New Futuro house may be the last built from original moulds

A new Futuro house designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen has gone on display in Helsinki and is likely to be the last made from the original moulds, Yle reports. The UFO shaped building stands in the Kaisaniemi botanical garden during Helsinki Design Week.

The house is the 21st Futuro made in Finland. Only a few dozen more were produced under licence elsewhere in the world.

US and Netherlands based Jan van Dijs acquired the original moulds after they had remained unused for decades. He runs a California company specialising in the restoration of old buildings.

Van Dijs became involved after a friend saw a Facebook advertisement for the moulds. They had belonged to Polykem Oy, and were later acquired by Jyrki Aho, chief executive of Exel Composites, during the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.

Van Dijs was not previously familiar with the Futuro concept and had no connections to Finland. He nevertheless travelled to Finland to arrange the purchase. He later met members of Suuronen’s family, who gave their approval for the project to proceed.

Ekin Muovi, a company in Virtasalmi in Pieksämäki, assembled the building. The company was already familiar with Futuro houses, and its entrepreneur Erkki Lappi has previously restored three of them in Austria, Turkey and Finland.

Helsinki Design Week founder and director Kari Korkman said the building was an iconic masterpiece. The project began after the event received a collaboration proposal that initially went unnoticed among the large volume of messages sent to its organisers.

The organisers are seeking a permanent location for the building in Helsinki after the design week ends. If no suitable place is found, Van Dijs said it may be taken to Central Europe.

From ski lodge to collector’s item

Suuronen designed the Futuro in 1968 after being asked to create a ski lodge for difficult terrain. The building is eight metres in diameter and four metres high, and is made from glass fibre reinforced plastic.

Although it attracted international interest, the Futuro never met its commercial expectations. The 1973 oil crisis tripled the price of plastic, making production unprofitable.

Twenty Futuro houses were originally made in Finland, while a few dozen more were produced under licence around the world. Fewer than 70 are known to remain worldwide, including examples in the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

In Finland, Futuro houses are located in Espoo, the Åland Islands, Merimasku, Pöytyä and Kauhava.