Futuro – A New Stance for Tomorrow

Writing about Evoluon a couple of years ago I mentioned my affection for all those one-off Space-Age constructions with suitably science-fictional names: Evoluon, Skylon, Atomium, Space Needle… You could add Futuro to this list, a micro-building in comparison to the latter pair, with a similar flying-saucer styling as Evoluon. Futuro wasn’t a one-off design, however, but a prefabricated dwelling intended for mass production. The original plan by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen was for a plastic ski lodge that would be light, easy to assemble and quick to heat. The prototype he built in 1968 caught the imagination of investors, and other uses were soon proposed. The ski-lodge idea was thwarted by planning regulations but the Futuro was modestly successful all the same, and might have been a much bigger success in the United States if the oil crisis of 1973 hadn’t raised the cost of the plastics used in its construction. Enough Futuros were sold before production ended that many of…