Everyone needs a little fantasy in life.
Mine is looking at impossible homes, the sorts of structures that look as if someone decided to materialize one of those architectural dreams from Inception.
I’m more likely to be struck by lightning while singing in the rain than own one of these amazing places. And I don’t sing. But I can pretend. It’s a grown-up version of playing house.
Imagine living in the public eye and retreating to a private eye.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell does. An aerial view of her house on Cleopatra Island in Turkey’s Gulf of Gökova according to CNBC.com shows what looks like the kohl-lined eye of an Egyptian goddess. The black part is actually made-up of super fancy solar panels. The iris is a giant glass dome home. She better be over that phone-throwing phase. Designed by Spanish architect Luis de Garrido (Warning: Hit the mute button or suffer his site’s techno Twilight Zone soundtrack) the place is completely self-sufficient energy-wise although upkeep of the 25 bedrooms, five lounges and umpteenth windows surely requires buckets of elbow grease. And not likely Naomi’s or that of her bajillionaire Russian boyfriend who gave her the house as a birthday present.
Makes the standard cupcake with candle look a little shabby.
High-rise living can make a person feel disconnected from nature. Imagine living in the vertical forest towers currently under construction in Milan. Each apartment unit in the Bosco Verticale designed by Stefano Boeri and features a lush, landscaped, Eden-like balcony. The idea is that trees and other greenery will filter the air of toxins in the way that a natural forest does. Since those balconies will likely serve as swanky smoking platforms, they best be careful about starting vertical forest fires.
Closer to home, architect Robert Oshatz designed an incredible house for a client that sits amid the tree canopy in the hills of Portland. The place is all gorgeous curves and woodsy views like a manly version of a boyhood treehouse. Oshatz is fearless in his designs. Oregon Home ran an interview and story last year about a Willamette River floating home he designed. His portfolio, like a secret handshake, is mysterious and makes me want to see more.
Other incredible structures still in the fantasy phase are The Dynamic Architecture towers by David Fischer planned for Dubai. They’re designed so that every unit on each floor can rotate like those pie-shaped corner shelves in fancy pantries. I love the idea of setting the timer so the unit takes in the sunrise and the sunset. Or the sea and the city. The towers are zero net buildings meaning each will capture enough wind power to supply all its energy needs. This does not mean the floors move like pinwheels in the wind but rather the wind provides the power to move the mechanism that moves the units.
The animated drawing of the towers shows all the floors undulating gracefully in sync with one another like amber waves of grain in Central Oregon. The reality might be less poetic, more complicated. Say the people upstairs rotate their floor and it casts a shadow over your unit so you then must rotate your floor. It brings new meaning to keeping up with the Joneses.
Freud would surely have something to say about my fantasies of impossible homes. Not to put you on the couch, but we’d love to hear the home fantasies Oregon Home readers. Share the dream with a comment and link.
