WeeGee`s Futuro House

The WeeGee Exhibition Centre has acquired the first ever mass-produced Futuro house (no. 001), which was owned by Matti Kuusla from summer 1968 to autumn 2011 and located in Hirvensalmi. The Futuro, exposed to the elements for over 40 years, will first be carefully restored and then brought to WeeGee's courtyard, where it will be open to the public from 8 May to 16 September 2012. The Futuro exhibition is part of the Design Capital programme.

Space-Age Utopia
The Futuro is a plastic house designed by architect Matti Suuronen. Elliptical in shape, the house captures the experimental forms, new materials and optimistic ideas of the space-age architecture and design of the late 1960s.

From Skiing Lodge to International Fame
The Futuro house was originally commissioned as a skiing lodge that would be quick to heat and easy to construct even in rough terrain. First launched in 1968, the house made headlines in Finland and abroad. It was, however, too peculiar and too expensive to break into the mass market. With the 1973 Oil Crisis tripling the price of plastic, all hopes of the Futuro ever conquering the world had to be abandoned.


The New Life of the Futuro
Although the Futuro house was nearly forgotten, from the 1990s on it has been given a new life, not only as a 1960s space-age icon but also as a work of art gaining exposure in the international art world.

Today, about 50 known Futuro houses remain in various corners of the world. Only two of these are in public collections: the Futuro prototype (no. 000) at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and now Futuro (no. 001) at the WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo.

Futuro specifications:
- polyester exterior
- colors white, light-blue, yellow or red
- height 4 meters
- diameter 8 meters
- weight 4000 kilos (2500 kilos without interior decoration)
- floor space 25 square meters
- 20 oval shaped windows
- retractable stairs entrance
- 6 bed-seats plus 1 double bed-seat
- central fire place and bbq
- kitchen
- bathroom with toilet
- moveable by helicopter