Houses of the Future
I must confess that until I received this link from Mystery Reader, I did not know that 2004 was the YBE--the Year of the Built Environment. Well, at least in Australia. Obviously I should get out more. But this exhibit of six houses was presented at the Sydney Opera House, and in 2005 it will be at the Sydney Olympic Park. If you can't make the trek, check out the web site and look at these houses. There is a house made of each of the following material: concrete, steel, cardboard (!), timber, glass, and clay. Here are the limitations the designers had to observe:

Each house design had to be:

• Pre-fabricated for easy transportation, and to allow erection on site in less than 4 days;

• Environmentally sustainable with sensitive use of materials, rainwater recycling, use of solar panels and passive solar design;

• Compliant with the NSW BASIX ratings tool;

• Designed by an Architect; and

• Futuristic in appearance and use of domestic space.

YBE2004 wishes to thank Multiplex for providing the overall project management of the Houses of the Future project.