A Modular Home with a 'Skin'

This is a modular home scale model with a "skin' or outer layer. I used real glass and copper and then separated the layers of thick cardboard and salvaged the corrugation in the middle. this was painted black and then 'dry brushed' metallic green. 

This scale model was designed to take apart, as well. The corrugation was designed to simulate anodized aluminum. The whole idea behind these modular homes is to use nice material on nothing more than a box. I am not the first to come up with this concept. In fact, Mies van der Rohe designed the first 'international style' skyscrapers based on the theory that "less is more." Instead of creating buildings that were elaborate and highly ornamentational, Mies designed efficient, functioning, rectangular boxes using the finest materials available. The ornamentation was in the materials and how they were applied to this simple shape of a 3-D rectangle. Have you ever noticed why those simple 'box' skyscrapers that line are city skies are beautiful? It's in the materials they used to dress it up: polished bronze, smoky black glass, etc. The simple shape shows off these gorgeous materials.

My modular homes are designed for pre-fabricated evacuation sites when a disaster occurs. Instead of putting these homeless victims of hurricanes or fires into an ugly trailer park, these people can pick out the materials they want assembled for their modular home. Since the walls are prefabricated to the same size, they will snap together with a mortise and tenon system. When the evacuees are able to return to their homes, the entire modular home park can be disassembled, washed, treated and then moved on to the next disaster area.

The annodized aluminum and stone surfaces are designed to blend into the forest or other nature spot. The corrugation looks green from one angle and black from another. The polished walls of copper inside can slide to direct sunlight however the tenant desires.

Here are 3-D renderings of how they would look in a forest.

 

Here is my original sketch.