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More BMW-inspired housing by Harvard

Posted by Clifford Atiyeh February 23, 2009 11:57 AM

GINA StudioThe "Gina Teleburb" shows enclosed roads that link to groups of homes. (Harvard University)

You may have read the post on the New York Times Wheels blog last month about ex-BMW design chief Chris Bangle's brief tenure at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The 13 architecture students in the "GINA Studio" course - only offered last fall - created housing projects inspired from Bangle's fabric-wrapped GINA concept car, which bends and flexes according to the driver's needs.

Today's Globe highlighted a few more eye-popping drafts from the course, but oddly enough, none of the projects here mention space for a garage. More photos and descriptions follow in the full entry.

All photos courtesy Harvard University.

Gina Teleburb

Kent Gould designed this web of homes to withstand harsh environmental conditions "such as lava fields, barren areas, and flood plains." They're connected by enclosed roads that collapse and expand.

Kent%20Gould%20%20Project%20Title_%20The%20Gina%20Teleburb-2.jpg

Cloud Suburbia

From Justin Chen: "Some time in the next 50 years, when suburbs run out of places to sprawl and need to colonize the air space above the freeways. The house is made from materials still to be developed, such as stretchable ETFE, elastic structural frames, and flexible tensile skins."

cloud%20diagram.jpg

"Since not all functions in the house are used simultaneously, each cell, or room, in the house can expand and contract as needed to make the most out of a given area and volume. Courtyard cells are essential to the design, as they allow for natural light and ventilation into internal areas such as sleeping or eating areas."

cloud%20interior.jpg

Playing Architecture

Ignacio Gonzalez Galan's suburban complex has roofs that extend upward during the day and shrink at night to conserve heat.

IGNACIOS%20floorplan.jpg

CoilHaus

The Target of the future? This residential and commercial building by Megan Panzano has stretchy walls should more space be needed.

panzano%202.jpg

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about boston overdrive

Boston.com reports the latest trends, auto shows and wrings out the newest cars in our city's hellish maze - and across the great roads of New England.
Clifford Atiyeh edits the Cars section on Boston.com and is an automotive correspondent for The Boston Globe. He has spent his entire life driving cars he doesn't own.
In the garage: 2008 MBTA Zone 1A monthly pass, 1995 21-speed Iron Horse.
Bill Griffith is an automotive correspondent for The Boston Globe and has reviewed cars for 10 years. He was also the Globe's assistant sports editor for 25 years and the paper's sports media columnist.
In the garage (over the years): 1956 T-Bird, 1959 Nash Metropolitan, 1980 El Camino, 1997 supercharged Camry TRD.

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