Before you get too excited, it should be made clear that this fabulous architectural oddity, located on the terrace of Central Saint Martins (CSM) campus behind London’s King’s Cross station, is not up for sale.
But with the capacity for 20 people it is open to the public once a month and available to hire for events.
The flying saucer-style structure is a Futuro house, designed in the 1960s as a portable modular ski chalet by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen. The elliptical fibreglass structure, 13ft tall and 26ft wide, sits on a metal frame. Fewer than 100 of these prefabricated weekend houses were made in the late 60s and early 70s before they fell out of favour when the 1970s oil crisis caused oil prices – and subsequently plastic and fibreglass prices – to soar. Around 60 still exist.
This turquoise specimen was first seen by artist and CSM graduate Craig Barnes when he was just three years old on holiday visiting family in South Africa.
“Over the years I revisited it time and time again, dreaming of one day owning such a magnificently odd construction,” Barnes says.
Thirty years later in 2013, Barnes’s dream came true when he managed to buy it, ship it over to the UK and painstakingly restore it – the story of which he recounts on Futurohouse.co.uk, a website devoted to his “spaceship”.
With the help of an Arts Council grant, the Futuro first went on show last year perched on the roof of east London art space Matt’s Gallery, where Barnes met head of CSM, Prof Jeremy Till, to discuss its next move.
The pair decided Barnes would lend Futuro house to CSM for a year. Staff and students will use this icon of space age design to host events focusing on ideas of the future.
The house was transferred in pieces and reconstructed on the CSM roof terrace in September 2015.
In a year of future-gazing, everyone attending performances, talks and events at the Futuro house will be encouraged “to speculate on future possibilities and inevitabilities”. This will culminate in a Slivers of the Future chronicle recording ideas on what the future might hold on CSM’s Futuro website .
“The pure fun of having a flying saucer on our roof will generate some fantastical projects by the students, as well as thought-provoking and challenging debate on where we go from here,” says Prof Till. “It brings a smile to everyone who sees it, and acts as a catalyst for future thought and action.”
As part of the project, which runs until September 2016, the public can visit the Futuro House. Tickets cost £3 each and can be booked at www.platform-theatre.com on a first-come-first-served basis for visits on the first Wednesday of every month, during which Barnes will share the story of his Futuro house restoration.
The Futuro is also available for hire , but anyone doing so will be expected to include a future-looking activity and document it for the Slivers of the Future blog.