Passive, Candy "Egg" Houses Are 90% Recyclable
Renderings courtesy KasaUovo.
It would be like Easter every morning if you lived in one of these candy-colored egg houses, designed by Roberto Casati and a group of Tuscan engineers. Called KasaUovo, or Egg House, these 70-square-meter (that's approximately 750 square feet) living spaces are constructed primariy out of a composite material using car tires and wood waste.
Casati says Egg Houses are egg-shaped on purpose, as the 'nature-inspired' form contributes to energy efficiency. And Casati doesn't want to build single Egg Houses on empty lots. Instead, he's patented the Egg House concept and hopes to find a local church or other organization that will lend its unused grounds to a pilot program of multiple eggs.
Just like a grassy lawn on the day of the Easter egg hunt. Renderings courtesy KasaUovo.
While the whimsical shape of the house and the M&M; color scheme used in drawings make the houses seem like they would be more appropriate at a children's playground than in a neighborhood, Egg Houses will use a combination of wind turbines and solar photovoltaics to be 70% more efficient in their energy usage than conventionally constructed homes. Though the hosue will have a gas boiler in addition to the alternative energy sources, KasaOuvo refers to the Egg House as a passive design.
Egg Houses are also earthquake resistant, according to their designers. While from the outside the house is egg-shaped, on the other side of an energy-saving insulation barrier membrane, the two-story living quarters are a 10-sided polygon.
According to the web site, everything about the Egg House is pre-fab and modular, and the house can be adapted, it says to other uses in addition to a single-family home.
An installed gray water system inside the Egg Houses will recycle waste and rain water. Construction costs are estimated to be around €2,000 per square meter - that's €140,000 or about $190,000.