Mobile Architecture – the Future Housing (techstyle Haus)

As the world is facing problems like global warming, high house prices, architecture’s purpose remains the same – providing shelter from natural elements and community along its inhabitants – mobile structures herald the dawn of the age of new nomadism. Mobile architecture is known for having lightweight, flexible and sustainable structure, but it depends heavily on electricity and fuel. However, a self-sustain architecture like the Techstyle Haus proves that technology has been shaping the field and it can be served as a prototype for future buildings made in flexible operation with economic in the use of materials.

Today's society has become mobile, yet still depends on permanent dwellings. But while being stationary, most new houses are impermanent, that ironically mobile architecture has more stability. Today’s real estate values are high that people always have to move around that many of them become permanent nomads. Also, houses will be demolished to make room for other building. We can’t indulge in nostalgia for homes as grown up rarely revisit places where they grew up because nothing remains. Paradoxically, a moving house becomes more permanent than a stationary house, and a better means of keeping connections between family members and thus a sense of rootedness. As there is a trend of workplace moving to homes, the house will become a work-farm prison with limited opportunities to escape; therefore there is no point keeping the house in one place.

Mobile architectures were treated with contempt as the "cheap" alternative or ignored entirely in favor of temporary building solutions that are wastefully demolished when their short period of uselessness in over, is now seen in a very different light. It is not only a forward-looking, ecologically aware alternative to permanent building, but also an experimental resource for determining the way the future building might be made –flexible in operation and economical in the use of materials.

Techstyle Haus is an energy-efficient and solar-powered approach to building—shaped, patterned and layered with high-performance textiles. The design of the Techstyle Haus is an answer to the question: how will we respond to the circumstance of our earth in its present environmental crisis? The team states that they are more aware than ever of the environmental pressures on the changing of the world. The team uses the Solar Decathlon as a platform to apply new technology in the structure as a prototype for sustainable architecture. The team proposed a strategy more than a single house; they design and build based on highly engineered components and efficient construction. The innovative building system has the potential to be implemented in various applications, including single and multifamily housing, live/work, mixed-use, utilitarian buildings, and market sheds.

The use of materials often spoke to whether the architecture is considered mobile or immobile and the use of textiles for the skin allows the structure to be flexible and sustainable. The material also forces the team to explore new possibilities in modular and passive house construction. Despite the high cost of the textiles used in the structure, mass production or the use of local materials will lower the transportation cost. However, the use of this unique material is still cheaper compared to traditional building materials. Needed only ten days to construct, shows that the use of textiles allows the structure to be mobile and easily assembled as the structure was relocated three times before it's final destination at Domaine de Boisbuchet. The flexibility of the textiles also allows the solar array to solar panels in a way, which can take enough energy to develop the house into energy- independent