An empty lot is a great place to build a house, but so is the air above it. Later this year, Michigan is going to get some floating real estate.
Named after a fictitious Flint resident who lost his house to foreclosure, “Mark’s House” was designed by London architectural and design team “Two Islands” who have been granted a prize of $US25,000 to build the temporary pavilion. The inagural exhibit of Flint’s “Flat Lot” competition, the house itself will be covered in a highly reflective material, but its standout feature is the mirrored pedestal it’s perched on, which — at a glance — gives it the eery appearance of hovering over the lot below.
When it’s finished in June, the house will not only provide some shade for the public stage beneath it but will store up to 5678 litres of water, which can be misted down on pedestrians below. In the months afterwards, however, the house will float away (i.e. be de-constructed) to return the lot to its previous flatness to make room for the following year’s exhibit. Uunless the newcomer is, like, a floating apartment building that rains money, Mark’s House is going to be a tough act to follow.