A Venturo House

Rather, it's something vaguely resembling a Venturo. Sorry, Matti.

Following on from the well-known catalogue order houses of the interwar period, post-war kit houses like the Lustron, and so many surplus quonset huts, the demand for affordable, quick-build structures only increased throughout the 1950s and 1960s. With the evolution of technology and incredible population boom throughout the mid-20th century, all sorts of novel solutions to this demand found themselves in the spotlight, if only momentarily, though most failed to make enough sense to warrant widespread development (sorry, Buckminster). Enter Matti Suuronen, a Finnish architect whose radical designs and employment of space age materials promised to revolutionize both commercial and residential architecture, and had widespread appeal - atleast in the case of his most well-known product, the Futuro, often called "the UFO house."

Of course, the Futuro is incredibly unusual, and, while (arguably) fit for living in, it's a pretty poor choice for functional, commercial architecture. Mister Suuronen had this covered, of course, and developed a number of more reasonable designs into the 1970s. In this vein came the Futuro's would-be successor: The Venturo, a composite, aluminum, and glass cabin that was easy to dismantle, transport on a flatbed, and reassemble on any flat ground, and which absolutely screams Scandinavian midcentury modern. Things looked good for the Venturo, as it found its niche in gas and service stations, cafes, and vacation housing - then the oil crisis hit and it was all over for the plastic-heavy Venturo. Never to outshine its outlandish precursor, yet still the Venturo carries on its dream of an optimistic, space age future lived Scandinavian.

Alright, so... You can't really replicate a Venturo very well in Paralives right now. Or atleast I can't. Those wild curves Suuronen gave these things are wholly incompatible with even the robust tools Paralives has. You can see why I didn't even consider attempting the Futuro. Still, I wrestled with it, determined to get... something... out of my idea to replicate a strange plastic hut from 1970s Finland. This is the (tragic) result. Figured I'd publish it anyway, share the knowledge of the Venturo's existence and maybe provide an unusual house for a para to make their home. Unlike my other builds so far, this one DEFINITELY uses some build mode oddness, and it shows. I lost the "skylight dome" (an upscaled and overturned mixing bowl) multiple times in construction - it would fall through the ceiling into the floor somehow - and those window frames are rough. Hopefully we'll get some proper vertical half-moon windows someday, so I can treat this build better.

One bedroom, one... toilet. Sort of. The Venturo was super modular because it essentially had no walls, only dividers. So it's really one big room with a wall between the living room/kitchenette and bedroom/toilet. I've included an outdoor shower stall, just to cover the necessities, but you might want to put an actual door on it. Otherwise unfurnished, and a little dingy. Curtains would be a good idea.

Under $10,000. Very affordable, very low-budget, very challenging for more than one para. Maybe two, if they're not bothered by sharing one sink and a bed. Really, it shouldn't be a problem - it's Finland, after all.