Richard Horden

Fusing high-tech engineering with industrial-design methods, he and his research students in Munich have created an innovative range of revolutionary buildings in a broad variety of settings.

Since 1992 the SkiHaus has been tested by the team together with mountain guides and helicopter engineers at varying altitudes in the Swiss Alps up to 3901m (next to the ‘Kleines Matterhorn’).

Besides its rescue and safety functions, the SkiHaus is an architectural vehicle with which to explore the third dimension and the wide clear spaces on top of the mountains.

The winner of a BBC 2 Television Innovation Award in 1994 and exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, Home Delivery Show in 2008.

After the concrete slab was laid by a local builder the light aluminium and stainless steel frame was assembled on site by the owner and family in 5hrs 6minutes and 11 seconds.

The microgravity projects, conducted since 1998 in collaboration with the department for astronautics, Eduard Igenbergs, at TU Munich and NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, put their main emphasis on the formulation of design criteria for the functional organization of workplaces and leisure areas on board the ISS.

The Micro-compact Home may be arranged as a single unit raised above the ground on a light aluminium frame and placed in a garden for private use.

Micro-compact Home may be grouped in horizontal or vertical arrangements in compact clusters, or form larger villages for social or student accommodation or for short-stay business or leisure uses.