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Home: Architecture
Flocking House   (+5)  [vote for, against]
Self-contained, independent rooms on air casters underneath an expansive pavilion roof.

During the winter they huddle together for warmth, forming an airtight, insulated assemblage; in more temperate weather they roam across the polished cement floor, erstwhile interior hallways forming porches and balconies, while orphaned wall areas - if modesty necessitates - can be sidled up to one of several glass and stone walls set as windbreaks at the pavilion perimeter.

Induction plates in the floor provide electrical needs. Options exist for water and wastewater flow.

(While the demo unit performs an autonomous ballet on the showroom floor, the actual production models are manually unlocked from each other and moved around by hand: a feat made near effortless by the air casters.)
-- FlyingToaster, Nov 03 2017

I really like this. It is very soothing. There may need to be a couple larger rooms full of beanbags and incense.
-- mylodon, Nov 03 2017


Where did I leave my keys?
-- wjt, Nov 03 2017


Are the elephants above or below the turtles?
-- mylodon, Nov 03 2017


Why rooms ? would not flocking walls be more versatile.
-- wjt, Nov 03 2017


Can they be driven round like dodgem cars?
-- 8th of 7, Nov 03 2017


If the toilets , basins etc had holding tanks , they could act like Roomba's and head back to base Portal when full.
-- wjt, Nov 03 2017


//dodgem cars// The tradeshow demo model is equipped with steering vanes on the air casters and performs a computer choreographed routine over Bluetooth. This option, with its extra hardware and software, is available to the owner only after the signing of a rather lengthy waiver.

Otherwise, unlock the room from the neighbours, attach the supplied airpump to its distributor valve, and start push/pulling.

//flocking walls// requires flocking furniture : not out of the range of possibility, of course.
-- FlyingToaster, Nov 03 2017


Where does the tapwater hook up?
-- RayfordSteele, Nov 03 2017


^ Some of the rooms could be fixed in place or, as [wjt] suggests, incorporate holding tanks, with periodic fill-ups/empties.

//Where did I leave my keys ?// kitchen counter, next to the pastry dish.
-- FlyingToaster, Nov 03 2017


On Pill Creek in Cornwall, Richard Rogers put a house with moveable interior walls, only the kitchen and bathroom being fixed. So, not quite this, but a clear effort in this direction.
-- pertinax, Nov 03 2017


It could be difficult if a resident awoke in the night, only to discover that the bathroom had quietly migrated ...
-- 8th of 7, Nov 03 2017


Amsterdam has a whole neighbourhood full of flocking houses.
-- xenzag, Nov 03 2017


Flocking hell mate.
-- AusCan531, Nov 03 2017


"Hi, boss. I'm going to be a little late today - the power went out while the house was in night mode, and the garage isn't attached to the street."
-- lurch, Nov 03 2017


<irrelevant aside>

In theory, the nouns "flock" and "herd" have the same meaning.

But the verb forms - "to flock" and "to herd" are quite different; herding implies compulsion, flocking is voluntary.

Humans "flock to a concert", not "herd"; crowds can be "herded", but not "flocked".

Presumably a flock of sheep is a voluntary assembly of sheep, whereas a herd of sheep has probably been collected by a sheepdog. There's no such thing as a herd of ducks, but a flock of ducks is commonplace - yet herds of geese are acknowledged as existing.

</irrelevant aside>
-- 8th of 7, Nov 04 2017



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