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Graham Motley recently contacted us to tell us about a very interesting Futuro "sighting" on British TV. Graham wrote:

"The British TV channel BBC1 has a magazine program called The One Show. On the show broadcast on the evening of 4th November 2015 was a very dull item about another BBC1 show called Strictly Come Dancing. During this item an ageing couple of dancers called Carol and Derek were being interviewed when up popped a photograph of them presumably taken in the 1970s, which has a couple of Futuros in the background. It looks like they were being used for a Solid Fuel (coal) campaign. The show can be accessed for the next few weeks at the URL given. The photo appears at 50 mins and 15 secs into the program."

The streamed show can be accessed here but only from UK IP's so we have been unable to watch the footage. That said both Graham and also Craig Barnes (owner of "Futuro 22") were kind enough to send us screenshots - thanks guys.

The footage did not identify the location; the Futuros were not referenced and just appeared in the backdrop. Waterside Plastics, which manufactured the UK Futuros, is known to have exhibited at the Brighter Homes Exhibition in Manchester, England in 1971 (see the Todmorden Futuro) and this photo certainly has the appearance of an exhibition setting so it may be from there but that is just conjecture.

Given the color of the Futuros it is possible they were the ones that ended up in Burnley, UK and Wrightington, UK but once again that is just conjecture.

If you are able to add any more specific information about this location please let us know.

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This photo is from the book Mika Taanila: Human Engineering and depicts a Futuro as seen in the iconic Taanila film Futuro: A New Stance for Tomorrow.

While techinically the location of this shot is not completely unknown, it is known to be somewhere in South Africa, nothing more precise than that is known about the location; hence its inclusion here.

If you are able to add any more specific information about this location please let us know.

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Brett Colquhoun has made several contributions to this site and has a great collection of vintage photographs (they can be found in The Colquhoun Archive). Brett recently uncovered this photo in a family album which he says was taken by his father during a trip to the USA in the early 70's.

Our first reaction to this was that it was likely a photo of the first USA manufactured Futuro when it was on display at Philadelphia Airport; not entirely sure why but for some reason that is what it reminded us of. However having looked a little further at photos of Philadelphia Airport (one example can be found here) we no longer consider this a possibility for several reasons:

• Philadelphia was a dark blue color and while this is a black and white photo the color seems to us to be too light to match.
• The Futuro displayed at Philadelphia Airport was mounted on the European style of support ring while US Futuros generally have the support struts passing through the outer sections and mounted to the internal frame. This photo is small and even blown up it is hard to tell but it looks to us like this has the standard USA support structure.
• We wondered if the road like features in the background of the photograph might be airport taxi-ways. Looking at the blown up version of the photo these almost look like they may be water.

We have amassed several thousand Futuro photographs and it is hard to always bring them all to mind so currently we cannot identify this Futuro and we are adding it here. If you are able to add any more specific information about this location please let us know.

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This photograph, credited to Matti Suuronen, is far too small and unclear to positively identify unless you know the location, which we do not.

The photo is one of several on this poster for the small Futuro Exhibition that took place at the Museum Of Finnish Architecture in the autumn of 1998 that we added to our collection of "Things Futuro" this past week.

It is possible that this photo shows Futuro #000 in Keitele where it served as Matti Suuronen's summer cottage from 1977 until mid-1980s (prior to that it had been in Turenki). If you have any information about this location or can confirm (or for that matter refute) that this is Keitele please let us know.

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This photograph was among several shared by Brett Colquhoun whose father was involved with the Futuro in Australia back in the early 1970's. It shows a location we have not seen before. It is possible it is Albury, NSW but that is just conjecture (for more info see here).

If you have any information about this location please let us know.

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Update 052614 | Now Unidentified Again

It seems as if we may have been a little hasty here and that this may not be the Taunusstein Futuro after all (at least not in its current location).

Achim Breiling reminded us that the photo in the Home & Taanila book is annotated "Germany April 1969" (the location is not identified) and he also reminded us about this document, a history of Expotechnik (In German - English copy here), which tells us that the company was founded in 1968 in Kemnat near Stuttgart and that it did not move to Taunusstein until 1971.

Prior to 1971 the company was already involved with Futuro having, among other things, created the Futuro themed Diehl stand for the 1970 CeBIT expo. In theory they could have become involved with Futuro and then moved to a location that already had a Futuro but that seems to be an unlikely scenario. More likely they placed the Futuro when they moved to the Taunusstein campus. With the "unknown location" photo dating from 1969 it now seems to me very unlikely that it was taken at Taunusstein and while it could be a photo of the Taunusstein Futuro at a previous location there is no real evidence for that and it could equally be another unit "somewhere in Germany" in 1969.

This renewed doubt about the location prompted us to take a closer look at the unknown photo and photos of Taunusstein and we noticed a difference we should have noticed before.

Take a look at the "unknown location" photo and this photo of Taunusstein: note the supporting leg struts. In Taunusstein the leg struts are single vertical struts whereas in the "unknown location" photo we see the more usual angled "pairs of leg struts."

None of this is conclusive of course but we have to say that for us this photo has now gone back into the "unknown location" category.

Update 052614 | Now Identified

It seems that we were on completely the wrong track after all; this is a photograph of the Futuro House in Taunusstein. The photo actually appears in the Home & Taanila book Futuro: Tomorrow's House from Yesterday on page 46 and is dated April 1969. Our thanks to Yves for a very quick response.

Original Information

This photograph appears on Page 1 of the "Review " section of issue #861 of Italian architecture and design magazine Domus. The location of the photograph is not identified either on the page the photo is shown or in the two page article on the Futuro House on pages 2 and 3.

The article makes mention of the 2000-2001 "Vision & Reality - Conceptions Of The 20th Century" exhibition which was held at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark; Futuro #000 (now at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands) was featured at "Vision & Reality" and we are wondering if this is a shot from there but from an angle different to any we have seen before - having said that we could be on completely the wrong track. If you know this photo and its location please let us know.

Update 032223 | Now Identified

Thanks to an email and some detailed historical information sent to us recently by Shane Rank (thank you Shane) we now know that this is a shot, in its very early history, of the Futuro most recently at South Morang and currently in storage pending restoration. More information can be found on the South Morang page.

Original Information

Those of you who have followed these pages for sometime will recall that Brett Colquhoun has sent us quite a few interesting photos and other items over the years.

Brett's father was heavily involved with Futuro "back in the day" and held the Australian license for Futuro And Venturo in the early 70's.

Recently Brett came across this photo of a Futuro in an unknown (to us at least) location; the photo did not have any details or information noted on the reverse. In addition to being a "new" location to us the photo is notable in that the color of the unit, though similar to that seen in some other Futuro photos, is not exactly like any we have seen and the brick/breeze block "structure" under the unit is also a feature we do not recall seeing previously.

If you are able to identify this location and/or provide any more information about it or where it might have ended up please let us know.

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Update 011217 | Now Identified

Based on information received from Mark Foster & Brett Colquhoun we are now sure that this is the Futuro once located in Darwin.

The thing that was causing us to doubt this was Darwin was the positioning of the roof vents in relation to the entrance. Everything else about the photo was in line for Darwin including the number, type and grouping of the roof vents, the fact that the entrance door seemed to not close completely, the appearance of the interior through the windows and the general landscape around the Futuro.

As with many things the answer was rather simple and we should have thought of it. The Kirill Grekov photo is reversed. Both Mark and Brett came to this conclusion after looking at the car in the photo, a Chrysler Valiant, which had the gas cap located on the wrong side.

Rotating the photo 180° resolves this inconsistency as far as the car goes but it also puts the location of the vents on the roof of the Futuro in relation to the entrance back in alignment with other photos of Darwin.

Our thanks to Mark and Brett for solving this little "mystery".

Original Information

We recently came across this photo that was posted to Facebook by Kirill Grekov.

The single short comment that accompanied the photo was "США" or, in English, "USA". However almost certainly this is not a Futuro in the USA either current or past based on the location of the entrance door. US Futuros had the entrance door located immediately below one of the windows whereas in units manufactured in Finland and other countries the entrance door was located centrally between two windows which is what we see in this photo. Though it may have occurred we am not aware of any Futuros in the US that were imported from elsewhere.

We have accumulated thousands of Futuro photographs over time and we did not immediately recall seeing this location before and a somewhat rapid scan of some of our photos did not reveal anything exactly matching this location. Furthermore in almost every case the configuration of the roof vents did not match.

That said the photo does appear to be very similar to photos of the Futuro once located in Darwin including matching roof vents but with one major difference, in every other photo we have seen the smaller, non-central, roof vents are in a different location relative to the entrance door than is seen in this photo (looking top down these vents are located clockwise from the entrance door in this photo and counter clockwise in others - example here).

We believe it is possible that the section with the door could have been located in a slightly different position during disassembly and reassembly either on site for some reason or during a move; though it could potentially cause issues with fixtures and fittings we believe the sections are largely interchangeable. That said we have enough doubt for us to classify this as an unknown location at this time.

If anyone is able to provide any information about this location please let us know.

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Update 122014 | Now Identified

Turns out our memory was faulty on this one. Marko Home emailed us and reminded us that Polykem had manufactured Futuros in Ruotsinpyhtää after they had sold the original Futuro factory in Hiekkaharju which makes it most likely that the photo of a Futuro under construction was a shot taken in Ruotsinpyhtää.

Not only had we spoken to Marko about this before we also found two previous mentions of Ruotsinpyhtää on this very website; one on the Pöytyä page from all the way back in 2012 and a second in a reference from earlier this year in the entry relating to one of the Futuro brochures in our collection of "Things Futuro".

Original Information

An article on the Futuro House in Volume 10 Number 4 of the Finnish publication RakennusViesti is accompanied by this photograph of a Futuro at a location we do not recognize.

Based on Google Translate (which struggles with Finnish so we are not overly confident in the translation) the caption under the photograph appears to mention the town of Ruotsinpyhtää. However we have never come across mention of a Futuro there so we are not confident in saying that is where the photograph was taken.

If anyone is able to provide any information about this location please let us know.

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Update 051014 | Now Identified

This is indeed a photo of the interior of Futuro #002. However it is not Lieto; the Futuro was in Pärnu, Estonia at the time. Footage from the Jimi Tenor music video "The Year of the Apocalypse" shot using the Futuro while located in Pärnu confirms this; the house visible in the right window of the Futuro shot can be seen in the video at 1:47 and 2:43 (our thanks to Yves for this information).

Original Information

Achim Breiling who has made many contributions to these pages sent us this photograph, an interior shot of a Futuro with a view through the windows that might aid in identifying the location. The thought is perhaps Futuro #002 (now in Matsalu, Estonia) during the early 1990's in Lieto, Finland.

If anyone is able to provide any information about this location please let us know.

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Update 050314 | Now Identified

This photo is of the Kauhava Futuro. My thanks to Achim, Marko, Otto and others for the info and to Yves who actually told us in his original email which we did not read well enough!

Original Information

This photograph was sent to us recently by Yves Buysse; thanks Yves, interesting photo. Other than the fact that we believe this is in Finland we have no idea where this Futuro was at the time the photo was taken. The location does not look like any we have seen before and we also do not recall a unit "perched" atop such high narrow concrete pilings.

If anyone is able to provide any information about this location please let us know.