Best Housing Complex, Ever.

[Madonna]

[Link]

Most people, in choosing a new home, look for comfort: a serene atmosphere, smooth walls and floors, a logical layout. Nonsense, says Shusaku Arakawa, a Japanese artist based in New York. He and his creative partner, poet Madeline Gins, recently unveiled a small apartment complex in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka that is anything but comfortable and calming. "People, particularly old people, shouldn't relax and sit back to help them decline," he insists. "They should be in an environment that stimulates their senses and invigorates their lives."

With that in mind, Arakawa and Gins designed a building of nine apartments known as Reversible Destiny Lofts. Painted in eye-catching blue, pink, red, yellow and other bright colors, the building resembles the indoor playgrounds that attract toddlers at fast-food restaurants. Inside, each apartment features a dining room with a grainy, surfaced floor that slopes erratically, a sunken kitchen and a study with a concave floor. Electric switches are located in unexpected places on the walls so you have to feel around for the right one. A glass door to the veranda is so small you have to bend to crawl out. You constantly lose balance and gather yourself up, grab onto a column and occasionally trip and fall.

I think I fell in love as soon as I heard that the place was called Reversible Destiny Lofts.

The discussion can go two of two ways: discuss your thoughts on the Reversible Destiny Lofts and the idea behind them, or tell us of your dream home when you have grown old and can no longer enjoy life.

[Jowy]

Oh god, I would never want to stumble in drunk one night. That's just asking for an injury or three.

[Araciel]

that would indeed not be a cool place for me to live...i want to have an indoor pool, with a glass ceiling and lights in the bottom of the pool. also, a tv in every room, all motion activated and tune to the same channel....other than that i dunno...plain walls, not a lot of furniture everywhere...

[Rye]

That's so cool, but I'm clumsy enough even in a still flat even house.

[Bunny]

I'll take a pink house.

[oddler]

You constantly lose balance and gather yourself up, grab onto a column and occasionally trip and fall.

Perfect for geriatrics. :rolleyes2

[Fatal Impurity]

I think the "reversible destiny" concept is just an excuse for quick easy shoddy design...

[Jojee]

Omgosh, the picture XD It's like a big lego piece. I want it.

[abrojtm]

This seriously looks straight from Earthbound.

Perfect place for old people, it will help them to die more quickly.

[Momiji]

This seriously looks straight from Earthbound.

Perfect place for old people, it will help them to die more quickly.

Forget that for old people, I want to live there!

[Shiny]

It's cool to look at, but probably horrible to live in.

[Dr Aum]

Because someone has to say it:

"Only in Japan."

[escobert]

Nothing beats my housing complex :rolleyes2
Vermont State Prison / Olde Windsor Village Apts., 65 State Street, 1808, Federal style, 1830, 1882, and 1928 additions. The cornerstone of the Vermont State Prison was laid in 1808 to the sound of a marching band and cheering crowd. Windsor's townspeople seemed to embrace the new prison with pride and welcomed the jobs and commercial boost that accompanied its presence.

Stuart J. Park, a Boston architect, designed the original 35-cell building with walls 3 feet thick and 14 feet high. Construction required 5,000 tons of stone, which was quarried from Mount Ascutney. The building was expanded in 1830, 1882, and 1928, eventually containing 352 cells.

On August 7, 1975, following several years of controversy, the prison was finally deemed insufficient for contemporary rehabilitation. It had been the oldest state prison in continuous operation in the United States. Fortunately, the impressive structure was spared the wrecking ball and Peabody Construction teamed with Boston architects Anderson Notter-Finegold to successfully rehabilitate the prison into 75 apartments, subsidized by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(Source 49)

[rubah]

but I like relaxing and being comfortable at home

[Madonna]

The idea is that a more stimulating environment will keep a person alive longer than a very cozy one, as one would be forced to exert more care and alertness, rather than letting one slide into oblivion in a relaxing manner.

I think that it is very charming, but flawed. Eventually, one could not help but to learn all the in's and out's of their own home. All of the surprises would fade in time as one acclimated. I guess one can only hold off destiny for so long, neh?

I have no definitive vision for my dream home other than it will contain secret passages and rooms. Yes, I am eight years old.