The Art Of... Failing
Gourmet Traveller|October 2020
The future is unpredictable, but we know one thing for certain: if we aren’t getting things wrong, we definitely aren’t getting it right
Anna Hart
The Art Of... Failing

Some of my favorite things on the planet are historical missteps, grand ideas based on future predictions that turned out to be wide of the mark. I’ve long been fascinated by retro visions of the future, architectural or design plans executed with blistering confidence, and dazzling wrongness, that today linger as monuments to our own misguidedness. An idea that boldly strode into the future, only to gaze over its shoulder and see society setting off on a different route.

One of my favorite architectural clangers is the Futuro House, around a pre-fab cabin shaped like a flying saucer – complete with long spindly legs and airplane hatch entrance – designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in the late 1960s. A product of post-war Finland, the Futuro House, or Futuro Pod was conceived as a mobile ski chalet (everyone needs one!) and marketed to affluent young adults.

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