Today Andrew and I took a tour of the University of Canberra in the northern part of the city thanks to our niece who is studying there. She guided us around the campus, in and out of student union and faculty buildings so that Andrew could reminisce about his time there.

Through the tour, we came across this gem in one of the building’s outdoor space. It looks like a space ship and when I enquired why it’s there, she didn’t know.

Naturally I whipped out my phone and started researching. It looked like it was built in the late 60s around the same time the campus was built. As the building was for Computer Science, my assumptions led me to think it was acquired about the same time. Back then, this would have seemed futuristic and in line with the progress of technology.

It turns out it was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen who designed these futuristic homes called Futuro House mainly used as weekend cottages or portable ski chalets. They are made of 16 different parts that are slotted together.

There are currently about 50 of these scattered around the world. You can read more about where here.

Some are renovated inside, others left discarded but this one here used to be at the Canberra planetarium and was handed to the University in 2014.

Today it provides an additional space for meetings for students.

I was fascinated by this Futuro House today and count myself lucky to have seen it.

I’m always fascinated by different pieces of architectural history and created this little video to remember it by.

Hopefully my niece now appreciates its history too. (She did say whether I’d reconsider returning to university and studying to become a teacher). 🤣