Weather-Responsive Housing

Imagine that you’re lounging on your vacation home’s deck—when suddenly, the clouds move and there’s the sun glaring at you. You activate the home’s robotic mechanism to move the roof panels to give you shade…what?!
The Malleable Autonomous Retreat House is a conceptual box-like building made of hinged slotted panels that unfold and extend at the dweller’s will. It’s envisioned by Michael Jantzen, who describes himself as “an artist and inventor who often uses architecture as an art form.”

These panels do more than dramatically transform the outward appearance of the house; they also allow the owners to determine how the space interacts with the elements. Using pulleys or solar-powered electric motors, the panels can be tilted to control how much wind, sunlight, or rain, for example, penetrates within. Some panels even rise up to become makeshift lounge chairs. How much or little the house changes is up to the owner.

 "As the hinged panels are opened to any degree, the shape of the house begins to change into a totally unpredictable form, which can be based on the desired climatic conditions under the canopy and/or just aesthetic preferences"

Jantzen says.






The Malleable Autonomous Retreat House reflects the designer’s long history as a proponent of responsible, sustainable building. The self-contained structure is constructed from easy-to-assemble modular parts and is intended to be energy self-sufficient, drawing power from renewable sources such as solar generators.

The concept draws on Jantzen’s previous M-House designs, which emphasize a bold, artistic approach to sustainable architecture and modular recyclable construction. The Malleable Autonomous Retreat House takes these ideas beyond initial construction and allows the home to constantly change. 

“Much of my architecture work has explored ways in which buildings can change relative to changing needs,” 

Jantzen says. 

“I prefer forms that can change and adapt.” 

Welcome To A Newer Home

Jantzen’s weather-responsive dwelling isn’t the first of the so-called “smart homes” in development. Already, developments in construction and materials science are building up an exciting picture of futuristic homes.

3-D printing is the new frontier, making available nearly every customization for intricate designs and specific properties. Some companies 3-D print homes so fast that construction start and moving in can happen in just a day. Cities with housing crises have used 3-D printed homing to provide for low-income families.
Others are thinking even bigger: Samsung SmartThings imagines the future home to come with an app that can change the appearance of walls and floors made of “malleable skin” embedded with sensors and actuators. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with tech that could soon allow them to ‘grow’ homes capable of repairing themselves.
High-tech living is truly on its way to every home.

In Summary 

• The Los Angeles–based conceptual designer (Michael Jantzen) has created a futuristic home that can dramatically transform to the owners' liking                                  

• This Conceptual Designer also came up with a housing concept that includes movable walls to adapt to weather and other environmental conditions.                                                                                                                                                                                 
• With 3D printing and innovation in sustainability, technology is rapidly changing the landscape of housing development.   

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