If you have a spare ¥6 million -- about $60,000 -- you too can have a home shaped like a dodecahedron (the twelve-sided "perfect solid") soccer ball/football. It's the "Barrier," from the G-Wood company in Japan, and it's supposedly designed to float, remain standing in an earthquake, and even resist collapse in the event of a bombing. (I say "supposedly" because the company's website is entirely in Japanese; the folks at Dotcommu provide a summary.) The Barrier units are fairly small, running roughly 375 square feet for the current model and around 1100 square feet for the planned larger unit, but can be made to be quite liveable.
The presentation of the Barrier on the G-Wood site is ineffably Japanese, but the idea is serious. The notion of a structurally-stable, relatively inexpensive, floating home -- complete with cool, funky design -- is highly appealing. It's just the sort of dwelling one would want in regions prone to global-warming-induced flooding and hurricanes. I wouldn't be surprised to see one at the next Burning Man, too. (Via Futurismic)
(Thanks, marc, for pointing out the errors in Solids Analysis)
