Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'

h a l f b a k e r y
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: Browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

User:
Pass:

or Create a new account.


                                                                              Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.

Reversible House
Saves space, and increases functionality
  (+20, -7)(+20, -7)
(+20, -7)
  [vote for,
against]


To better utilise the space in your home you have two houses in one.

Your nighttime furniture(TV, beds, lamps, dinner table etc) are mounted on the 'ceiling', and your daytime furniture (breakfast bar, wardrobe, desk [if you work from home] etc)are mounted to the other 'ceiling'

Ceilings need to be around 5m or 16ft. When night falls you just put away what you are doing, step outside, press the button and Presto!, the house revolves 180deg and you walk back inside. Of course, the systems drains all of the water from the toilet in the process, and refrigerators need to be redesigned for this to work.

Houses could occupy half their current 'footprint', reducing the destruction of valuable farming land, Susen.

We'll all learn to be neat freaks in no time.


UnaBubba, Apr 06 2001

Advanced home automation http://www.electrok...tics.com/whatwd.htm
TIPUET on an item-by-item basis [rmutt, Apr 06 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]


Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee

Destination URL. E.g., http://www.coffee.com/

Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)







       :::::::applause::::::::::

Susen, Apr 06 2001
  

       I don't think the ceilings would need to be double-height; most furniture isn't much taller than three or four feet, so you'd only need three or four feet of extra room to avoid bumping your head.   

       Perhaps bathrooms and other "night-and-day" parts of the house would be in a separate part that didn't flip.

egnor, Apr 06 2001
  

       I've solved the refridgerator issue. Put it on 4 corner-poles so that it slides neatly into its position like an elevator... For day, the freezer is on the top. For night, the freezer is on the bottom (or v. v.). The shelves are top and bottom so that all things are held safely in the shelf. You would have to learn to make sure lids are on tightly and spend a few minutes flipping things over that you need at night. But, the majority of things, in good containers, can stay inverted while you sleep.

Susen, Apr 06 2001
  

       The only reasons I specified extra high ceilings were to reduce the visual clutter in the house, and to avoid belting your head on the wardrobe during the day.

UnaBubba, Apr 06 2001
  

       metallica's 'the memory remains'
n'sync's 'bye bye bye'
hmm...any more references to rooms like this?
why just use the ceiling and floor? use the walls, too. better still, combine floors, ceiling, and wall into a giant cylinder, like a giant hamster wheel, or a giant sphere, like a hamster ball. then, get some pet hamsters and combine their habitrails with a physical internet. seriously, tho, i loathe the idea of becoming a neat freak, and store a large collection of books on top of by bookkcase. ouchie.

nick_n_uit, Apr 07 2001
  

       "Dancing on the Ceiling ..."

egnor, Apr 07 2001
  

       now where do you put a robot?

technobadger, Apr 07 2001
  

       Why do you _want_ a robot? What's it going to do for you? I have struggled all of my life to imagine what use a personal robot would be to me.

UnaBubba, Apr 07 2001
  

       This isn't just one room is it? The way I see it, you've got a cubic house; therefore it must be going to rotate on some axis. (Imagine the table football guys). So anything that you want night *and* day (and for me, this definitely includes the refrigerator), you put in the middle of the cube and it is held on the axis while everything else spins around it. May need some kind of mezzanine level though.

lewisgirl, Apr 07 2001
  

       And conveniently, basements and attics are already used for much the same sorts of things.   

       I envision a sort of non-rotating 'core' connecting the front door to the back door. It would contain the bathroom, etc. You could stand in the 'core' when rotating the house to avoid having to go outside, in case the weather's bad.   

       [addendum: lewisgirl, yes, I'm mostly just elaborating on your annotation.]

wiml, Apr 09 2001, last modified Apr 11 2001
  

       Isn't that what I just said?   

       Have realised another problem with this, which may be because of the particular demographic of people at the halfbakery... This doesn't work unless you live alone. Or alternatively, if you live in a very communicative household ("just going to the bathroom, honey", "ok sweet-pie, still sitting watching TV here") full warning will be given when a rotation is about to occur...   

       If however, you have an over-active five-year-old to contend with, who will work this one out no matter how many codes/child-locks/etc you put on it... you're in for an exciting time. And even when you think you've got him under control, you flip the house only to hear the squeals as Billy from next door is thrown around the bedroom where he'd been hidden.

lewisgirl, Apr 09 2001
  

       Too bad. Put your kids on a leash. And it might wake your significant other up to the fact that you are beginning to disrespect them a little if you *accidentally* rotate the house while they're on the dunny.

UnaBubba, Apr 09 2001
  

       nick_n_uit: sugar ray's 'fly'.   

       unabubba: i still don't get it. isn't this why we have two- and three-storey houses? the saving the farming land thing, i mean.

mihali, Apr 09 2001
  

       I see some definite timing issues arising from those transitional periods, bedtime and getting up time. Especially if you've got two or more people in the house with different routines.

DrBob, Apr 09 2001
  

       I think this would work for a single family home with 2 bedrooms or less. mihali, the farm land issue is from another thread a while ago. I personally prefer zero population growth (or a massive decrease in population), no new housing developments, and the preservation of farm land everywhere (especially if I can go fox-hunting on it!). I have no problem with people being packed into apartments although I have never lived in such a thing and would probably go crazy. I think UnaBubba was trying to find a way for people to have a personal home and not take up much space. Of course, his suggestion will most probably never occur as 2-3 story single family homes are more plausible. But, the idea is a good way to consider the wasted space of the ceiling.

Susen, Apr 09 2001
  

       ok susen, it gets my vote, simply because i like to hear about radical ideas in home design. and because of the farm-land thing.

mihali, Apr 09 2001
  

       what if you want to change your room around?

AfroAssault, Apr 13 2001
  

       That would be an inflatable house, shurely?

UnaBubba, Apr 14 2001
  

       I love you guys

AfroAssault, Apr 24 2001
  

       [lewisgirl] - I don't live alone and I think my kids would love it, provided their room revolved slowly enough such that they had time to slide down the floor, slide down the wall and onto the ceiling.

hippo, Apr 24 2001
  

       Addendum:   

       Imagine leaving your cat asleep on the loungeroom carpet... you flip the house, and when you get back inside, there's Kitty hanging from the ceiling by her claws. <grin>

UnaBubba, Apr 24 2001
  

       Couldn't this be operated automatically? I mean, instead of having to push a button, or wind a crank or something, the whole thing is on a big clockwork motor that's running *all the time*. Essentially, you're combining it with an alarm clock so at any time of day the place where you have to be is the place that is currently the right way up.

angel, Apr 27 2001
  

       Good thought waugs. They could then be stacked like a beehive with the spaces for utilities and services.   

       It could be used to great effect in an Olympic village.

UnaBubba, Apr 27 2001
  

       Where's the garage in this thing?

TypographicErrot, Aug 02 2001
  

       Could get expensive - day & night time car? Or literally disturbing for rest of household if you fancied a midnight cruise.   

       Thinking garden could have some interesting features to complement? - alternating decking/ hammock/ hot tub, although presumably have to be a horizontal rather than vertical revolve - wins on functionality but somewhat annihilating to useful space-saving effects of house. Confusing for the wildlife too.

Fi-J, Aug 02 2001
  

       Imagine if there was artifiacl grav that meant you could walk on the ceiling " Just going to bed honey " says husband as he walks along the ceiling in front of the tv.

kaz, Sep 01 2001
  

       I wouldn't notice the difference. My house is always upside down..

Mygo, Oct 01 2001
  

       What would happen if the thing wouldn't stop rotating? Everything inside would eventually turn to dust or something like rounded driftwood and polished rock.   

       Actually, I was thinking about a natural energy version of this home. You may know that near some mountain ranges, the wind goes one way durring the morning, and another when it cools down at night. Like when the valley heats up durring the day and pushes air up twords the mountain. A set of hinged sails could make the thing work without electricity!

Gary1953, Apr 16 2002
  

       If it won't stop rotating you just charge the neighbourhood kids for 15 minute rides.

UnaBubba, Apr 16 2002
  

       This is a good idea. Another idea would be to have all your furniture tied to the ceiling with a system of pulleys. Just pull down what you need and leave the rest dangling.

mrthingy, Apr 16 2002
  

       Umm... read the idea. The morning floor is the evening ceiling. Different furniture for different times of the day.

UnaBubba, Apr 16 2002
  

       what would you do about a fireplace?   

       i think mrthingy's idea is better. if furniture just raised and lowered it would work just as well, storing things would be a lot easier, and you wouldn't have all the complicated waste of having the entire house flip.   

       perhaps just have a giant computer-controlled robot arm-crane (like in those arcade machines where you pick up stuffed animals) installed at the top of your 16' ceiling room, and it can pick up/put down furniture as necessary.   

       but, of course, i've never had much luck with the arcade games. i'd probably end up dropping a piece of furniture on someone's head...

utexaspunk, Apr 17 2002
  

       I read the idea UnaBubs. I like it. I voted for it. I'm merely saying instead of flipping the house, you could still have different furniture at different times of day by hoisting it up to the ceiling with rope and pulleys when you're not using it.

mrthingy, Apr 17 2002
  

       I would think it would make more sense to just use the 16ft ceilings to create a two story building. That's why skyscrapers were invented.

andrewm, Jan 01 2003
  

       No they weren't. They were invented for their egotistical owners to prove they could piss farther than anyone else, off the roof.

UnaBubba, Jan 02 2003
  

       Excellent idea - however, we really don't need separate "daytime" and "nighttime" furniture, do we? All we really need is a sort of Swiss-Army Couch. This would be all your daytime and nighttime furniture in one unit – an ultra-efficient convertible. Make it really cheap and it could be delivered with the H2OME. (Shameless plug of previous idea)   

       Another option would be to attach a furniture factory to one end of your house and a giant incinerator to the other. Every morning, a work crew would deliver brand new daytime furniture. At the end of the day, they would send it to the incinerator and bring in your new nighttime furniture from the factory.   

       Whichever you can afford I suppose.

bneal27, May 01 2005
  


 
back: main index
 business 
 computer 
 culture 
 fashion 
 food 
 halfbakery 
 home 
 other 
 product 
 public 
 science 
 sport 
 vehicle