An emergent studio from Kazakhstan has designed a curious glass tube home that wraps around a large Fir tree in the tectonically active mountainous region of the country.
A. Masow Design Studio published renders of a new concept home for a 38-year-old business man and his family in Kazakhstan’s largest city – Almaty.
The cultural heart of the country, this mountainous region is prone to earthquakes.
While devastating earthquakes such as those that occur regularly in Iran and Turkey are unusual here, city planners have been very careful in the past to build structures that can withstand tectonic activity.
Slated for a clearing among an evergreen forest near the border of Kyrgyzstan, the multi-level cylindrical dwelling wraps around a mature 40ft fir tree with extended branches.
Some people contemplate nature on hikes or by camping, but this family would be able to ponder their natural surroundings all the time – though they’d have to sacrifice a lot of privacy in the process.
“The house has to be something that can only develop your spiritual and creative development,” writes A. Masow Design on their website design brief.
In order to achieve this affect, the studio has selected metal columns, plasterboard panels, concrete, and floor-to-ceiling glass panels to blur the boundary between the indoors and the outdoors.
Wood flooring matches the giant tree that shoots right through the heart of the tube home, and a spiral staircase wraps around the interior’s outer edge, a safe distance from the tree trunk and branches.
The home’s estimated $360,000 price tag is roughly one third the price of a standard home in the area, and the idea is so appealing, apparently, that another three clients have expressed an interest in having their very own glass cylinder home.
We just hope they’re suitably earthquake-resistant.
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
“The home’s estimated $360,000 price tag is roughly one third the price of a standard home in the area.” I find it hard to believe that homes in the area cost a million dollars. There must be something wrong with either the price indicated or the rest of that statement.
Well if you own property in the middle of nowhere like I do the only privacy you will risk losing is having the bears watch you while you take a shower. 🙂