07 SUNFLOWER HOME

The highly eco-tech Sunflower Home is an eco-house resting on a large electric motor that makes it spin around its axis to follow the movement of the sun or, otherwise, escape the sun in excessively hot weather.

Sunflower leaves are phototropic, will follow the sun's rays with a lag of 120 behind the sun's azimuth, and it is exactly this property that served as example of how we were to tackle the problem of a universal eco-house to cover all world's climates.

Bearing on a  powerful electric motor placed in the static basement, the dome of the house can be revolved along its horizontal base to make best use of sunlight, but also moonlight, wind-power and external views, as required.

From igloos to African huts and Mongolian yurts, the dome is a form of architecture that humanity has used over and over again, a pattern found in nature itself, featured in various life forms, the planetary globe, and other planets of the universe.

Sunflower Home creates an interior of warmth, conviviality and light while responding to the desire of many people concerned with using materials and technology compatible with our fragile environment.

For instance, this means that you would be able to literally expose your Living Room to maximum sunlight in the winter, as well as protect it from excessive sunlight in the summer. You could expose your bedroom to maximum moonlight at night, thus creating a romantic atmosphere, avoid or expose rooms to winds throughout the day, week, month, season or year, as you see fit, or set the entire dome to follow the sun all throughout the day by moving at 40cm/h - the exact speed at which the Earth moves around the Sun throughout the day.

The dome, the floor and the partition walls between rooms are entirely made of aerogel - one of the world's most perspective building materials. A highly insulating solid material, aerogel has the lowest density of any known solid on Earth. A block of aerogel as large as a human may weigh less than half a kilogram (or less than a pound), yet support the weight of a subcompact car (about 454 kilograms, or 1,000 pounds), which means that it is an excellent load-bearing material as well.

Sunflower Home provides a healthy homestead yielding lower humidity, electromagnetism and radioactivity than found in traditional houses. It resists earthquakes as it does not offer any perpendicularity to the seismic ray. Thanks to its aerodynamic shape, it can resist winds of up to 250 km/h, making it hurricane (cyclone / typhoon) proof.

As an option, it is possible to equip Sunflower Home with solar panels in order is accumulate solar energy. This option, together with the programmed automatic rotation allows it the acquisition of the necessary, uninterrupted energy during the day, when following the course of sun.