$US5,000 Paper House is the World’s Swankiest Hobo Pad

Swiss company The Wall AG has a perfect solution for third-world shanty towns, semi-permanent refugee camps and approximately 7.2% of adult Americans: paper houses!

This isn’t mere papercraft—the Universal World House is a $US5,000, 390-square-foot modular home, outfitted with plumbing and boarding facilities to support up to eight (eight!) residents each. The secret of its construction is its “paper” shell; the resin-soaked cellulose, made from recycled paper, is shaped into honeycomb walls, which provide structural integrity and insulation to the houses.

Aside from having a convertible closed/open-air kitchen with table and benches, the Universal World House has a hidden killer feature:

It has been designed so that a family can slaughter an animal on the veranda, wash it in the shower and hang it, along with fish, on an integrated washing line.

Hooray!(?) Apparently a few countries have placed orders for the UWH, including Nigeria and Angola, but I could see how domestic aide organisations could benefit from something like this too. [BBC via Fark]