final version...

After the fun detour and experimentation of the octopus tree thing below, I went back to the ideas of the deformed and ugly organic architecture. I started thinking about fruits and vegetables that are segmented, that open up and peel away. It was a literal way to explore the stripping away of polished veneers, and it also helped that some of these forms came from very ugly, bitter or badly aromatic vegetables, like garlic and onions:

But it was the lotus flower above that interested me most. It was quite attractive, but still natural, and the way it unfolded and bloomed was as organic as the uglier unfolding of garlic. Could I combine the two ideas? An ugly tomato form that still lent itself to an unfolding and blooming house design?



BLOOMING HOUSE


I hoped to do that in the final computer design. A physically ugly and bumpy exterior, like a deformed tomato, but which unfolded delicately like a lotus flower, and which was made of the same skeletal ribs frame as my earliest idea:

Here is a time-lapse recording of the computer modeling of the house, using Chronolapse: (including the first two versions as well)