FW, Circular Flock House design

Circular Design

This design uses concentric circular layers. Rooftop gardens are accessed through a trap door in the roof. A rain water trap and containment barrel connects to a system of hoses to water gardens on three levels.

Inside, a ladder reaches the trap door in the roof. There is a wooden walkway between the first and second layer. Skylights between the third and top layer admit natural light.

The Flock House has galvanized shell /reclaimed rubber.

Sensory tent Flock House

Sensory tent Flock House

This designer suggested “Do nothing much actively – use your senses.” in the Flock House.” Such as “listen o sounds of surroundings, feel wind & movement of tent, smell city/food/materials, see a. eyes closed – your minds eye and b. eyes open – roof of tent, relax, repeat.”

The tent structure hangs and “sways in the wind.”

The designer suggest we “decorate with objects that catch light & move in wind and are fragrant.”

Encoded

Flock House encoded with plants, door, windows, top feature and sparkles.

Julia Dyche, Shenandoah, IA.

Julia Dyche writes that the Flock House reminds her of “Childhood Structures I made of logs, bricks, etc. and the countless hours I spent revisiting the. Fantasizing, within them and spending time in them.”

To equip a Flock House, she suggests “Rain water collection, for one. Simple solar system, portable compost system – suspended perhaps, gardens-containers.” She notes that a vertical “structure for plants” means “minimal earth required.”

For materials, she suggests “all the garlic tops material from our recent garlic harvest – woven.”

Her contributions. “Artist – paint, some construction – help – creativity – 29 years art teacher. Husband would be terrific collaborator, creative plumber, gardener, ornithologist.”

Emily Fruth – Pyramid Flock House Greenhouse

Emily responded to the NYC Flock House as “Very elegant. Looks like it has sails, like it could be wind-powered.”

Her concept is a “Pyramid shaped structure with terraces down the sides that contain window boxes for gardening.”  The materials would be “driftwood, fabric, plastic, twine.”

She envisions the idea of Flock House might “provide sustainable mobile shelter for hundreds or thousands of otherwise homeless people.”

Her Flock House would be located by a water source to siphon water to the top of the Flock House and deliver it down to the plants using gravity.

Her website is:

emilyjfruthmetalsmithing.com

Design by Michael Stevens

Michael Stevens, University of Nebraska, Omaha, embeds this description into a rendering of Flock House.

Crab Nebula

The design features unfolding arms that when extended, reveal a stored hammock. The user may lie in the hammock and star gaze.

The user sits on the central platform as the arms are extended, lifting them toward the cosmos.

The arms are pressure-activated and are triggered by weight on the central plate.

An outrigger design provides stability.

Owen, age 7. Flock House

Here are Owen’s responses to the 7 questions, entered by a scribe.

He “thinks it’s cool, I like it. I love it because it makes me happy.” “Yes,” he “would go to bed (in the Flock House) and get some blankets, and play Ninja warrior in there.”

T o build a Flock House, “You would need some foam maybe to put all of them in and set it up.” As a member of the design team he suggests, “Maybe a hoop right there. (points towards ceiling) Glass, for breaking and melt it and reuse it again for a cannon.” He would bring the design team “wood and pillows and blankets and take them bowling.”

“Yes,” he would go to a Flock House gathering “Because I want to.”

Paula Thompson completes 7 questions on the idea of Flock House.

Below I have typed in her answers to the questions, and added notes from our later discussion.

1. Flock House Design: “I noticed that the wood looked like driftwood & as if it would float. I also noticed the beautiful curved lines of the wood & the fabric for shelter in sailing if needed. I also like the back support & that people could support each other from slipping via feet pressed together in the middle. This could hold several people.”

Later Paula described the design as “more fluid” and reflecting “intentionality.” “It is a teaching tool.”  A Flock House “must be attractive so people inquire & discover.”

“We think we need to go buy everything we need – you can make something for yourself.”

2. On spending the night in the Flock House: “I’m not sure as I am inclined to be an insomniac. (smiley face) I like white noise to sleep which I realize I would get over in a hurry if this were to be a shelter.”

3. Equipping with water, energy, waste collection, and gardens: “I can imagine barrels that might feed into the planter via slow absorption through a cotton string. The rest would be for drinking and using.”

Paula spoke of a friend who was able to raise the growing zone of her plants by 3 zones by protecting them from wind and giving them shelter.

4. Recycled materials: “Maybe old tire tubes & tire patches to be waterproof and flotation. Perhaps pack them flat with a manual pump in case fluctuation was needed.”

Later Paula mentioned using colored glass. When sun hits colored glass it casts colored fragments of light around the Flock House. If lit from the inside at nigh,t it casts a “soft glow” that would “draw you to it.”

5. Design team contributions: “Gardening, harvesting & storing seeds. Hybridizing plants, drying food.”

6. A Flock of Flock Houses: “I tend to be more of a loner or small community person. I would gravitate to a small multi-talented group to reduce the chance of communal activity which arises in masses.”

7. It would offer a base to expand on; a quick place to find shelter, food, clean water, & rest. With that start, one wouldn’t suffer from the early stages of being weakened as a result of catastrophic events.”

Later she summarized, A Flock House brings us now a “demonstration for growing and shelter, what to do in an emergency.”

Paula Thompson: A floating Flock House

Paula’s design has a retractable pole with a crank “to spin and wrap the sail.” Once you wrap the around its pole, it retracts into the larger pole beneath.

There is a garden box that uses a string to wick water from the water receptacle (in blue) into the garden.

Angie and Connor (age 8) Hart from Kansas City, Missouri draw a Flock House.

Angie and Connor Hart entered the NYC Flock House to draw a Flock House and answer 7 questions. Angie wrote she found the Flock House “cozy, inviting, close.” Connor, 8 years old, said “No” to staying in the Flock House “because it looks dirty. Looks cold and has no door.” Angie said “Yes,” because it seems inviting & warm.” Yet, “spending the night – you would be vulnerable.

To equip the Flock House you “could collect rain water, solar power for energy and use a compost toilet.” Materials to use when building are “wood, tin, cloth.” To a design team Angie would bring “Interest.” She “Never built a structure before.”

They say “No” to a Flock House migration,  “I think it would be mayhem. Too many people with too many ideas.”  The role of Flock House in addressing population displacement is that, “Flock Houses could help in refugee camps and in areas where there are lack of resources.”

Angie Hart, Kansas City, Mo. – Flock House

Connor Hart, age 8 – Flock House

Keith Ballard, Kansas City, Missouri

Keith Ballard from Kansas City, Mo. answers 7 questions at Bemis Center – Old Market.

Keith Ballard’s response to the Flock House is, “Freedom. Not being tied to a single place or restricted by a home mortgage.”  When staying in a Flock House, “I’d want at least a week. To gain the full experience.” To be equipped the Flock House would need “portable cistern, compost toilet and a window garden.”

Building materials are “Plastic bags. they can be ironed together to create a thicker ‘fabric.’ Can be used as covering for the outside.”  On a design team, he is a “good researcher.”

Keith would like to attend a Flock gathering. In population displacement, the Flock House would “Provide a sense of community.”

Keith Ballard, Kansas City, Mo. – Flock House.

1. 

   Craig and Jennifer from Seattle write responses to 7 questions.

    

1. What did you think of when you saw the Flock House? (Its design, a memory, how you would change it, a feeling you had about it?

Transitional, adaptable

I thought of a play structure – fun and exploration.

2. Would you like to spend time in a Flock House? Spend the night?

Yes

Yes

3. How can a Flock House be equipped with its own source of water, energy and waste collection? Gardens to grow food and herbs?

Water = rain & containment system, Energy = pedal wheel/bike for creating electricity, Waste = Huma-Nure, Garden = Green Wall

Rain collection systems could be used as well as solar panels. Portable gardens could be installed and moved to take advantage of changing light sources.

4. If you were on a Flock House design team, what recycled building materials would you suggest?

Clear plastic clamshell = variety of sizes and closure designs.

Recycled plastics – plastic bags & water bottles, tires and rubber could be used as other building materials

5. What could you contribute to a design and building team? (Skills, knowledge, experience, interest)

Skills = outdoors experience – cooking

Not much! Sewing skills! and an interest to learn from others.

6. Now there are only a few Houses in a tiny global Flock. Imagine if hundreds migrated to one place, and set up for several weeks. Would you want to be there?

No – would become a place of community reliance – seems to go against the need for /nature of Flock House.

Yes, but probably for a more limited time.

7. What role might the Flock House idea play in addressing population displacement and suffering? (Such as: Drought, Scarcity, Famine, Armed attack and property damage, Disruptions or absence of utilities such as electricity, communications, sanitation, and water?) 

Adaptability to current situation/need

The portability of the Flock House would make it ideal in these situations – moving to better climates, food sources, more secure/safe areas and would make repairing the houses with any available materials so that the structures of those houses may change as needs and circumstances change.

Mary Nichols, draws and writes while waiting for Roger and her twin granddaughters.

Mary arrived from work in downtown Omaha. She had time to write her ideas in the 7 Questions and draw a pull able cart design for a Flock House.

The Flock House reminded her “of dice – rolling to any place or direction.” Spending time in a Flock House is a “Maybe,” because “I need a certain degree of comfort and would need to feel safe.”

To be self sustainable, “A house like a gypsy caravan could collect rain water and have roof top garden and manual/bicycle type wheels with energy collector like a battery.” Recycled building materials are “Roofing, metal sheeting, fiberglass – use anything available.”

Mary Nichols – Envisions a hard back on the cart that could raise up for added protection and to guide water collection.

Mary modeled her drawing after the gypsy cart. She envisions,”small caravans designed in a way that they could come together and form a community, larger form that allows greater safety from elements.  Maybe like pieces of a pie. The very center could be where resources are shared.” For greater safety, they “could raise up a hard back screen…so that all together they form a tornado/wind resistant dome.”

Twins arrive to draw in NYC Flock House

Lily and Aislinn, age 4, climb up and settle into drawing their Flock House.

Aislinn, Age 4 – Flock House drawing is sphere on platform, like the NYC Flock House. Wood and cloth are in code by color. If you look carefully in the blue base, you will see the floor and pillows.

Lilly, age 4 – Flock House Drawing on pedestal with free form shapes like the wooden forms surrounding the Flock House platform.

Roger’s idea.

A To-Go box Flock House.  Made of styrofoam, you fold a sheet in half, then fold a second sheet in half and overlap the sheets.  Add more sheets, folded in half and overlapped. The overlap establishes strength. The overlapped forms can grow in any direction forming walls and vaulted ceilings. We can try this as an art project during the Palimpsest days at Flock House Omaha – Old Market, August 6 – 16.

A group of gifted students from Nebraska City traveled to the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. They visited the Flock House Omaha Project gallery, envisioned a Flock House expressing their ideas and made drawings.

Sarah – Modular unit with solar panels, cut out vents, windows, and removable side panels to connect to other family units.

Angelica – Tent-Ish Flock House, fabric walls, doors and windows, support rods, foldable tile floor. Folds up for easy travel.

Thomas – Features triangular base, wooden deck, glass walls, green fabric wood, and flag pole.

NIck Z and Nick N – Design process moves from 2 folded square pyramids, to an expanding sphere stabilized with wood supports and latches. A conceptual Flock House shows bump out.

Trey – “Hot-Air-House”

Unknown – Hexagon design develops vertical space for plants, storage, seating. Lights hanging above.

Lilly, Age 11 – Outside Flock House design is 8 ft wide and 16 ft high. Schema shows solar panels, windows and door. Inside, a recliner combines sleeping and sitting. A mini fridge is run on solar power.

Lilly – Upstairs Bathroom with sink details of drain and faucet.

Zachary – Flock House Porta-Potty

Quentin – raised Flock House on stilts with ladder. double walled with technical details (no schema.)

Unknown – Propelled Flock House with communications, food, temperature control. External solar panels and satellite dish. An unknown student said a Flock House should be “a Teepee.” Inside, “it could have a water cooler.”

Unknown – Triangular house with round door.

Unknown – Schema showing shingles and floor plan of triangular house.

Unknown – Outside rectangular house with schema showing two floors with upper for sleeping, stairs at entry and outside area.

Unknown – By placing a person inside the structure as a reference, the designer shows “How big it is.” A ladder allows movement up and down.

Kailey – Solar panels outside and electric socket inside.

Destiny – Mobility of Flock House reflected in propellers.

Alexa – Diagram with notation icons and either an elevation or perspective drawing of a Flock House structure. Alexa’s comments on 7 Question form: Flock House “should have solid walls and no cracks.” It should be made of “wood.”

Jedidiah – Complex diagram of Flock House with possible communications active above.

Isaac – Raised Flock House