Stutchbury and Pape's House of the future : Cardboard

"The Cardboard House is a direct challenge to the housing industry to reduce housing and environmental costs." So says architects Stutchbury and Pape, and the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Unit at University of Sydney. This partnership designed and constructed one of 6 pre-fabricated homes for an exhibition entitled "The House of the Future" to celebrate The Year of the Built Environment. It is made of recycled cardboard, with a waterproof...

...roof of HDPE plastic, which also forms the material of the flexible under-floor water tanks and the novel kitchen and bathroom 'pods'. Possibly inspired by IKEA, the Cardboard House was conceived as a kit of parts, comprising a flat pack of frames, and infill floor and wall panels. It uses minimal fixings: nylon wing nuts, hand-tightened polyster tape stays and Velcro fastenings. Two people can assemble it, given a spare 6 hours.

The roof covering is a lightweight material that is as transportable as the structure. Similar to a tent fly, the roof fabric assists in holding down the building, providing a diffuse light in the day and a glowing box at night. Water is collected in bladders underneath the floor which double as ballast to hold down the lightweight building. A composting toilet system produces nutrient-rich water for gardening. Low-voltage lighting can be powered using a 12-volt car battery or small photovoltaic cells mounted on the roof framing. It is made from 85% recycled materials, with all materials being 100% recycleable. If it was recycled, the house would save 12 cubic metres of landfill, 39 trees and 30,000 litres of water. Priced at $35,000 AUD.

See the 5 other innovative prefab designs, all with enviro attributes, yet using as their base material - steel, concrete, timber, glass or clay at ::House of the Future [by WM]