Comments on: PREFAB FRIDAY: Andrew Maynard’s Mobile Home

By: Grass Crown » A Mobile Living Room

Grass Crown » A Mobile Living Room — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:04:18 +0000

[...] Hat tip: Inhabitat [...]

By: George

George — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:13:56 +0000

Who would live in an accordion car that has no water, no bathroom, no kitchen, no food storage, no storage space, and no tables? If you want to live a decent mobile life, go buy a 24′ Winnebago and put solar cells on the roof to power it off the grid. The Winnie might not go all transformy on you, but it actually has all of the missing elements I listed above. Toss in a laptop with a cellular broadband card for your net connection and you can live a good digital life in a small motor home. The trick is to not own lots of junk. Digital photos, digital music, e-books, convert as much as possible into digital form and it gets much more feasible to live in 200 square feet.

Winnebago in question: http://www.winnebagoind.com/html/products/recVehicles/winnebago/ol_24v.html

By: csven

csven — Sun, 07 May 2006 13:42:29 +0000

Thought-provoking and fun to look at, and reminds me of much of the student work at industrial design schools, but in the end it’s the engineering details that in my mind prevent this sort of thing from being produced and why we don’t see this sort of thing on the road today. Aerodynamics isn’t the issue. It’s all the little things: the hinges, the seals, the mechanism that opens and closes it. Those are real problems.

Personally, I’d rather see a working model than a CG render. It’s too easy to gloss over shortfalls in CG. Gizmodo carried a story on a “glass toaster” recently ( http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/transparent-toaster-concept-171315.php ) . A concept from almost two decades ago – made with real materials – solves problems the *new* concept fails to address.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 05 May 2006 16:52:08 +0000

My first gut reaction is, why is the centerpiece of the whole vehicle a big screen TV? If my home was destroyed I’d rather have a bathroom with at least a chenical toilet & a shower. I’d also rather have a bed than a plasma TV – I’d rather have almost anything else in fact. The last thing people need in a natural disaster is to see more Geraldos covering an event that they just lived through.

Also, how about showing where the engine & gas tanks (or batteries) go.

Oh wait, there’s a giant seam in the center of the glass windshield… uh, how’d that gonna work?

I really woke up as a wet blanket this morning, didn’t I?

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 05 May 2006 16:47:04 +0000

I’ll take the camo one, and put some spinners on it, haha :)

By: Ethan

Ethan — Fri, 05 May 2006 15:36:44 +0000

It is very cool but I don’t know if the fabric walls will provide sufficient security when its parked overnight in the Mission.

By: jill

jill — Fri, 05 May 2006 14:22:08 +0000

Aerodynamics? Dude – what do you think this is? A race car? This is a MOBILE HOME – ie. it needs to be nice and roomy and provide comfortable living space…

By: john

john — Fri, 05 May 2006 13:53:20 +0000

I think that the aerodynamics could dow with some work before you get onto which fuel it uses!

john